Saturday Spotlight – Black Zucchini

I grew zucchini for the first time in ages this year and I have to say I quite enjoyed the experience.  So much so that I think I will grow it again next summer.  Now I have to admit to not being a real zucchini connoisseur so my selection of variety is perhaps a little pedestrian.  Having said that it did really well for me; it grew easily, provided lots of zucchinis and a reasonable number of flowers.  All in all it was definitely worth growing.  I’m sure there are named varieties of ‘Black zucchini’ but mine was called simply that.

I sowed my seed in July inside moving the seedling outside into a cold frame when it germinated.  I sowed the seeds direct into herb pots, one seed per pot.  From the two pots I sowed one germinated which was enough for me as I only really wanted to grow one plant.  And frankly one plant was enough for our needs providing a zucchini every other day during the main cropping season.

My first zucchini harvest last season (pictured below) was in late November, which is pretty quick for a summer crop – if only my July sown tomatoes were cropping in November….

I had comparatively few issues growing zucchini.  I had reasonable fruit set although the occasional one didn’t pollinate properly and rotted at the flowering end rather than growing on.  The fruits weren’t attacked by anything, unlike my other crops, and although the plant was eventually overwhelmed by powdery mildew that only happened within the last couple of weeks.  All in all a very positive experience.

I think I enjoyed eating the flowers more than the zucchini themselves but I did make some lovely dishes with the fruit as well.

What variety of zucchini do you grow?  Would you recommend it?

Saturday Spotlight is a series of posts highlighting particular varieties of edible plants.  If you have a favourite, or even a less than successful variety of a plant and would like to include it in the series then please leave a comment with a link below.    I have created a page (above, just below the header) with an Index of all the Spotlights to date.   I will add links to any new posts below and in next weeks post as well as ensuring they appear in the Index.  

New Spotlights last week were:

 Pea Eggplant – Kebun Malay-Kadazan Girls

Cream Garlic – My Little Garden Project

And from this week:

Spearmint ‘The Best’ – Our Happy Acres

 Autumn Raspberries – Bek’s Backyard