Cucuzzi is summer vegetable worth trying

The great thing about gardening in Florida is that you can take time off if you like.

My son Mike says he is going to do that, just take care of the few okra plants he has and keep picking his cucuzzis, also known as bottle gourds. The vines started bearing two months ago, and look like they will continue as long as it is warm.

The long gourd/squash fruits look like lime green baseball bats. I had never heard of them before moving to Florida, but my daughter married an excellent cook who knew them well.

Cucuzzi should be picked when they are about 10 to 15 inches long. They are edible well past that, but harder to skin and softer in the center. They have white flowers that open in the evening and stay open a while in the early morning.

There is always something to plant in Florida. I wanted yard-long beans but had no seeds until a friend told me about Kitazawa Seed Co. The company offered eight different kinds. I ordered seeds online and had them two days later. They are now sprouting. These take only 60 to 70 days to mature and only a handful of beans to feed a small family. They do best through the summer and will replace string beans, but they cook faster.

Hyacinth bean, dolichos lablab, is one I first saw growing in Iowa as an ornamental vine and only later learned that the fat, flat pods and seeds are good food.

There are two kinds, one with green pods and white flowers that is not so showy, and the other with pink and white flowers and dark maroon pods that is quite striking. The first comes from a tan seed with a white seed scar, the showy one from a darker seed with the same scar.

Once you have these, they may come back either from the roots or from self-seeds. They should not, however, be eaten raw. Always cook them well before eating. Of course, all these vegetables need full sun or nearly so.

I was never successful with eggplant until my second summer in Florida, and I've never done quite as well since, but hope springs eternal. Kitazawa Seed has 20 varieties. The Asian ones, long and thin, are milder and less likely to be bitter. If you grow or buy them, cook them while the skin is still shiny. They grow much like tomatoes in size and care and like our summer weather.

Today's pick

Florida spinach is a cousin of my leaf-a-day plant, has longer and thinner leaves and different, slightly larger pink flowers that open in the afternoon. The flowers on the talinum species hang down in a loose cluster. Bob Heath gave me one several years ago and it has spread considerably. It could almost be invasive, except that it is edible if cooked like spinach or raw in salads. It's easy to pull up if it spreads too far and good for the compost pile should it come to that. They root easily from cuttings. Unless it freezes, my family puts these in salads all year, and even after the freeze it came back quickly.

Now's the time to ...

Call for more gardens to visit. If you or your neighbor have a good one (perfection is not required), email me to set up a tour time.

Confess I put in the wrong phone numbers again. If you want to call Scott Johnson of Cut Rite Lawn and Landscape, who designed Hondo and Mary Hernadez's xeriscape garden, the phone number is (813) 684-2145.

Start wearing headbands if your work session is going to last long.

I admit, I am finally learning to wear a hat and sunglasses in the garden ... most of the time.