Catch the Zucchini!

A group of spunky SPIN kids and their leaders, Tammy and Lexi, joined Master Gardener Kathy in the garden on Friday.  Many of the kids returned from the week before, so it was fun to hear their observations on the clearly visible growth of the garden in only seven days!  We weeded and harvested

more tender lettuce.  It was particularly fun to check on the zucchini plants.  Last week we found many zucchini babies about 1-2 inches long, but on this day those babies had grown into 10-12 inch fruit ready to pick!  We like to catch the zucchini before they grow into monsters with tougher skin, large seeds and more water

content, though that never stopped me from eating them!  My mother grated those big zucchini into delicious treats like zucchini brownies!  Once she even made zucchini apple crisp with NO APPLES!  I can’t say she tried that again as that one wasn’t so delicious!  J

Here’s a little tidbit of information from the University of MN Extension regarding zucchini squash and how to tell the difference between a male and female flowers.  We love seeing the honeybees doing their work! 

Squash plants bear separate male and female flowers (monoecious flowering habit), and pollen must be transferred from the male flowers to the female flowers by insects. Male flowers are attached to the plant by a slender stem. Female flowers are attached close to the main vine, and between the flower and the vine is a small round ovary, the unfertilized fruit. Squash flowers are typically pollinated by bees.

- Contributed by Washington County Master Gardener Kathy Luoma