Then some of the plants suffered sunburn, one pot just went completely yellow (anaemic zucchini??) and I think some other plants somehow got a white powdery mildew situation happening. I don't know what that means exactly, but that's what somebody told me it was. Growing zucchinis is hard them having kids I think!
On top of all of this NO bees would visit my balcony so I was out on the balcony each morning cross-pollinating the fruit with an old make up brush. The first lesson in this was learning how to tell the boys from the girls...which is actually very simple. The boys don't have fruit attached to the base of their flowers, and the girls do.
Despite my best efforts at zucchini sex the majority of the fruit just wouldn't turn into a fully fledged zucchini - I won't give up my day job to become a zucchini pimp that's for sure! Some of the fruits stayed teeny tiny and turned yellow on the plant...and then died. Others gave their best attempt at become a real live zucchini, but ended up firm and green on the bottom but yellowish and spongy on top. I have to tell you I really have no idea what was going wrong...
It wasn't all doom and gloom though - some zucchinis did their very best and turned into proper zucchinis. This particular zucchini was nearly 30cms long! WOW!
This zucchini was earmarked for a pesto pasta salad that I've been whipping up for years (recipe stolen form an old flatmate back in the 90s). The zucchinis get fried up in some olive oil and then mixed with fresh cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, pesto and pasta. You can eat this warm, but I prefer to have it as a salad.
Watch this space as soon I'm going to make my own pesto using basil and rocket from my balcony garden...once they're ready to pick that is.
You can see more Harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions.
Oh wow, you did good Mel! It wasn't until I posted pictures of my zucchini flowers on Twitter and people wrote back asking if I had fertilised them, that I realised that I had to. But I don't have the time so the flowers keep propping and dropping. Do you think I could use those flowers for cooking?
ReplyDeleteHi Sneh, yes I think you can use those flowers in your cooking - just make sure you remove the stamens first...the sexy bits aren't good eating I've been told. LOL.
DeleteLove the 'Harvest Monday' series! Hope to join in next year when I go beyond growing herbs! Also nice to now know how to tell the difference between male & female zucchinis ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm even finding herbs hard...I had much trouble with my darn Rosemary that's for sure!
DeleteJudging by the fluctuations in size, I'm wondering if the difficulty for container-grown zukes is keeping the water level consistent; could also be a temperature thing... still, they're perfectly edible as your delicious looking pasta proves!
ReplyDeleteYou're probably right on both counts...our weather as been a bit skewiff lately and I'm probably not doing the best job at watering. It's weird though that the two zucchini plants that were in the "original pot" were the ones with the most issues...thanks for stopping by.
DeleteI love that you can follow this post from the photographs alone! Bravo for sharing your zucchini journey - and for knocking up a lovely looking dish with the fruit of your labour!
ReplyDeleteOh wow, you're right...I just looked at all my photos! Smart cookie.
DeleteI love your zucchini journey...they are such a great vegetable, so productive and so versatile in the kitchen.
ReplyDeleteI wish they were more consistent Jane...I could've had 3 times as many zucchinis if things had gone well...or weller.
DeleteI discovered, from sheer laziness, that you can eat the intimate parts of the zucchini blossoms. My husband loves it when I stuff the blossoms with a ricotta stuffing and bake them. I used to oh so carefully remove the innards from the blossoms before I stuffed them and then one day I got lazy and just stuffed them without cleaning out the intimates. Well, he didn't even notice the difference, so now it's the lazy way for me!
ReplyDeleteLOL...lazy is my middle name! I often wonder how hard the flowers are to stuff, as they close up quite a lot.
DeleteThat salad looks great but is it healthy? I can't imagine all that oil and cheese is good for me :(
ReplyDeleteIt is low fat feta if that's any help...but you're right, this could be the reason why I'm not losing weight (it's so tasty though).
DeleteWhat a great story! I love the tale of your zucchinis - and your pasta looks like a great summery dish! Pick some flowers next time around ; )
ReplyDeleteIt's like a dating story gone bad isn't it...the boys and the girls just don't seem to want to get it together.
DeleteOh the life of a zucchini !! some years you have to beat them back with a spade and other times they are so slow to grow. I do think its the water factor most plants like to have moist soil all the time, not dry/ wet/dry/ wet, we haven't had any good rainfall for well over 6 weeks and I'm hand watering and have noticed, tomatoes/zucchini and peppers a bit slow and a few yellow leaves.
ReplyDeleteI totally think I have "watering" issues on my balcony...the pots just dry out so quickly and I bet I'm watering incorrectly also.
DeleteThat pasta looks yum. I opted out of growing zuccs this year in favour of other things. The other things haven't gone so well in the same bed though, so back to things that ramble a bit next time.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to try again with the zucchinis...I'll put two into one long pot and see how we go. If only I had BEES on my balcony things would be better...
Delete30cm zucchini? you have done really well!
ReplyDeleteFunny post Mel! "Zucchini sex"
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to read about your gardening adventures, I wouldn't know what to do either. It's brilliant that you can reap in the benefits and enjoy the fruits of your labour.