Fenton Friday: Colin’s Cucumbers and Zucchini

Colin Davan and cucumbers. Photo by Ian Ferris.

Guest Blog by Colin Davan

With a pile of seeds spread across the table, I was left with some tough decisions. After my fellow summer interns Miguel and Ian had picked their tomatoes and peppers, I was tasked with four seed packs: two kinds of cucumbers and two types of zucchini plants. 

However, these were not just any vegetable plants. Each brought their own unique challenges and tasks. Starting with the cucumbers, I had one pack of Slicing Cucumber and another of Japanese Climbing Cucumber, which required a tomato cage surrounding it, hence the name.

Moving to the zucchini, I was in charge of the Nimba Squash Zucchini and Dark Star Zucchini. 

The summer plot got off to a hot start with Miguel and Ian planting their tomato and pepper seedlings. In my first week, I spent my time thoroughly weeding and clearing out the section of the plot I was given. Since these vegetable plants required so much space, I delayed my seed sowing until the second week. 

The second week, I returned and formed the four small mounds spaced out a couple of feet from one another. After I planted the seeds in each mound, topped them with compost, and surrounded them with straw, I protected them with small wire pieces (hardware cloth), so the urban pests would not come to take my special seeds or baby seedlings. I stood back and took a picture of the dirt mounds. I began to wonder: what will come of these seeds? Will I find any success in the garden this summer?

After returning the following week, a glimpse of success began to push out from the mounds. Small green seedlings had begun to arise with a few pesky weeds around them. I tended to my four small mounds and returned the following week. 

When I returned, I saw an increase in seedlings that were beginning to flourish. Both of the cucumber plant mounds exploded as each had several small seedlings that I would eventually thin down to two each. However, I was not seeing close to the same progress with my zucchini plants. 

Photos from top down: Thriving 'Nimba' Squash Zucchini, Climbing Cucumbers, and failed 'Dark Star' Zucchini.

I would come to find later on that my zucchini plants would ultimately give me problems all summer. The Dark Star never produced a seedling and the Nimba Squash grew much more slowly than my cucumbers. However, that did not deter my garden grind. We planted a different zucchini squash variety in the former Dark Star spot and gave extra care to my zucchini each week.

As the blazing hot weeks in the garden went on, my Nimba Squash and both cucumbers would grow at exponential rates. Powerful rainstorms all throughout July, hot sunny days, and a little bit of fish fertilizer created the perfect mix for results. 

By late July and early August, I had begun to see flowers and small cucumbers, but no actual zucchini yet. A bit of concern began to creep in as the deadline for submissions in the Montgomery County Fair was quickly approaching, and I did not have enough similar-looking cucumbers or zucchini ready to submit an entry. 

I was able to harvest many cucumbers from my Japanese Climbing plant and ended up submitting them to the DC State Fair (results TBA). While the zucchini plants struggled, I was able to get a nice zucchini, which I used in a chocolate zucchini cake. (Thanks Kathy for the recipe!)

At the end of my Fenton journey, I realized this experience was not only about producing cucumbers and zucchini, but also of overcoming obstacles and strengthening my patience. I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity with the Washington Gardener Magazine this summer, as I got to enhance my journalistic skills while also being on the Fenton plot working in a nice community garden.

About the Author:

Colin Davan is an intern this summer session with Washington Gardener. He is a rising senior at the American University in Washington, DC, studying journalism with a minor in history. He grew up just outside of Boston in two towns (Hopkinton and Framingham), both with backyards always filled with a wide variety of flowers, herbs, vegetables, and fruits.