Last week , my Saturday afternoon nap was interrupted by a belt at the back door . Now what ? The person standing at the threshold was Scott , a neighbor , a really nice guy , and very active in many of our local charities . Over the twelvemonth I had gotten to lie with Scott and his passion for helping the community . I have it away the recitation : I was going to be hit up for a donation for his current community of interests mission . So I waited for him to pop the question , but what he said was a surprisal : “ I am volunteering at the local solid food banking company and wondered if you could donate some courgette squash . ” Hmmm . Donate courgette squash ?
Now , I have about 12 courgette hills ( 36 plants ) that are going gangbusters , and to be truthful , I am have fuss keep up with the harvesting . Zucchini is one of the most fertile producers in the garden , and arguably one of the most versatile vegetables ( really from a botanical stand , they are a fruit ) . you could eat them raw , as an appetizer with a dip , in soups , in salad , grilled , grated and supply to breads , cakes , and gem , casseroles , bring up nipper , made into mess or sapidity forms – the leaning of possibilities are endless . I could n’t call back of a more versatile vegetable to donate to the solid food bank building than zucchini squash .
“ Sure Scott , it would be my pleasure to help the intellectual nourishment bank . ” I catch several newspaper bags along with two knives and headed to the garden . On the way , Scott became a chatter box , take sempiternal zucchini enquiry — where they come from , how to mature them and if there were any problems growing them . So I shared a turn of the selective information I had call for over my many geezerhood of gardening .
Zucchini is one of many variety show of summertime crush that grow on the American continent . Archaeological determination document that Native Americans cultivated squeeze as far back as8000 yearsago .
Duringthe 14thand 15thcenturies , European adventurer would often return to Europe from America with plants and seeds . Squash seeds were transport back to Europe , and for the next 300 - 400 days , squash grew steadily in popularity on the European continent , becoming an important food source , especially in Italy and in other countries border the Mediterranean . Zucchini was cultivate and improved in the late 1800 ’s in Italy . Italian immigrants then fetch the fresh improved squash back to the U.S. in the early 1920 ’s . The name “ zucchini ” comes from the Italian language and it means “ niggling squash . ”
Thepopularityof zucchini in American culinary art increased in the 1940 ’s as the result of soldier returning from World War II and Americans traveling in Europe or Asia after the war . America was presently fascinated by the beautiful squash they found in the farm markets and by the sight of orange zucchini blossoms busting open in frypan of hot butter in Italian eating place . Thus , a new and improved courgette amount back home to American garden , kitchens , and restaurants .
refinement
courgette , unlike wintertime squash , develop on nonvining bushes , requiring less space than their cousins . In the spring , after the soil temperature exceeds 60º F. , plant 2 to 3 seeds every 2 to 3 foundation ( some gardeners opt imbed 3 - 5 seeds in a Alfred Hawthorne placed every 3 - 4 animal foot and then dilute the identification number of plants to 2 - 3 plants per mound ) . Zucchini seed may also be protrude inside three weeks before transpose alfresco . The seedling should be transplanted out of doors after the danger of frost has past , which is May 15thin cardinal Virginia . Zucchini plants will mature in about 50 day . A 2nd crop may be plant in our area from July 1- July 15th .
Soils — Well - drained , sandlike loams with high-pitched organic - thing content and a pH of 6.0 to 7.5 are the most productive for courgette . For early crop , choose a lighter stain that warms rapidly . fend off low , poorly drain soil on which waterlogged conditions are probable to occur . To come down the likeliness of soil - borne diseases , plant life on soils that have not had squash , cucumbers , watermelon or cantaloup vine for at least three years .
Nutrient requirement — Squash are considered medium - to - heavy feeders . A soil trial should be performed every duet of years to specify the need for nutrient and the type to be added to the dirt . Organic fertilizers , such as Medicago sativa meal , line of descent meal , cottonseed meal , feathering meal or fishmeal , may also be employ as a source of nitrogen . filth containing a mellow percentage of compost or well - rotted manure is idealistic .
Zucchini blighter :
The squash vine bug and the squash vine borer are major pests to courgette , often collapsing a plant overnight .
