This is the English version of the following article.

I bought a packet of zucchini seeds two years ago. In general, you should probably use seeds within the expiration date. However, I put the rest of the seeds in the refrigerator to use in the following years because I don't have much space or skill to grow all the seeds at once, and I also feel bad about throwing away the seeds that might still work.

As far back as I can remember, the zucchini seeds I planted always came up successfully until last year. I thought they would be successful again this year, so I prepared two pots and put a seed in each. After a few days, one sprouted and the other didn't.  The germination rate was 50 percent, including the results of the seeds I planted soon after.  Is it difficult to get the seeds to grow after being stored for two years?

The young zucchini plants grew well, so I planted these seedlings in the garden in full sun; two seedlings in June and one in July. I've been trying to mulch with weeds again this season, but the sun is shining so hard that the spot without mulch has dried out hard. Last season I was barely able to harvest until the weather got cooler, so I'm afraid of what will happen this year.

I have been spraying the zucchini leaves with water in the early evenings because spider mites tend to appear in hot and dry weather. Despite my fears that the extremely hot days would be bad for the zucchini plants, they have grown healthily, have large leaves, and even produced three female flowers in the first week of August, after only male flowers had continued to grow. However, two of the fruits remained small for a few days, so I picked them. I wonder if the female flowers were poorly pollinated.

I don't know exactly why the fruit didn't grow. It could be due to the high temperature or lack of nutrients, or maybe I should have just hand-pollinated them. I will see if the flowers open each morning to help them develop.

Although the garden is small, I find it difficult to manage it well. Sometimes I wish I had a farm, but in reality, if I can make good use of the small space I have, I'm sure I'll be happy for the time being.

About zucchini last year, you can read this below.

About using weeds as garden mulch, you can read this below.