There's One Summer Vegetable So Bad It Wants to Kill Itself. Why Do We Keep Pretending It's Worth Eating?

"A few summers ago, while I was visiting family in western Pennsylvania, my parents' neighbor sauntered over and "gifted" us some garden zucchini. Some is a bit of a misstatement here; these girthy, green summer squash were straight-up monstrous. As I accepted the basketful of hulking zucchini, my arm, caught off guard by the weight, drooped to the ground with burden. I was annoyed. Our neighbor hadn't gifted us anything, he'd encumbered us with tough, water-logged, flavorless vegetable mass."

""As soon as you get fruit, it's almost immediately a burdensome amount, grows too big so quickly, and no one else wants it, either," Sugar said. "Then, it's only a matter of time before you're fighting vine borers, cucumber beetles, powdery mildew, wilt, leaf spot ... it's like you're stressed running out the clock on inevitable pests and disease to harvest something you don't even want.""

Garden zucchini can grow excessively large and heavy, producing water-logged, bland squash that become burdensome to receive or harvest. Home gardeners commonly face rapid overproduction that outpaces demand, leaving surplus produce unwanted by family and neighbors. Zucchini plants also attract pests and diseases such as vine borers, cucumber beetles, powdery mildew, wilt, and leaf spot, creating pressure to harvest before infestation. Some gardeners conclude that buying zucchini as needed at farmers markets is preferable to cultivating it, given the time, effort, and stress involved in managing overabundance and plant health issues.

Read at Slate Magazine