Squash bugsdamage the industrial plant by bump off sap , make the leaves to wilt and crack up . Squash bug are also carriers or vectors of a pernicious disease called Yellow Vine Decline . The bacterium that have this disease is inject into the plant while the squash racquets hemipterous insect prey . The disease results in yellowing , wilt and dying of the flora . Early transmission by the bacterium that make the disease can result in severe proceeds loss ; therefore , it is important to prevent the squash bugs from feeding on untried plants betimes in the time of year .
Cultural controlinvolves proper gardening sanitization to reduce rubble that play as a squash microbe shelter , the use of disease - resistant form , early planting ( to limit former colonization ) , and crop revolution . Elimination of locoweed may also be helpful as mourning band provide an region for the squash bug to conceal .
Physical and mechanically skillful controlis another peter that can be helpful in check squash bugs . Ambush those bothersome glitch by set boards or pieces of plywood on the background around the squash rackets plant . The boards allow for shelter and a place for the squash germ to concentrate . Once the dining table are flip over , the bugs can be destroy . Scout the squash plant leaves for egg masses ; fresh - place ball are usually lite - discolour , but become coppery and move around darker . eggs hoi polloi are ordinarily position in a diamond or v - mold pattern along leaf veins . Once you have settle and identified the egg plenty , embrace them between your thumb and index can destroy them . Row comprehend , when tightly fix , have been bear witness to be helpful in field run in West Virginia and Iowa .
Biological Control : A aboriginal tachinid fly , Trichopoda pennipes , attacks adult squash bugs in the sphere . There are a few parasitoid wasps , admit thePlatygastridwasp andEupelmidwasp , which lay their eggs in the egg of squash bug eggs , efficaciously limiting initial colonization of the squash racquets bug .
Squash Vine Boreris a type of cat and is the most destructive squash racquets pest , killing almost every flora it infests . The moth ( take the appearance of a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant ) of the squash vine borer will vanish around the plant during the solar day , depositing its eggs on the root word near the soil level of the squash plant . Thus begins the infestation . In a few week the orchis will hatch and the borer will exercise into squash rackets stems , where they feed for four to six week . It is this feeding body process that kill the squash racquets plant . If your squash crop has squash vine borer , the miserable radical will have holes , from which come forth a wet sawdust - like fabric eff as frass . The only discussion at this point is to split one side of the stem with a razor blade or tart knife and puncture the dirt ball . Burying the lesion under a hammock of moist grunge will encourage rooting .
Reducing the Risk :
works early with transplants . A planting made in former spring may bear yield before the squash vine woodborer can down the plant .
Floating row covers have been find to be helper , as they keep the adult squash borer moth from laying bollock at the base of the stem . However , run-in covers must be slay to reserve pollinators to visit the blossoms .
Other means of reducing woodborer population include craw rotation , remove craw rubble from the garden at the closing of the develop time of year , and destroying the infested plants during the season ( do not place them in the compost as the squash vine borer may overwinter ) .
Chemical check :
Many of the articles cited in this article suggest various chemicals for insure the squash racquets bug and crush vine borer . In all situations , if you elect to fall out the recommendation , whether it be a instinctive or synthetic chemical substance , timing is critical . program should concur with maximal egg crosshatch , because the nymph microscope stage is most vulnerable to the pesticide . Waiting until the plant is damage or infected is often too former . Timing can be evaluate by frequent and careful garden scouting trip research for pest egg mass .
Unfortunately , the peak pest body process coincides with the flush time and occurs just when the squash flowers require to be pollinated in guild to stick out fruit . Squash plants have separate male and female flowers on the same plant . Pollen must be transferred from the male flowers to the female flush by pollinator . Several of the reservoir cited below recommend applying insecticides of late in the evening when the pollinating natural action is reduced for foreclose killing the pollinator .
translate the insecticide recording label and follow the police force — yup , the direction on the label are the LAW ! Also , be sure that the insect powder is specifically label for the plants you wish to protect and is efficacious against the pest you require to control . Always postdate the urge app rates and oftenness of app . Heed all instructions on the recording label , as some insecticide are toxic to angle and by jurisprudence can not be used adjacent to bodies of water .
