Please, tell me why...

...I thought I would need 9 (nine!) zucchini plants. I am the only one in this house who eats them (although I hide them in lots of dishes to get my kid to eat some too. He says he doesn't like zucchini - I don't think he knows how many he has eaten in his life).

I have harvested 73 so far - and while some plants are peaking, others are just beginning to yield. We might make it to 150 - who knows?

Next year I'll just have two plants like a normal person...

This is your big chance to make friends with all of your neighbors.

John F Dean wrote:This is your big chance to make friends with all of your neighbors.

Been working on that. Some of my neighbors have started to avoid me. I send my kid over with the zukes now - can't say no to a cute whiteheaded longhaired barefoot 7 year old boy!

I never grow them because they just appear if you let anyone know that you like them.

Years ago the joke was to be sure and lock your car during zucchini season.  At the time hardly anyone here locked and many left the keys in, including us.

This may be the time to change strategies...  who do you dislike?!!

I planted more than nine, and have gotten two, and at this point it doesn't look promising to get any more. Never be afraid to plant too many, because there's no limit to how many nature can kill.

Jordan, that is exactly why I planted nine. Lost many to slugs and ildew or heat and drought before. Guess I got
lucky this year!

Sanna Heijnis wrote:Jordan, that is exactly why I planted nine. Lost many to slugs and ildew or heat and drought before. Guess I got
lucky this year!

It's feast or famine! (Literally, I guess here)

Excellent in stir fry if you pick them small.

My wife makes awesome zucchini muffins and chocolate zucchini cake.

You can grate them and freeze in small portions for baking in winter.

I know a Haitian chef who grates them, mixes them with flour and spices, makes patties and fries them. Incredible with hot sauce! You'd never know you're eating zucchini.

Those are great ideas Douglas, thanks!

Ditto the freezing comment. Grated for baking and sliced or chopped for other dishes. In my experience they freeze well.

My two dogs eat as much as I do when I have them coming in.  I mix in raw eggs with shell, and half their normal dry dog food to get them to eat it.  Edit, I dice it up into small cubes like potatoes.  

Then the chickens get even more and turn it into compost for an even better harvest next year.....

Lord have mercy, Sanna! I wish I had your luck with zucchini. Down here in Florida I plant 6 every month just to get a few fruit. Squash vine borer and squash bugs do a number on my plants so I constantly have to pull old ones and replant.

Ha ha I have 20 plants and have had 78 from them so you're doing pretty well! I need more so next year will be 30 plants. I do sell them though. In fact I don't like them myself at all.

Oh my G, Skandi! That is a lot of plants!

Thomas Black wrote:Lord have mercy, Sanna! I wish I had your luck with zucchini. Down here in Florida I plant 6 every month just to get a few fruit. Squash vine borer and squash bugs do a number on my plants so I constantly have to pull old ones and replant.

I will just count my blessings then :-)

Got to work on some patties for dinner, they were awesome and easy to make and I ate a whole zucchini all by myself, so that's a keeper!

WOW!!! I can almost smell those patties!

When I lived further south, there was a saying:
"An uninvited zucchini gift is an act of terrorism."
A drive-by drop-and-run on someone's from porch was referred to as a zuclear bomb.

Now that I live up where they only grow if seriously babied, I would take all your excess zukes!

They make great pickles, just use in place of cucumbers in any pickle recipe.

I like to grow dual-purpose squash, for exactly the reasons you describe. That way if I can't keep up with the zucchini, I can just let them keep ripening to use as winter squash.

zucchini ---very yummy--- can be used to make all kinds of stuff-- zucchini bread anyone-- boiled with onions, batter fried, I like it best when cooked like this, brown a large onion in butter add some pepper, slice zucchini thin and fill the pan, fold it together, you can add some fresh garlic if you like, add some more butter on top and cover pan till zucchini is steamed soft, remove lid and keep cooking slowly to reduce moisture, --eat with rice or potatoes or just by itself.

if no one else will eat that sautéed zucchini recipe I just posted, they better get their taste buds tested

here's a couple I'll share from the The Fine Farm Cookbook

I am told that zucchini can be substituted for apples in apple pie. I am skeptical, but I know the piemaker well. Apparently it's all in the spices. I've also been told that carrots can be substituted for pumpkin in pumpkin pie. Sacrilege! But then again maybe not.