Goodbye Zucchini, Hello Tromboncino!

After years, and I do mean years, of unsuccessfully trying to grow zucchini, I’ve finally accepted zucchini defeat.

I know. I KNOW!

Every middle-aged woman with a garden is supposed to be out here supplying the entire neighborhood with zucchini. It’s practically written in the homesteader’s handbook somewhere between “master sourdough” (working on it) and “learn to can everything” (which, for the record… I do).

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The squash borers always got my vines, no matter what I did. Every. Single. Time. I tried companion planting, row covers, prayers muttered over my garden beds at dawn. Nothing worked. Those little pests were more determined than I was, and honestly, they won.

So this year, I decided to try something new. Something that's a little extra.

Welcome to the garden...the tromboncino squash.

So far, this thing is FUN! It grows a very long, very unique squash fruit that looks like it can't quite decide what it wants to be when it grows up. If you pick it while it's green, it's supposed to taste like a combo between a yellow squash and a zucchini. But if you leave it on the vine until it turns the color of butternut squash, you're supposed to be able to store it for months and then use it just like a butternut squash.

Two squashes in one? Hello! A plant that works smarter, not harder! Love it!

As you can see, I've got some babies on the vine, and we're gonna see how this experiment goes.

Maybe this is the year I finally join the ranks of squash queens everywhere. Or maybe I'll discover I have a talent for growing squash that looks like it belongs in a Dr. Seuss book.

Either way, I'll keep you updated.

Because if there's one thing I've learned in the garden, it's that sometimes the best discoveries come from admitting defeat and trying something completely different.

Here's to second chances… and multitasking squash!

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