Zucchini, or as the British call them – courgettes, is a summer squash. This is actually a fruit but we treat it as a vegetable. These plants originate in Italy but are grown across many part of the globe.
The seed is planted outside when all chance of frost has passed. They like rich and well watered soil and prefer full sun.
Healthy green leaves appear after a few days and get bigger rapidly.
Soon the flower buds start appearing … lots of them.
Beautiful big yellow blossoms appear, but get your photos early, early in the morning as the fully open stage doesn’t last that long.
The male flower grows directly on the stem of the zucchini and the female flower is a golden blossom on the end of each new zucchini.
Pick zucchini when they are about 20 cm (8 inches) long. At this size the seeds are still soft and immature. I’ll be picking zucchini soon.
Zucchini can be cooked in many ways … steamed, broiled, grilled, bbq’d, roasted, fried, and in baking. If you don’t have a favourite recipe you can find all sorts of them by going an internet search. A couple of my favourite ways are on the bbq and in a casserole.
ABC Wednesday letter of the week is Z. Z for zucchini.
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