07/16/2026
I always plant zuchinnis, every year without fail. Most people don't bother.
Zuchinnis are consistently one of the cheapest fresh produce in the store, they take up a bunch of space in the garden, can choke out other plants, they always seem to have way too many male flowers and not enough female, until one day suddenly you have way too many zuchinnis and not enough friends who'll take them.
And every year I look at my finite growing space and think maybe I shouldn't. But I always cave.
There are plenty of other plants that are good pollinator feeders. But few rival zuchinni in just how much one plant will provide. If you look into the flowers its not uncommon for there to be multiple pollinators, often of differing species going about their business inside there.
I plant other flowering vines as well, usually some kind of melon, maybe cucumber, or winter squash. Its good for biodiversity and it's always suprising how unique native pollinators I never see anywhere else will find my Korean melons or Vietnamese okra and go crazy for it.
Right now, as anxiety over basics like housing and food grows and techno oligarchs, ultra rich, and politicians continually find new ways to dust off old scripts to make neighbor hate neighbor I'm really glad I planted zuchinni again.
It doesn't fix anything of course. But its just nice to be able to go out to water the crops and take a moment to see what little group of very small neighbors I'll find today.
