Zuke!

Last year I had zero squash.  The squash vine borers ate up the plant and spread their disease before any fruit had a chance.  The year before I had some, but the plants also succumbed early.  So this year I decided to wait.  Having read that the eggs are laid in the plant stems in mid-June, and that planting after mating time could prevent an infestation, I waited.  It was torture.  Other gardeners already had squash blossoms, and I hadn't even planted mine yet.

I started some seeds indoors in June. Seems odd to be starting seeds indoors, but I figured that way I could have larger plants earlier.  I couldn't start them too early, because squash have wide root systems that don't really like pots, and don't like to be transplanted when they are too big.  Due to heat, other weather, and my busy schedule, I didn't actually get the plants in the ground until late June.  Additional protection against the bugs, sure, but also additional time to wait for squash.

I planted zucchini and patty pan squash.  Three zukes and two patty pans.  Four plants went into the garage garden, and one into the regular veggie bed.  I didn't dig and amend the garage garden before planting, and there was some had dirt in there, limiting my planting opportunities.  And my garlic was late, so I had one less spot to plan then I had planned.  That's why one plant went into the veggie bed.  One of the garage plants didn't survive its harsh conditions. One has survived but not flourished.  But two plants (one of each) have grown quite large.

The patty pan in the back looks like it's starting to wilt, but that might just be lack of water.  This bed isn't irrigated, and hadn't been watered for four days when I took this picture.  The zucchini in front looks fabulous, even though it is competing with my willow stum that still insists on growing.

The plants have been flowering for a while.  Male flowers first, of course.  I saw some little squash buds growing, but the flowers sure took a long time to open.

I was traveling for work over the weekend and into this week.  When I returned home Wednesday, a nice surprise awaited me:  an actual zucchini!  It was really small, but growing.  I didn't check yesterday, so I was surprised today when it was already huge!

I finally have zucchini, and I think I know what I'm going to do with it.