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mighty zucchini

Of the numerous varieties of squash available I decided to choose the one that grows larger than my garden. These summer zucchini plants are gigantic and determined the location I chose for them is not adequate in terms of real estate so they sprawled over the concrete walkway completely blocking it. Now I have to jump over the leaf of the year award winning plants if I want to stroll back and forth in the back yard. The plants work strenuously around the clock to produce a barrage of stems and enthusiastic blooms but so far I have seen no yield.

Better later than never, behold the beautiful fruit of the vine! Many gardening books point to the fact that the female squash flowers appear on the plants later but they don’t say it can be as long as a month and a half later in some cases. Fortunately they grow very fast. I am writing this article one day after I took the picture and this zucchini already doubled in size.

I would consider growing them in containers next year but there is no substitute for starting plants directly in the ground: they develop better root systems, get a good balance of nutrients and are less stressed during periods of draught.

Setting aside the fact that loam is the ideal soil for any plant most vegetables love clay, which is one of the most fertile growing mediums. If a plant can withstand the weight on its roots you can tell this nutrient rich soil makes it thrive.

My zucchini plants are an example of how that might happen; they keep expanding into a little temperate climate jungle. I gave up on the idea of making them look neat and tidy, they are annuals after all…

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