She asked me to plant zucchini and I planted zucchini. Four plants. Then I began harvesting zucchini and giving it to her. And harvesting and giving. And harvesting and giving. After about the fourth or fifth zucchini fruit, she jokingly threatened that if I gave her one more, she was going to beat me over the head with it.
A cracked crown has never been one of my life’s ambitions. But I had no idea what I was going to do with any remaining zucchini. I planted it for her, not me. I had one fruit left, and after several months, it wound up in the garbage. A shameful waste, to be sure. But I really did not know how to use it.
You’ve read or heard me talk about the importance of planning out your garden before you do any digging or planting. But there’s another area of planning that is often overlooked, namely planning what you’re going to do with the fruits and vegetables you harvest. It’s well and desirable to research what you intend to plant to be sure that it is the right plant and cultivar for your garden. But it is also important to know how you’re going to use that fruit or vegetable once you begin harvesting it.
Eating it fresh or putting it on a sandwich or in a salad are the most obvious uses. But if you harvest a bumper crop of tomatoes or cucumbers, then there is only so much that you and your family can eat fresh, in salads, or in sandwiches before the excess begins to spoil. Giving the excess away to family and friends is another use. But family and friends can only take so much before they begin barring the doors and locking the windows when they see you coming with another basketful of zucchini.
So it’s equally important to know in advance how you plan to use a particular vegetable or fruit once you’ve decided that you want to grow it. This can involve finding recipes that use your chosen fruits and vegetables. Perhaps you already own some cookbooks that contain such recipes, or you can do some internet research to find these recipes. Do you know how to can, dry, freeze, or fresh store produce? If not, then maybe it’s time to learn. Do you have friends, relatives, and neighbors whom you think would be interested in your excess harvest? Ask them in advance instead of springing on them. They might be more receptive to sharing in your bounty. Lastly, find out if there are food pantries in your town that accept donations of fresh produce. If you’ve exhausted all the other uses, then donating your excess to a food pantry can be an excellent backup plan.
Once again, this all boils down to doing your homework. Just as you should never put anything in the ground unless you know something about it, you should also never plant anything that you have no clue what you’re going to do with the harvest.
the garden troubadour 