If the Northland gets one more blast of heat, my zucchinis just might bear fruit.
What? Excited about a zucchini harvest? Yes. I am. This is not your common zucchini patch. This is my zucchini container garden.
Much of my garden has failed in this summer of garden infestations and blights. With so many crop failures—carrot seedlings mowed down by unseen creatures—beautiful lettuce seedlings decimated by cutworms— nothing seemed to grow. Finally in desperation I planted a handful of zucchini seeds in a flowerpot.
No expectations. Figured the seeds wouldn’t even sprout. But surprisingly in late-July a slight swell of dirt and a tinge of green showed one of the seeds germinating. The little bright green sprout was joined by two siblings the next day.
In the past, I’ve grown zucchini in the midst of a big garden, but never in containers. Ignoring all the bad zucchini publicity…too many tasteless recipes, too many jokes (What kind of vegetables like to look at animals? a zoo chinis), I took pride in the three plants.
Transplanting each into its own pot, I watched them flourish. A sunny spot on the deck rail agreed with the little fellows, and they grew and grew. When cold northwest winds threatened to shred these precious vegetables, I moved them to the other side of the house, where they thrived.
Finally, finally, last week, large yellow blooms opened to the sun. I felt like a proud mother. My late-planted zucchinis were a success. But no fruit appeared. Big beautiful yellow blooms unfurled, glistened in the golden sun and faded. Still no fruit.
Off to Google I went, trying to analyze the problem. I found a website with an answer. Pollination. Zucchini plants have both male and female flowers and the male needs to pollinate the female. Bees are the best source, but the bees around my house have disappeared in the cooler weather.
My trusty website recommended dabbing a cotton swab in the male bloom, gathering pollen and transferring it to the female bloom.
Only problem was—how do you tell a male zucchini bloom from a female? Standing with cotton swab in hand, I made an executive decision, since the flowers all looked alike to me; I mingled the pollen of two open ones. And waited.
Nothing happened. No glossy green zucchini formed. Back to Google I went, only to discover that I had pollinated two male plants. Oops.
My new website showed photos of both zucchini flower sexes. Ahh, that explained the difference. The picture was very clear. Female flowers have a small fruit as part of the stem. Trouble is, the female flowers on my plants are almost non-existent, although I managed to find one.
Tomorrow morning, I will wait for the sun to open the petals on the only tiny female blossom I found, transfer some pollen to it and, hope for the best.
Although chances for success are slim, I am optimistic.
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