I have too many zucchini squash

[Gary350]

I have over dosed on squash already. Fried squash sure are good but a person is limited to how many they can eat. Little zucchini pizzas are good to top slices with pizza sauce, pepperoni and cheese then bake on cookie sheet in the oven. I have been harvesting squash for a month. 14 free squash need a new home unless I can find a different way to eat squash.

[hendi_alex]

Wow, I harvest ours when they are 6-9 inches long and about 1.5-2 inch diameter. Any bigger and they go to the compost pile.

[feldon30]

In small towns in the midwest, people lock their cars in August. That's when the squash comes in.

[valley]

You can't have too many Zucchini! You can't have too many tomatoes? and you can't have too many peppers!

Richard

[Lindsaylew82]

In 2 months, neighbors will lock their doors, family will not answer calls, people at work will avoid eye contact..... And I will be forced to stalk the lonesome car coming down the road with the window rolled down.

One year we had such an over abundance that we called the local soup kitchen and they actually came to our house to pick up 3 laundry baskets full.

Soup kitchen your extras! Hungry people everywhere!

[imafan26]

Well, you can make zucchini bread, stuffed zucchini, soup, tempura, zucchini fries, I lost my noodles lasagna, uhhhhhh. Yep, not a lot of ways I know of use up zucchini. Donating them to the local food bank sounds like a good idea.

[lexusnexus]

My partner would definitely disagree with your assessment! No such condition exists for her..

[Francis Barnswallow]

*is jealous* I'd love to grow squash but SVB's forbid it.

[hendi_alex]

Cover plants with fine mesh until they begin to flower. Uncover them at that point and you should get at least 2-3 weeks of squash before the plants succumb to SVB. When you uncover the plants, immediately start another few covered plants. These should be near blooming size before the first batch dies. SVB activity tends to come in waves so some plants grown this way may get missed by SVB for many weeks.

[JayPoc]

Cut them into the size of steak fries, beer batter and deep fry. Slice them in half length wise, scoop seeds and toss, then drizzle the halves with EVOO and real parmasean cheese, bake. Make vegetable "pasta", either sheets for lasagna or like noodles for skettie. Lots of good Zuch bread recipes, and they all freeze and last for ages if vacuum sealed. Finally, you can simply cut, blanch, and freeze.

They really don't have much flavor on their own, so they can be mixed in liberally into various sauces, soups, etc.

[ElizabethB]

So many of the dishes that you can prepare with zucchini can be frozen. Soup, casseroles, zucchini bread, lasagna, stuffed.

Donating to a soup kitchen or food pantry is a great idea. We have a soup kitchen - St. Joe's Diner, and many of the churches have food pantries.

Pick them when they are smaller and you can sell them at the Farmer's Market or locally owned produce markets and grocery stores. They love to sell locally grown produce and you get a few bucks for your effort.

If you make small loaves of zucchini bread you can sell those at the Farmer's Market. Figure your cost then double it for a selling price.

Enjoy your bountiful harvest.

[Lindsaylew82]

Picklessssssss!

[Lab_Man]

In small towns in the midwest, people lock their cars in August. That's when the squash comes in.

I'm sorry, but I don't get it.

[ElizabethB]

They lock their cars so no one can put squash in them.

[hendi_alex]

Come back to your car and it may be filled with squash!

[Lindsaylew82]

*snort*

It's the same in where I live...

Season starts with, "YAY! SQUASH!!!"

Mid season, "You want another grocery bag full of squash? What do you mean you haven't eaten the 7 bags I have you last week?!?"

2 weeks later, neighbor closes blinds and avoids eye contact when seen out... Check their car door....OPEN! SCORE!!! Deposit 2 grocery bags full of squash.

Next day more bags... Car locked... DANG!

5 days later...*Resigned sigh* guess I'll call the soup kitchen...

[feldon30]

In small towns in the midwest, people lock their cars in August. That's when the squash comes in.

I'm sorry, but I don't get it.

See Lindsaylew's post above. In short, people have zucchini and squash coming out their ears and so they start putting it in stranger's cars, knocking on people's doors begging for people to take it away.

[ElizabethB]

People lock their cars to avoid un asked for gifts of squash.

