This summer’s zucchini harvest started out so promisingly.

The leaves of my 3 zucchini plants grew to monstrous sizes. The largest plant produced what was probably the most perfectly shaped and tastiest zucchini I had ever grown. I quickly overcome a squash vine borer problem by carefully monitoring the plants every day and, in an emergency operation, cutting out the 2 small borers I found inside one of the plant’s stems and then injecting the stem with Bacillus Thuringiensis (bt, used in organic farming) to kill any others I might have missed. When powdery mildew struck, I applied neem oil diligently every week. I created better air flow and eliminated the possibility of rot undermining my plants by staking them to keep them off the ground, trimming all of the leaves that were growing underneath the budding squash. And yet…