Squashed Dreams

We've all heard the stories of the abundance of Zucchini - of people having so many, they leave them on neighbor's door steps, ring the bell and run away.
I want to have an abundance.
What I have instead is sickly plants.


The stems are split and gnarly looking.
I thought it was the dreaded squash vine borer, but I don't see the evidence of insect infestation.
And remarkably the plants are bearing squash. Just not an abundance of it.

My favorite this year has been the Eight Ball Zucchini. We have had these stuffed, sauteed, roasted and parmigiana-ed and they have been wonderful. You pick them at 3-4 inches. I will definately plant these again.

The Ambassador Summer Squash just hasn't produced that much. I think I've harvested three squash all summer. they have been tasty, but I was hoping to make zucchini bread to freeze for the winter.

The Zucchini Gold Rush has performed better, but lacks in flavor. Next year I'll return to crookneck squash.

I used one Ambassador Squash and one Gold Rush Zucchini to make a yummy Zucchini Bacon Quiche the other night.

I sauteed the zucchini slices with onion and garlic in olive oil and put it in a pie crust. Then I shredded some swiss cheese (maybe a cup - I really need to start measuring things!) and put that on top of the zucchini. I fried up four slices of center cut bacon and crumbled that on top. Then I whisked up 4 eggs with about a cup of light cream, salt and pepper and poured that over everything and baked it at 400 degrees until the top was nicely browned. I then turned it down to 325 until a knife inserted came out clean. It baked about one hour total.
Using fresh produce from the garden for your meal is what a Potager is all about. What's for dinner is what's ready to be picked.