[Lindsaylew82]

You do what you gotta do to spread the squash love.

[Gary350]

18 squash went to a foster home for children. They will put all the children to work slicing, bagging and freezing it. They have 6 deep freeze and 4 large refrigerators and a very nice big kitchen.

What is SVB?

My plants are loaded with more squash. I think I will make more fried squash tonight and zucchini pizza slices tomorrow.

There are no real Farmers Markets in Arizona. There are places that claim to be farmers market, they sell cotton candy, home made jewelry, home made wooden toys, hot dogs, hamburgers, hats, nick nacks, but no garden vegetables, no garden plants.

I have several water melons already 1 is 12" long 5" diameter. LOL. It won't be long now.

Best Farmers Market I ever attended was in Maine near Arcadia National Park. There was a lady that brings 400 homemade cake donuts every Saturday morning and was sold out by 11 am. Chocolate coated, powder sugar coated, cinnamon sugar coated, plain, 100 of each. We all had 1 and they were all good.

[ElizabethB]

Dad was always an over ambitious gardener. He grew way more produce than he and Mother could ever dream of using. He sold most of his excess produce to a local owned produce market a 1/4 mile from the house. He sold the rest at one of several Farmer's Markets in town. We have at least 3.

There are always lots of baked goods at the Farmer's Market - no big Board of Health issues. Kind of like a church bake sale.

When I get out of town - in the more rural areas - there are road side stands selling seasonal produce. That does require a municipality license and permission from the property owner to set up. Early in the year it is Louisiana strawberries. Later you can find anything from sweet corn, watermelon, cantaloupe, Rustin peaches, onions, sweet potatoes, okra, red potatoes and of course lots of squash.

A fond memory is Old Man Callais. He had a small farm and sold his vegetables door to door out of a mule drawn wagon. He was a fixture in the community until the early 1980's. Good things do sometimes happen to good people. Business developments sprouted up all around Mr. Callais's property. In the mid 70's he sold off most of his land to a mall development. BIG $! The beauty of the story is that he continued to plant, harvest and sell from his small remaining plot. He reared his 5 children in the ram shackled house that he had always lived in - no central A/C. His children grew up working the farm. All of his children are professionals - 2 doctors,1 lawyer, 1 teacher and one business owner. They lived and were educated on what he earned. His children never saw the mega bucks until after his death.

We always listened for the sound of the bells on Mr. Callais's mules. In the later years it was a sight to see this elderly man in his mule drawn wagon on a 4 lane street selling his produce door to door. Miss Old Man Callais.

[Lab_Man]

Come back to your car and it may be filled with squash!

I my God that is so funny AND TRUE.

I laughed so hard when I read that Hendi_Alex.

Thank you

[Lab_Man]

My wife is never as happy as I am as I'm carrying yet another tote of vegetables from the garden.

I still have tears in my eyes as I'm writing this.

Neighbor avoids eye contact, you guys kill me.

[jal_ut]

Ummmmmm, you drive around town and toss a squash in every open window?

OK, try zucchini milk. You liquify the squash in a blender and use the liquid for the liquid in your bread, cake, cookie recipes.

[jal_ut]

Gary: What is SVB?

Squash Vine Borer. Do a Google search on that one. Thankfully our winters here are such that it gets them and most years they don't make it here moving in from further South. Bad news for those where it does make it.

[valley]

Greetings, I'm putting the final touches on a car that is fuelled by squash. Yes, the main working converter, separates squash into different components, even the wind shield washer filled with an ingredient from the vegetable. Every function of this vehicle will be fuelled, English spelling, or lubricated by squash.

Back now to my first statement: "You can't have too many Zucchini !"


Richard

[hendi_alex]

Isn't squash about 90% water. Send them to southern California where they can squeeze out the water!

[Lab_Man]

My zucchini just broke ground last week and my tomatoes are a little over a foot tall!!!

I am getting a late start for sure, but I will be just getting my zukes when some of you have given all you don't want to your neighbors and are composting the rest.

[valley]

Lab-man, You'll still get some squash for your trouble, I just planted some as well.

Richard

[ElizabethB]

Richard - Alex -