Summer Squash: Easy, Prolific and Best Fresh From Your Vegetable Garden
Friday July 28, 2006
It’s that time again, when otherwise stable gardeners sneak out in the wee hours to leave baskets of zucchini on unsuspecting neighbors' doorsteps. You never have just a little zucchini. But when you think about it, zucchini season is so fleeting and fresh zucchini is infinitely better than store bought, so we should be grateful for our abundance.
Summer squash grows to maturity while you’re looking at it. Does any other crop offer such immediate satisfaction? Make some room for these prickly vines in your vegetable garden. Summer squash is more than just long, green zucchini. There's the trumpet shaped tromboncino that is still edible at 3' long, scalloped patty pans, bumpy or smooth orange or gold crooknecks - and they’re all easy to grow. There’s still time to plant a few varieties in your garden and grow your own summer squash.
Comments
I need help. My zucchini plants are growing but the leaves turn yellow and brittle. The zucchini is growing but the leaves don’t look good. Has anyone know what is going on.
Yellow and brittle sounds like not enough water.
If there are yellow spots that are merging together, it could be a fungus. Spraying with a fungicide, copper or neem might help, but it’s getting ate in the season.
If it’s yellow mottling that’s spreading, it is probably a virus and there’s not much you can do about that.
If you could send me a photo, I might be able to make a better guess. You could also post it on the Forum, for more eyes to help out.
Zuchini or in UK courgettes are easy to grow but how many ways can they be cooked .I am getting fed up with boiled and fried . Any Ideas plese
Did you try the Summer Squash and Zucchini Cakes recommended in the lower links? About’s French Cooking Guide is very creative with zucs. How about Zucchini and Squash Noodles?
Our Italian Food Guide stuffs them with meat or with a cheesy meatless filling, as main dishes.
The Southern US Cooking Guide makes a Zucchini Creole with Tomatoes and Peppers. That page also lists several other summer squash recipes. Don’t give up on eating zucchini just yet!
My zucchini plant are growing like giants and overtaking the space I gave them. Is it ok for me to cut some of the leaves or will that damage them or limit my crop? I didn’t realize that they would grow so high!
It’s fine to trim a few leaves, but don’t go crazy or the plant won’t be able to make enough food to keep itself going. You’ll only limit the crop if you trim the growing ends of the vines.
I find that after awhile of all this vigorous growing, the plants get exhausted anyway. So I usually seed another crop around now, to replace the fading crop in August. Of couse, you could be really tired of zucchini by then.