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If I wasn’t such a cheap SOB I would have spent the $7 to enter the Zucchini 500 in Easton this past weekend. I’m growing zucchini that would have literally crushed the competition.

The plant itself is the domesticated version of Audrey, that blood loving, people eating plant from Little Shop of Horrors. It is 7′ wide and over 4′ high, with a main stem that measures 3″ in diameter. It is now producing an average of one zucchini about every two days and those don’t include the ones I’ve missed picking (hidden under foliage), before they grew into 5+ pound beasts.

I’ve given away zucchini to neighbors and friends. So much of it that they now refuse to take any more of it from me.

I have a freezer filled with zucchini bread, casserole, soup, and fritters. I’m actually spending time looking for different ways to use zucchini. I now find it difficult to believe that I was often forced to remain at the dining table until bedtime because I refused to eat zucchini, when I was a boy.

One of my neighbors has been providing me with recipes. I’ll post her casserole recipe. It’s one of my favorites.

If you want to give a zucchini a home, contact me and I’ll be happy to provide it to you at no charge, which is better than paying $1.29/lb for it at the grocery store.

The rest of the garden is doing pretty well, with the exception of cucumbers. Some kind of blight hit them and I was forced to remove the affected growth, treat the remaining vines with fungicide spray, and hope for the best. Last year I produced over 100 lbs of cucumbers. This year I will be lucky to get 20 lbs, if I don’t get the fungus under control.

Sweet corn was about average for the first crop that I picked a couple of days ago. No insect infestation that devastated the ears last year, but the ears were a little smaller than I had hoped for.

The second crop of corn, which I planted 30 days after the first planting, was looking much bigger and better – until that wind and rainstorm hit a couple of nights ago. I went outside the next morning and found almost all the stalks laying down, knocked over by the gusts of wind.

It took me a couple of hours, but it is all standing again, though a bit worse for wear. This time it is supported by posts at the corners and rope. The silk had already begun to emerge and I can only hope that it having been knocked over doesn’t affect the pollination, or the ears.

Vegetable gardening has always been a great stress reliever for me. The added bonus these days is being able to walk past the produce section in the stores and not paying ridiculous prices for vegetables that taste like cardboard.

Below is a small gallery of pictures. I included a couple of pictures of the cantaloupe fence, in case you are interested in vertical growing. Each melon is supported by a hammock. Though more time consuming than just allowing the vines to run wild, it saves valuable growing space for other vegetables.