Dark Green Zucchini Summer Squash

50 days — The bush-type plants of 'Dark Green' zucchini are vigorous and produce early. The fruit are straight, smooth, mottled dark green with flesh that has a pale green tint, is firm, and has a fine flavor. As with any summer squash, you can harvest them at just about any size; we begin harvesting fruit when they reach about six to eight inches long. We prefer them at this young and tender stage when they are excellent lightly steamed, sautéed, or stir-fried.

During the "high season" of summer, unless you are checking your plants daily, the fruit size can get away from you very quickly! Medium sized to large fruit can still be cooked in the same way as previously noted, but since harvest occurs during "barbecue season," we like to quarter the zucchini lengthwise, and with the skin left on, coat them in olive oil, season to taste, and then grill them until tender but firm. Often our seasoning is simply fresh ground black pepper and salt, but experiment with herbs for fun flavor variations. Each packet contains four grams, which is approximately 26 to 28 seeds.