How to plant and prepare zucchini

We have taken a look at tomatoes, onions and cucumbers. Probably the next two favorite crops of mine are green beans and zucchini. And there are hundreds of kinds of both. Some are open-pollinated, while many are hybrids. Of the two, I would put zucchini ahead of green beans.

One crop I enjoy harvesting and eating is zucchini. I find it rather difficult to grow if you are trying to grow it pesticide free. There seems to be an array of bugs that enjoy sucking the life out of zucchini.

I've tried spraying it with several organic-type pesticides but have had only limited success. I have two ways -- healthy ways -- that have helped me grow zucchini.

First of all, I plant all my zucchini seeds indoors in containers that are about 3x3 inches. This has enough growing medium that I don't have to transplant it into a bigger container before I plant it in the garden.

I allow this transplant to grow until it is close to blooming. You will need some type of grow light to accomplish this, or sufficient sunlight.

By starting them indoors, the bugs can't attack them right from the get go. It gives you three to four weeks of bug-free growing.

I also make sure I have successive plantings.

As one bunch of zucchini is dying, I have another bunch that is either ready to plant or already planted. Zucchini takes approximately 48 days to have edible veggies.

Zucchini seeds will come up quick, say, in three or four days or so. Get it under grow lights and water with a high middle number fertilizer. I'd make sure it gets 12 to 14 hours of sunlight or grow lights daily.

From then on, you can transplant whenever you want. I'd wait until the plant is about ready to bloom.

There are all kinds of zucchini. Some are more disease resistant, but I find the bugs kill the plants and not the disease. I plant both a dark green zucchini and a yellow zucchini. Some don't like the yellow zucchini, but I really do. One thing the yellow does is it makes the veggies easy to find when picking. I usually miss some of the green ones, and they get huge. I'm going to grow Dunja and Golden Glory this summer. Both are F1 hybrids, and both have a decent disease-resistant package.

I wouldn't sprinkle zucchini, but I'd water with a soaker hose or a drip system. Make sure you have sufficient distance between so they can get air circulation. Don't overwater, either. Watch the plant and the ground around the plant. Your type of soil will dictate how much to water.

Probably my favorite way of eating zucchini is to let it grow until it's about a foot long and 1 1/2 inches in diameter.

I skin the zucchini and then either slice it across into rings about 1/4 inch thick or lengthwise in slices about 1/4 inch thick. We then dip these in eggs and then in either cornmeal, flour, fish batter mix or breadcrumbs.

We fry ours in olive oil until they are golden brown. Man, are they good.

Marge likes to skin the zucchini and then chunk it into a fairly large skillet. She will add seasonings and sometimes onions and peppers. I'd throw some garlic in, but Marge isn't real fond of garlic. Cook this until the zucchini is tender, but not mushy. We like the zucchini on the crisp side.

One other way I like is to let the zucchini get a little bigger, say 3 inches in diameter. Leave the hide on. Either slice the zucchini in half or take the top third off the zucchini.

The goal is to scoop out the center where the seeds are. Once you have it scooped out, fill this cavity with cooked ground beef and onions and peppers.

Let your imagination go wild. You could use rice or something like a pasta. It's probably even good with chili in it.

Fill it almost level or a bit above level. You can then cook in the oven or on the grill until the zucchini is almost tender. The last step is to add cheese and keep heating until the cheese is melted. Man, these are good as well. If you like heat, throw in some hot peppers.

When you are getting too many zucchini to enjoy, grate some up and freeze it. I'd peel the hide off and grate it. Marge uses this frozen zucchini to make breads and such. She also mixes some frozen zucchini, an egg, some cracker crumbs and seasonings. She then fries this into patties, which are pretty good on a cold winter day.

If you have a 3x3-foot area, zucchini will probably produce pound for pound the most produce of all garden veggies. It is fast as well; 50 days and you can be eating veggies. Hope you have a productive garden this summer.

Happy gardening.

Until next time.