For those new to the blog, Granny was a sweet, wonderful blogger that we lost to cancer back in May (see "Gardening for Granny" link on side bar). Her loss to the garden blogging world was noticeable as she touched so many of our lives. She was so excited to see everyones gardens. One of her last emails to me was when I wrote about us wanting to plant some squash. I told her we were going to put two in one 4x4 raised bed. She cautioned me that they can get huge, in fact hers were almost always huge with platter sized leaves and two would be too much for that raised bed. Hers she said, filled up an entire 4x4 square. I told her we'd try it and see what happened and she said "I'm just making sure you keep an eye on them, they might become bigger than you think. I hope I'm able to see the outcome."
We did plant two, after she passed, and they both struggled. Then one fizzled out. And we gave up on the other, even stopped watering it so we could focus on the other veggies in the other raised beds.
Then suddenly, the one remaining starting getting bigger...
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| Zucchini blossoms |
And put on blossoms...
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| Zucchini flowers |
And started to spread out...
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| Zucchini leaves |
And kept getting bigger with platter sized leaves......
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| Giant zucchini |
And filled up the entire 4x4 bed...
...just like Granny said.
We like to think she had something to do with that. There are quite a few zucchini in there, in various states of development so we should be having quite a few very soon. Time to start googling zucchini recipes. :-)
Thank you Granny. This one's for you!
You are missed.
I miss Granny too. And do you remember that huge zucchini she got one year that was taking over? She did get monster zucchinis at times. Mine are never quite that big.
ReplyDeleteI DO remember that, it was huge. Maybe she'll send me a couple of those, ha. She would be happy though that we all garden on. :-)
DeleteI would like to think that as well, beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yes, if nothing else, i'm sure she's smiling at all of our efforts.
Delete1st Man,
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure Granny had something to do with your squash taking off like this.
Bless you Granny, we know you're watching over all of your blogger friends.
She's a garden angel for sure and I bet she's showing Sci the ropes. :-)
DeleteYep, Granny is definitely watching over you. That huge, very healthy zucchini’s comeback is proof of that! You’re going to start having so many zucchini dishes that you’ll sound like Forrest Gump about his shrimp!!
ReplyDeleteIt’s fall-garden planting time in SE Texas - yeah! I came back from my local nursery with seedlings of broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, and tomatoes. Bulbs for shallots. Along with seeds for beets, celery, chives, dill, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, and Swiss chard. I have some left-over seeds from spring for green beans and squash.
In mid-September, it’s time to plant carrots. Then the end of September will be planting time for lettuce, onion, spinach, and, something new I’m trying this year, mustard-spinach greens - it’s supposed to look like mustard greens but taste like spinach.
I’ll go back to the nursery every week for several weeks to get new batches of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and lettuce plants for staggered plantings so I have a steady supply all winter.
In my front flower bed, I’m going to plant some curly-leaf parsley and ‘Bright Lights’ Swiss chard (has multi-colored stems) - they’ll be pretty this fall and winter and I can also eat them.
Happy Gardening!
LOL! BBQ zucchini, grilled zucchini, butterflied zucchini, zucchini bread, zucchini stir fry, zucchini soup....and so on and so on....ha!
DeleteYou gave me some great ideas, thank you!!!
She was a lady with gardening wisdom!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely! I still go back to her blog to get ideas on occasion.
DeleteShe knew what she was on about by the sounds of it.
ReplyDeleteAs for recipes make sure you try my cold courgette (or zucchini for you guys) salad - it's really simple to make and tastes great. I know it's cheeky but here's the link - http://www.englishhomestead.com/2014/07/cold-courgette-salad.html - we love it!
OH MY GOSH, your salad looks great. And no, I don't mind you putting your link at all. That's what it's all about, caring and sharing! And by the way, I've always loved 'courgette' as the name. Also love 'aubergine' for eggplant. They sound much more exotic. Thanks again and the first time we make this salad, I'll give you a shout out to your blog in my post as the recipe courtesy of you!
DeleteOnce they start, there's no stopping them! Enjoy there are plenty of recipes out there.
ReplyDeleteGod bless Granny.
This is our first and yes, it looks like it might be very prolific. I guess that's why there are so many zucchini recipes huh? LOL!
DeleteGod bless Granny for sure!!
I'm guessing that when you stopped watering it, it began to recover. Ours faltered when we got rain after rain, but recovered and grew nicely when the rains finally stopped.
ReplyDeleteI miss Granny, too, and still find myself wanting to email and ask gardening questions.
Really? So it's the too much water thing huh? Nice to know. I didn't water it again but that's only because it did rain on Sunday but that's all it will get this week.
DeleteOh my, I was visiting her blog the other day reading some past stuff and I could really feel her absence. The blog is comforting though. She has so much great info on there, I hope her family leaves it up for a long time.