[mountainhippie]

I swear, if you sat real still in my garden, you could HEAR the squash growing! Yesterday, I went to help some guy move to earn some extra money. In the morning, I went down to my garden, and picked 18 summer squash and 7 zucchini. Came home after helping haul boxes around all day, and picked the 16 zucchini that had grown up between 8 am and 5 pm! I don't know what I'm going to do with all of them. Is there any way of preserving squash?

 

[Finn Anthony]

There must be a way . I have had good luck making zuchini bread and wrapping it in cellophane,then foil and freezing it . Delicious !!

 

[HuntDude]

Not sure, but I would think it could be canned. I have friends who are retired and only live off of what they hunt and grow in their garden. They only go to the grocery 2x every year for staples (they imitate pioneer living - not for everyone - pretty cool, actually). They can EVERYTHING and I mean everything!

 

[TATERDAVID]

SHRED like for bread than freeze

 

[mountainhippie]

Just found this recipe for zucchini pickles that I might try.

zuke pickles

 

[bownut]

I wish I could get mine to finish. Mine get about 3" long and rot on the ends. I've had probably 100 zukes on 6 plants and have yet to pick one. I've sprayed for blossom end rot, added epsom salts and lime. Don't know what to do.

I have a couple things I like to do with zukes. Use any bread and butter pickle recipe. Just seed and cube the zukes. It's fabulous. Also, I make stuffed zucchini boats. Slice them long wise, hollow out the seeds. Stuff with burger, tomatoes, rice like stuffed peppers. Bake until done. Zucchini bread is also a favorite.

 

[knobfarm]

Here's another one for pickled squash:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pickled-Squash/Detail.aspx

Made some the other night and the brine was really good.

Also froze a bunch of them. The instructions I had for freezing squash say to slice them into 1/4 in slices, blanch 3 minutes, and freeze. I'm hoping they freeze well.

 

[Woods walker]

Put a stand out and sell the surplus.

 

[mountainhippie]

Once I start getting some other crops in, esp. my peppers and eggplant, I think I am going to start selling some stuff at this local farmers' market I go to. It only costs $5 to set up a stand, and it's in front of this natural foods co-op so I should be able to clean up with yuppies assuaging their loads of white liberal guilt by playing the "support your local ecology grad student" angle.

 

[Fleroo]

Put a stand out and sell the surplus.

Not sure about your area, but the permit hassles and fees would probably make it cost prohibitive to sell just a small amount of garden veggies.

 

[mountainhippie]

I don't know, there's lots of people that put a little table with some tomatoes and cucumbers and whatnot with a little lock box chained to a cinder block. I can't imagine they went through any permitting procedures if that's all the effort they're putting into it, and nobody seems to bother them.

 

[TATERDAVID]

you need to learn to plant less of certain things, i had this problem first couple years.i used to pick wheelbarrow loads of beans, now i plant just enough for me and maybe alittle extra for friends and family.


a good crop for you might be potatoes, they are easy to grow keep along time and have lots of uses

 

[Woodywoodduck]

you need to learn to plant less of certain things

AMEN!!!

My Father-in-law planted 3 Packets of Zucchini seeds 3 years ago and never asked me if I had planted any...he planted his late, I started 5 seeds in my buddy's green house and then transplanted them when we were planting the peppers and tomatoes after the last frost.....I walk into his house with 5 Zucchinis and hand them to him...he looks at me and says "Were did you get those?" I told him, he then asked me how many seeds I put it... I told him 5 plants....
He ended up trying to pawn off Zucchinis to everyone and anyone he could pawn them off on!

Last year and early this spring, he said both times, "I'm only going to plant 3 seeds" ....BUT, he planted a whole packet... the packets he gets has a good 20 seeds in them.....

we looked at 20 Zucchini plants last year and again this year 20 Zucchini plants... I keep telling him to let me grow cucumbers or broccoli, coliflower or cabbage in the space that he has the Zucchini in, but he will not do it...but then complains when many Zucchinis rot on the ground because NO ONE WANTS THEM!!

 

[mountainhippie]

I just have a hard time not planting all the seeds in the packet. Seems like a waste. Besides that, weird stuff happens sometimes so I try to spread each crop across a big portion of the garden, so that if something goes wrong in one spot hopefully the whole crop doesn't fail.

 

[Shippinit]

I've always planted my zucchini's 3-4 weeks apart and if it gets to the point where they're overloaded I give them to my parents who make bread and relish with them. I also give some away to others that do the same, but don't have the space for a garden.

 

[troutbert]

Give them to people! Lots of people would be glad to have them.

 

[hunnter]

If you decide to sell any veggies, make sure to report any income you make on your evil capitalist venture so you can pay tax on it!

 

[TATERDAVID]

yup gotta redistribute the wealth hippie

 

[Woodywoodduck]

I just have a hard time not planting all the seeds in the packet. Seems like a waste.

Take 1 Zucchini this year and let it go till it is yellow and mushy....then pick it and take about 10 seeds out of it and store in either a plastic pill bottle or some other small container labled of what the seeds are in the bottom crisper drawer of your fridge... next spring about 4 weeks before it is time to plant, take those seeds and start them in a starter tray and then transplant them out in your area you want to plant... you can space them all around......Zucchini do not run like cucumbers, watermelons, cantalopes and pumpkins, so you can place a Zucchini plant in among your peppers or tomatoes or cabbage, coliflower ect......


then you are not wasting... even better yet....just transplant 3 plants and keep the others inside and on stand by if the 3 do not grow in the area you transplant them too!


You can also get a packet of seeds, plant 5 seeds and take the rest and place the whole packet in a pill bottle or other small container and keep in the fridge till next year.......the germination will not go down all that badly and they will grow for a few years if you keep them cool.....


I got hold of a Store Display 3 years ago and my buddy who owns the farm and I took what we wanted and I offered up seeds on here to anyone who wanted them.... my buddy and I kept almost all the broccoli, coliflower, cabbage, cucumbers and some Zucchini packets... we keep them in his shop that stays somewhat cool all summer long... last year and this spring, we used seeds out of those we kept from that display, ALL the Seeds germinated that we started!


You can store them and they will then not go to waste!

 

[eyefromthesky]

I planted three zucchini plants last year and NONE this year!