Summer Squash Starting

Like most gardeners, when conditions are right, we end up with a lot of summer squash. One would think we would learn from year to year and start fewer plants, but they seem so small and fragile when they first start coming up. For some reason, this year we planted sixteen summer squash plants of probably eight varieties. All but the patty pan variety have given us squash. We started picking them last week when they were very small, but it only takes a day or two of escaping our notice for them to increase in size. The mix of zucchini, golden squash, and crooknecks makes for a pretty basket. I like the yellow ones as they provide some color to an otherwise green pallet of vegetables before tomatoes start coming in.

We have already put the estate sale wok I bought in the spring to use, producing stir fry and fried rice meals. I have also been slicing summer squash onto my salads, saving the cucumbers for Maggie's cucumber salad. I saw a box grater on the counter this morning next to this bowl, so Maggie may have some chocolate zucchini bread coming out of the oven later today.

It is raining as I look out the window, so the garden should continue to thrive and feed us over the coming weeks.