Vegetable Gardening

[badger]

I've not read a single page of this thread so pardon me if this question's been posed:

I have a mystery squash (from my compost, either banana squash or acorn), and while it's growing like a weed and producing a lot of blooms, not many end in fruit. And what's worse, the fruit that it does bear, soon turns yellow and dies. Any ideas?

ok, another squash question:

My zucchini's doing similar things. Tons of flowers, but I've only gotten one zucchini so far. Do you know why some are just flowers and others actually turn into a squash?

p.s. they're in terra cotta pots.

[OakLeaf]

Artificial insemination for squash.

The one from your compost is as likely to be an inedible gourd (the result of something hybridized either intentionally by the grower or randomly in the garden) as anything you want to save, but it could be fun to just let it grow and find out.

[NoNo]

This is what I picked from "my" garden yesterday. The giant zucchini is 15" long! Wax beans, string beans, just a few peas, those didn't take well, and some banana peppers. I see the bell peppers are starting to bud, as are the eggplant and yellow squash. Tomatoes are growing, but nowhere near ready for harvest. There is still plenty more zucchini to come, I saw several I could have picked and then some nubs just starting to grow, and there were lots of flowers meaning more are on the way. I wish I knew which flowers I could pick so I can fry them up.

[spokewench]

This is what I picked from "my" garden yesterday. The giant zucchini is 15" long! Wax beans, string beans, just a few peas, those didn't take well, and some banana peppers. I see the bell peppers are starting to bud, as are the eggplant and yellow squash. Tomatoes are growing, but nowhere near ready for harvest. There is still plenty more zucchini to come, I saw several I could have picked and then some nubs just starting to grow, and there were lots of flowers meaning more are on the way. I wish I knew which flowers I could pick so I can fry them up.

IT's looking yummy nono

[badger]

Artificial insemination for squash.

The one from your compost is as likely to be an inedible gourd (the result of something hybridized either intentionally by the grower or randomly in the garden) as anything you want to save, but it could be fun to just let it grow and find out.

I would believe this if I've not seen it with my own eyes, but I don't think insemination would do anything, as the zucchini doesn't seem to come out of the flowers so much as it seems pre-determined which ones will fruit. It's hard for me to explain, but I know that no amount of artificial insemination will produce a fruit on the blooms that are just long stalks. The ones that have fruited already has a little zucchini growing with the bud on top. Again, hard to explain...

[OakLeaf]

Whether a flower is male or female is "pre-determined." Typically a plant will have many more male flowers than female, but if you're not getting any female flowers, I don't know what might be causing that.

Female flowers:





Male flower:



Female and male flowers side-by-side:

[GLC1968]

We accidentally turned our backs for just one second...and the next thing you know, my H is picking a 15 lb zucchini that looks more like a skinny watermelon!

Tonight we'll be shredding until the cows come home (or the goats). We have zucchini coming out our wazoo! Our freezer will be busting at the gills!

We are wildly successful with our chosen cuke variety this year as well. Yesterday when I was searching for our lettuce and spinach seeds to re-sow for fall, I discovered that both the crazy over-producing zucchini variety and the super successful (so far) cuke variety - were from seeds both bought at our local nursery (in their OP section). It certainly points to the concept that buying local seed means that you'll get local hardy/adapted plants! I have three bean varieties that are also local and so far, they are doing extremely well, too.

[NoNo]

I'm going to have to study those pictures. I was wondering which was the female versus male. We eat the flowers (after dipping them in batter and frying them), but you can only pick one of them or the zucchini won't grow. I can't recall if it's the female or male, I'd have to ask my mom's uncle, but it's been killing me to look at all those flowers and think of the yummy treats I'm missing out on.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

From ripping up the lawn on June 25th:






To this morning, August 10th: