Zucchini Frame Update

In my recent blog, I talked about my decision to build a frame to support my zucchini crop this year. The idea is to train the plants vertically to keep them up off the ground so the stems can avoid rotting in our torrential northern NSW downpours.

Well, already the slightly over-engineered frame has been doing a great job in protecting my crop. We’ve had some pretty strong winds here of late. Zucchini plants have huge leaves that flap around madly in windy conditions. Normally, these plants would have flipped over and laid flat and battered on the surface of the soil. To my pleasant surprise, after a long evening or relentless gales, I stepped out into the garden to see the plants sitting up firm and strong – thanks to their bamboo cage!

Another pleasant surprise this morning… the first flowers are starting to open, which means that very soon, we’ll be enjoying a continuous supply of fresh organic zucchini/courgettes. If you’ve ever had a problem with your zucchinis rotting and dropping off, it was probably due to a lack of pollination. It’s easy to pollinate flowers by hand, and this video shows you how.

I’m not going to get caught out by powdery mildew disease this year, so already I’ve starting spraying the leaves once a week with Eco-carb. Bracing myself for a bumper crop!