I mentioned that my zucchini plants have been up to a little something lately and promised I’d share. About a week ago, I woke up and looked outside to see this:

It literally happened overnight. One day I had a good-sized but innocuously green bud nestled down among the leaves and the next there was this orange-yellow blossom nudging it’s way through. I was thrilled.

Then it opened up, closed back up, and fell off.

But the next day I had another!

And then that one opened up, twisted it petals closed, and dropped off as well.

Okay, I thought. Blossoms are supposed to mean fruit. If these guys keep dropping off like this, how am I ever going to get any zucchini up in here?

So I did what I always do when I’m confuzzled. I googled. I quickly learned that, like many things in life, there are two different types of zucchini blossoms: male & female. Those short-lived suckers on the spindly stems had been male blossoms. Female blossoms, on the other hand, arrive appropriately on the end of a thick, voluptuous stem. This apparently “thick stem” is actually the beginnings of fruit.

Armed with this new knowledge, I began searching every day for the beginnings of a lady blossom. And I didn’t have to search for long.

Hello, Miss.

Now I just need to wait for her to open up (there’s actually a second one one peeking out now!), make sure she gets a little action from one of those eager guys, and we should have ourselves some veggies. And judging by what I saw this morning, she’ll have her pick of the pollen.

On a serious, reflective note: Having a garden has been a constant education, and this is just one of so many interesting things I wouldn’t have known about my food otherwise. It’s fun to really know how it all works and it makes me appreciate vegetables in a whole new way.