SQUASH
The black zucchini squash is a fun plant to grow because you can harvest both the squash flowers and the squash itself! This plant will have a bountiful harvest, giving you many nutritious vegetables packed with vitamins a & c, zeaxanthin, and calcium. Zeaxanthin is an antioxidant that fights against cancer and supports eye health.
There are a few reasons you may have many flowers on your squash plant but are not seeing vegetables grow
1. Your plant needs more time to produce
2. There are only male or female flowers on the plant
3. Your plants are lacking pollination.
ZUCCHINI BREAD
Ingredients:
1 Cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil or apple sauce
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp nutmeg
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts
In the first month of growing, you can expect to see squash flowers appearing from your plant. Vegetables only grow from female flowers after they have been pollinated by male flowers. This means if you have an abundance of male flowers on your plant, you can harvest them and use them in recipes! Make sure to only pick half of the male flowers on your plant to promote pollination.
You can determine if a blossom is male or female by how they look. Male flowers will have long green stems that sprout outwards from the plant. Female squash flowers will be shorter and in the middle of the plant.
Ingredients:
12 squash flowers (or however many you have)
7 ounces fresh ricotta
1⁄4 cup grated Parmesan
1 tsp chopped mint
1 tsp chopped parsley
1 tsp red pepper flakes
zest of 1 lemon, plus 1 for serving
1⁄4 cup all purpose flour
1 1⁄4 cups self-rising flour
1 cup wine or sparkling water
Piping bag or sandwich bag
Vegetable oil for frying
1 teaspoon salt
Plus additional few grinds freshly cracked pepper