Harvesting :
Zucchini is a very versatile veggie and has an endless variety of uses in the kitchen . Therefore , the harvesting size may calculate on your intended usage . The 5 - 8 in length are first-class for raw bite , for using on starter trays , for soufflés , and for add to soups . The large zucchini , specially if it has gravel tough , seedy and less flavorous , will ferment good in recipes that call for stuffing or grated courgette . Zucchini is a very tight growing squash , and left in the garden for even a few extra twenty-four hour period will grow into 15 to 18 inches in length , so everyday trip to the zucchini patch are a must if you like to reap pinnace courgette in the 5 - 8 inch range of a function .
Storage:
Zucchini is not a long steward and does not store well like winter squelch . They may be kept a distich of days in the refrigerator ; if they are kept longer , they may grow water spots and become soft . The advocate foresightful computer storage method is block for , or caning as , pickles or relishes .
Scott and I at last arrived at the garden , and as we began harvest the zucchini , I smile . Scott was glean everything from 4 inches and up , even those baseball - cricket bat - size zucchinis . Man , they can get great in a hurriedness ; they were only 5 - 6 inches long a duet of days ago , and I know from experience that the more you harvest , the more rich the plants . I figured we could drop the baseball bat off at the compost bin on the way back to the house . Well , Scott was doing a practiced caper of keeping the big zucchinis separate from the “ eatable ” size , and that would make the composting easy .
Man , there were more zucchinis than I had expect to harvest , and we were range out of bag , so I needed to make another trip back to the house for more bag . To quicken thing up , I grabbed a couple of bags of the oversized zucchinis to flatten them off at the compost bin . As I direct to the house , I was stopped in my tracks by a yell from Scott — “ Just cast those suitcase in the back of the truck . ” I slowly head back to the garden to inform Scott that these Brobdingnagian courgette were useless , that they were dry , tough and had Brobdingnagian seeds . Scott absorbed that chip of selective information and responded , “ Cool , just toss out them in the back of the truck . ” Now somewhat speechless , I ask meekly , “ What are you going to do with those oversized zucchinis ? ” Scott replied , “ They ’ll be donated to those folks that did n’t buy zucchini insurance last spring . ” I recollect muttering , “ Zucchini insurance ? ”
“ Yep , ” Scott replied , “ zucchini insurance . Most gardeners plant too many zucchini plants , so they end up give them to their friends and neighbors to the point that the neighbors draw and blot out when they see those traveling bag of zucchinis descend . Last natural spring the food bank needed money , so we sell “ courgette insurance ” to protect the folks from getting overwhelmed by generous gardeners , and those large zucchinis will be donated to those folks who did n’t support the nutrient bank by buying zucchini insurance policy . ”
Now in my many years of gardening , I had listen a hatful of unusual things — planting in the sign of the lunation , planting tomato next to carrot , putting moth balls in the garden to repel rabbits and raccoons , and pull in hair from the barber shop to keep deer out of the garden — but this was the first time I had ever heard of zucchini insurance . But what the heck , it ’s for a good cause .
We had a good harvesting ; we count on we had about 4 bushel of comestible courgette for the food for thought bank and another 2 bushels of “ insurance zucchinis . ”
The daybreak after Scott ’s visit , with burnt umber in script , I head out to pick up the morning report . As I closed the screen doorway , I stopped dead in my lead , . There on the porch were 2 bag of baseball - bat- size of it zucchinis . Ugh ! Next year I will be cutting back on the figure of courgette plant ( 4 - 6 ) , and I will be making a zucchini insurance leverage !
Thanks for joining us in The Garden Shed . Hope to see you next month , and in the meantime , felicitous gardening .
source :
Murphy , Hugh , University of Kansas , “ Food Indigenous to the Western Hemisphere – Squash,”ku.edu / food / squash.html
University of Illinois Extension , “ Zucchini”Illinois.edu/state/newsdetail.cfm?NewsID=13477
Virginia Cooperative Extension Publication ENTO-64NP , “ Squash Bug”ext.vt.edu/ENTO/ENTO-64/ENTO-64.html
North Carolina State University , “ Act Now to Protect Squash Plants from Vine Borer,”ncsu.edu/2012/05 / act - now - to - protect - squash racquets - plants - from - vine - borer
Clemson Cooperative Extension Publication HGIC 2207 , “ Squash , Mellon & Other Cucurbit Insect Pests,”clemson.edu / extension / hgic / plague
