By Tamara Galbraith

A few years ago, a Mt. Gretna, PA, couple known for inventing wacky holidays designated August 8 as “Sneak Some Zucchini onto your Neighbor’s Porch Night". Any gardener who has successfully grown summer squash and zucchini will chuckle with understanding over that one. Invariably, we end up with way more zukes than we can possibly eat. We give them to friends, family and co-workers but every time we turn around, there's more.

Occasionally, though, people do have trouble growing zucchini. Here are a couple of common complaints, with suggested solutions:

Q: My zucchini/squash plant is producing lots of leaves and flowers, but no fruit.
A: This is usually a pollination issue, i.e., the pollen on the male flowers isn't reaching the female flowers, due to low bee and other pollinating insect activity. Female flowers have swelling at the base of the flower. Take a Q-tip, get some pollen from a few male flowers, and rub it on the sticky middle part at the end of the female flowers' pistils. You can also plant several bee-attracting flowers around the zucchini plants.

Q. I have some zucchini fruit growing on my plants, but the end of the fruit starts to go rotten before I can harvest.
A. Two things can cause this rotting: a calcium deficiency or an irregular watering schedule. Add mulch around your zucchinis and water on a regular schedule. If that doesn't help, water a small handful of finely ground limestone into to the soil around each plant to raise calcium levels.