I saw a post on a different subject that challenged the writer to provide advice in 6 words.  So I took up the cause and came up with ten garden advice tips.  

This is embarrassing, I’m a failure at growing zucchini.  This most prolific plant that is the subject of jokes and interesting stories.  Like the report in the 2019 Old Farmer’s Almanac: “In Berlin, Germany, a 16-inch, 11-pound zucchini was mistaken for an unexploded World War II bomb.”   And I’m sure you have heard the joke told in many ways but the punch line is always to lock your car so you don’t receive any unexpected gift zucchinis from generous neighbor gardeners.

​Summer squash (aka zucchini ) are often described as a no-fail plant.  “With just a few plants you’ll have enough for friends, neighbors, and friend’s friends”, according to Grocery Gardening by Jean Ann Van Krevelen.  She also advises to keep harvesting or plants will stop producing.  Pick every day and pick when small when they are the most flavorful.  It was the "small" part that caught my attention.  The larger the size the less flavor for zucchinis. I want mine small, in fact much smaller than the ones in the markets (see female flower/fruit in above picture.) 
 
Daniel Stone, author of The Food Explorer, describes David Fairchild’s exploration for new food plants for America at the turn of the last century (1900s).  Fairchild first tasted zucchini in California.  It originated somewhere in Central America and was developed as a food crop in Italy and France.  Nature’s intent was for zucchini to be eaten small, before the blossom falls off; its name is Italian for ‘little squash’ according to Stone.   According to Wikipedia, the fruit is typically harvested as a baby vegetable, approximately finger size, and is referred to as "baby marrows" in South Africa.  That was the size I wanted to try.
 
Anyway, my plan was to grow a few plants in a tub this year to have a ready supply of perfectly sized (before the blossom dropped) fruits to sauté for an evening meal.  I grew exactly two zucchinis and, yes, they were perfect.  But then no more. 
 
Where did I go wrong?  Maybe they don’t like being constricted in a tub, maybe they need more than 6 hours of sun a day (the maximum in my woodland garden), maybe they had too much or too little water?  Lot’s of questions, no answers.
 
Do I try again next year to have a supply of the perfect zucchini?  I have more than six months to ponder whether to use space for this or a less finicky plant.