I may have made a tactical error this spring.
Mrs ERJ very clearly stated that she only wanted ONE plant of zucchini (called "marrows" in parts of Europe). So, naturally, I planted eight seeds in two hills.
I had no problem reducing them to two plants that were 4 feet apart but then I hesitated.
Mrs ERJ was dubious about leaving a second plant, "But you don't even LIKE zucchini that much!" she reminded me.
I assured her that I would somehow make all of the extra zucchini disappear.
That wasn't very hard to do for a while but then people started locking the doors of their vehicles, even the people attending services at the Assembly of God. They have great faith in the Spirit but they draw the line when there is a miscreant known to be abandoning zucchini in unattended vehicles.
Then the Department of Natural Resources started patrolling the river after folks who lived down-river started reporting bright, yellow logs washing up on their shores and capsizing their pontoon boats.
Mrs ERJ looked at me with pity in her eyes. She knew. She had known this was going to happen. This morning we had about 1/3 of a face-cord of zucchini stacked up on the counter and it threatened to avalanche every time we slammed a door.
Soup base
We use most of our canned tomatoes in our Sunday soup-pot.
Today seemed like a good day to make all of that zucchini disappear.
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| I stirred it into the tomatoes as they were stewing. You can click on the images to embiggen them. |
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| I also threw in some of these. |
Bonus orchard picture
I took this picture while I was watering the trees this morning. I averaged right about 2 minutes per tree. Some of that time was spent pulling weeds.
As awesome as these trees look, the pears are really struggling. They didn't have the quality of roots that these trees had and they were planted in poorer soil.
The rule of thunb. Plant two seeds. ( that's 2) When they are both up and going fine then kill the other one.
ReplyDeleteWe planted two hills at Southern Belle's and to my surprise one of the plants died.
DeleteWhat is weird is that if it was due to borers, then I would have expected both plants to have been hit.
the wife makes an "apple" crisp entirely out of zucchini and you would never know. also smuggles it into brownies
ReplyDeleteInteresting!
DeleteI used to sneak grated squash into taco-meat. Not only was it healthy for the kids, but a good extender of the meat, too!
Looks like a good squash year down there. Our cold , late spring looks like it will have stopped any pumpkin/squash from ripening here. First time that ever happened . Your trees look good. I had planted some willow (Salix Purpurea) a friend sent me and it took off good but suddenly the deer found it and it was Gone. No sign of it this year. ---ken
ReplyDeleteAgree with Polimath... sigh
ReplyDeleteSomehow by God’s grace there is sooo much damned zucchini in late July and August. Every year!
ReplyDeleteMay we continue to be blessed, and know that hungry bellies may someday be very thankful for zucchini ratatouille on thin sliced sourdough toast in the summer. (a family favorite)
Not unlike blessed summer wine from our youth. You can’t fence time, and you can’t rope love. They both live freely…
…like zucchini in the Michigan summer jungle with all of its bugs and humidity and thunderstorms.
Summer Wine
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1OEron4rXfk
Delete.
Zucchini: Proof even in the garden that God has a sense of humour.
ReplyDeletePasta alla Nerano is a simple dish of fried, very thin, slices of zucchini with pasta. Olive oil, basil, parmesan, and salt are the only spices. Everyone who tries it, loves it.
ReplyDeleteHereabouts little'uns = courgettes, big'uns = marrows.
ReplyDeleteMy wife makes rather good courgette fritters and, if the crop gets out of hand, we enjoy stuffed marrows with the bulk of the stuffing being minced lamb. Mmm.