Let's visit on the Porch II (Bozeman: nurseries, Irish, planting)

[happiness is]

Zucchini production, I've found after this year, is not guaranteed.... cold, wet weather can really stunt your crops, EVEN ZUCCHINI!! ;-) I grew them in lots of different spots around the garden and yard, in both pots and in the ground, different packets of seeds, and the lack of fruit flowers was surprising. The boy flowers bloom first on zucchini, and then the girl flowers with tiny potential fruit are supposed to form, and you can hand pollinate to make sure the fruit set. I looked constantly for those female flowers to make sure they were pollinated, and for some reason.... nada, no go, zilch.

It was weird.... but then, a flood in Roundup and lots of other wet weather events in the state were unusual, too.

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by happiness is

Zucchini production, I've found after this year, is not guaranteed.... cold, wet weather can really stunt your crops, EVEN ZUCCHINI!! ;-)

It was weird.... but then, a flood in Roundup and lots of other wet weather events in the state were unusual, too.

The conclusion is obvious. Roundup was flooded by AWOL zucchini !!!

[happiness is]

I think this summer it was just a boy's club for zucchini in my yard.... no girls allowed (the Little Rascals)!!!!!!!!!

[ElkHunter]

All this talk of zucchini was making me hungry. So I ate too much lunch. Now I just want to take a nap.


I grew up in Easter South Dakota and we had the same problem. Dad drove a pickup so it didn't do any good to lock it. We'd come out and there would be a bag or two of zuc's in the back. Dad would immediately look around for another pickup to put it in.

Being the last man out of store or business, meant you got stuck with a bunch of bags of zuc's because everybody in the parking lot put theirs in your truck.

[Reziac]

Oh man... now I've finally got a reason to fix that busted window on my truck's topper!!

[happiness is]

I used to give it away, make zucchini bread (and have to give some of that away) and zucchini pickles, more than I could ever use! Yup, the humble zucchini, prime for lots of vegetable humor.

[happiness is]

Have you ever seen the images of all the beautiful carved vegetables and fruit, an artform in Asia, especially China?

The Exquisite Art of Food Carving - China culture

Fruit Carving | Learn Fruit Carving

Seems like zucchini carvings could be great additions to Jack O Lanterns at Halloween!

[happiness is]

I just went out and gathered my meager harvest of hazelnuts from the three shrubs I have.

I bought bare-root plants over 20 years ago, mail order from a nursery in up-state New York. I hoped that maybe something from that climate would survive in Bozeman, even though my neighbors thought I was "nuts".

The shrubs are actually a cross between hazelnuts and filberts, called hazelberts.

They form pods that contain the nuts, usually two pods together. I've never had a big crop so far, but they make beautiful fall colored foliage and enough that the squirrels find them.

I took a few photos to show you, one with artificial light and one with natural light.

As I was shooting, a ladybug crawled out of one of the pods. They are all over the bushes right now, hiding inside the nut pods, as they do every fall.

[happiness is]

Here is a little watercolor/pen and ink painting I did this weekend of a pinecone.

[ElkHunter]

Are those nuts edible by humans? If so, what do they taste like, any good?

How long after you planted before you had a crop?