We were doing so well this year with our garden. I even bragged about it in The Secret to a Beautiful Summer Garden.
I should know better.
Our two zucchini plants were growing beautifully and were producing a large zucchini once a week or so. The leaves though, had gotten so big they were growing out over the other plants. Our cucumbers weren’t turning green because of all the shade and the zucchini leaves were starting to droop into the driveway.
So I cut them back.
Now they look like this:
Sigh. It doesn’t look good for them.
However, our eggplants are doing really well:
Anyone have any suggestions about what we can do to save the zucchinis? Or, since we will soon have ten eggplants at once, any awesome eggplant recipes you could share?
Thanks for your help!
I am not the person you should EVER listen to re: gardening!
At our house, we love eggplant parm. Actually, my son prefers it more of just fried eggplant, preferring to eat it before I build a parm.
I slice the eggplant. I bread it in flour/egg/breadcrumb fashion. I drop it in hot oil in a skillet, turn it once and dry on a paper towel – of course, you can also put it on a stone, spray with some cooking spray and bake it rather than fry it.. My son eats it here, but I also like to build it into a casserole. Layers of sauce, eggplant and cheese. Bake like you would lasagne.
I was at Gasoline Alley in Akron this weekend and they have a great eggplant parm sandwich. They sliced it super thick (like an 1″ or more), bread it, fry it and serve it on a toasted bun with sauce and melted cheese. It really was more of a fork sandwich than a traditional one, but that eggplant flavor really comes through when you slice it that thick. Even my husband, who contends eggplant must be super thin, liked it.
eLMERS GLUE TO PUT THE LEAFS BACK ON!!!! : )
Very funny – Dad! :)
Sorry, our zucchini sucked this year.
OMGosh! That looks exactly like MY zucchini plants! Exactly. Mine took off like crazy plants, so big, so beautiful. I got ONE zucchini. One. All these vegetables started to grow and then just died. My plants also overshadowed my cucumbers so I didn’t get any of those either. I have no idea what happened.
Awww, don’t worry about those zucchinis. They will grow back right?
I don’t know….my garden consists of a topsy turvy that never produced the big tomatoes but the cherry plant got too big.
Nice eggplant, though!
Wow! The eggplants look great! This year, we attempted an organic container garden (we live in Orlando so not the ideal gardening climate). Unfortunately, most of our plants didn’t make it but we are not giving up hope!
the kids and I have always wanted to start a garden, but renting and living the Military life didn’t give us that freedom, we have been at this house for 1 year now, and last weekend we finally cleared an entire section to start ;) (since we don’t have to worry about winters in California) lol
No advice on the zucchini plants-I’m clueless when it comes to that. The eggplant made my mouth water – I love it! My very favorite is stuffed eggplant -
BAKED STUFFED EGGPLANT
1 lg. eggplant
1 c. chopped onions
1 c. chopped mushrooms
1 1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 lb. lean ground beef
1/4 c. tomato paste or sauce
1/4 c. wheat germ
8 oz. shredded Mozzarella cheese
Wash eggplant and cut in half lengthwise carefully remove the pulp leaving 1/2 inch of the outer shell. Dice the pulp. Saute the onions, mushrooms and seasonings in a little butter, add ground beef and cook slightly. Stir in the tomato paste or sauce, wheat germ and eggplant pulp and cook until meat is slightly done. Spoon meat, cheese mixture into the eggplant shell and place in an oiled oven proof dish and bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.