When I mentioned to the lovely Linda that we were having difficulty growing zucchini, she suggested that we try tromboncinos instead. Then, because she’s so nice, she sent us some seed.
We’ve planted them in the back of the garden, on a fallow bed usually reserved for the chook dome when it’s out of rotation. The tromboncinos are supported by an unmeshed dome which we’d originally planned to use for shade, and they’ve very quickly climbed to the top of the structure…
The plants quickly grew huge leaves and twirly vines, but the fruit and flowers didn’t show up for quite a while. Eventually though, they did…
To ensure a decent crop, we hand pollinate the female flowers every morning. Once pollinated, the fruit grows at an astonishing pace. This one is well over half a metre (20″) long…
We have four plants in total – three with light green fruit, and one with a darker skin variant (shown below with one of our Lebanese zucchinis, which also seem to be thriving in the garden this year)…
Each tromboncino will produce an enormous quantity of edible material if you let it. Linda and Jane both recommend picking them young, but we couldn’t resist letting the first couple grow quite large. The huge green squash in the photo above fed three families tonight!
I cut it into sections – the neck was divided into two large pieces…
All the seeds are in the bulbous base…
…which was cut into wedges and fed to our family of chickens (it’s one of their favourite meals)…
The first half of the neck was turned into a zucchini slice for our neighbour Ellen, who is down with the flu…
The second half of the neck was chopped…
…and stir fried with free range pork mince, onion, garlic, and yellow bean paste, then served with Basmati rice…
Voilà! One giant tromboncino: three meals. Granted, one of the meals was for the chooks, but I was delighted not to have to waste any of this fabulous bounty.
Linda commented that if the food apocalypse ever happens, we can all survive on tromboncinos. I’m pretty sure she’s right!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
That’s a new one for me – I’ll have to do some research and see if any US seed suppliers are carrying it – very interesting. The smaller one is familiar to me as a common Mexican variety – I like them very small. Oregon is a perfect summer environment for zucchini, and they take over the garden if allowed – I’ve seen giants that went over 30 lbs or so, although I have no idea what one would do with such a creature – maybe make a dog house out of it.
Doc, they drink up so much water, don’t they? We’ve never been able to grow them before, and suddenly they’re going gangbusters! :)
I have never heard of Tromboncinos before, but it looks really fresh and beautiful. I love the what you did with it, especially the stir fry :)
Tes, they’re so delicious – we had them last night with oyster sauce and beans. They’re growing so big at the moment that we’re eating them every night.. :D
Next year I am restructuring my garden, going to look into growing tromboncino, are they troubled by squash borer like zuchini and other summer squarhes?
Norma, I don’t know about pests, I’m sorry – this is our first year of trying to grow them. We often have a mildew problem, but it hasn’t been as evident this year. I think you’d love these – the lack of seed in the the long neck makes them very user-friendly!
Love the shot of the plants topping off the dome! It is so wonderful to see your garden pictures, Celia! The slice and the stir fry look delicious- but those green, green pictures of summer bounty are fantastic!
Glad your chooks get to share in the feasting going on!
Heidi, the chooks always share – they’re family too! :) Will keep trying to take green photos for you – the garden was scorched yesterday, so is looking a bit wilted at the moment…
Hooley dooley, Celia! It will be zucchini (or rather tromboncinos) relish all round this summer.
This is the next thing for you to plant, Glenda! If you like zucchini, that is.. :)
My goodness. What a monster, Celia. I love the photo of the moisture droplets on the cut sections.
Anne, they’re so moist – they drip from the stem after they’re cut. Delicious eating too – seems to really suit Asian style dishes!
Interesting. I’ve never had problems growing zucchini, Celia, usually I end up with several zeppelins too! Tromboncino is such a delicious name.
Lizzy, I know, I know, for some reason we could never grow them. Actually, I think we know the reason now – it’s possible the single packet of black zucchini seed we were using was a bit dodgy. This time we bought seedlings of Lebanese zucchini, and they’ve taken off!
I have never heard of this kind of squash. They look very unusual and I can’t believe the size of the leaves on that dome. How lovely (and typical) of you to cook for a sick neighbour xx
Charlie, they’re enormous! They’ve taken over the whole back bed! The slice is so easy, it only takes a few minutes to put together! :)
Ellen very gratefulicius
Hope you’re feeling better, love. x
I’ve not come across these before Celia, but aren’t they lovely! My local garden centre is great and actually ring me when unusual foodie type plants come in, as they no I’m a real sucker for them :) The other day I got a caper bush and before that it was a cold-climate macadamia tree.
I think your plants and maybe a choko vine or two would definitely see us through any famine for sure! :)
Becca, you would LOVE these. And I think they’d grow like crazy in your yard! xx
Wow Celia I’ve never even heard of them! I need to grow something like that so when I only get one fruit it’s still worth all the work of growing it. That’s very nice of you to look after your sick neighbour.
Claire, not sure you have the room? They’re HUGE! But you’re right, if we only got one fruit off the whole structure, it would have been worth it! :)
Mine are at the stage now where I throw them whole to the chooks, and the chooks just look at them. Ho hum. More tromboncino eh.
Hahaha…I’m sure that will happen, Linda. Thanks again for the seed!
Certainly value for money there! I remember reading once of a small community who only ever locked their doors in the summer time – to stop their neighbours popping in and leaving zucchini! ;-)
Amanda, that is TOO funny. “No, no, no…don’t leave any zucchini!!”. :)
MIne are just starting to fruit (I planted the seed a bit late) so your comments are really interesting. I hope they will be a bit more resiliant to powdery mildew than ‘normal’ zucchinis. If anyone in Australia is interesting in sourcing seed, I got mine from the Diggers Club.
Bronwyn, it’s good to know folks can get the seed from Diggers – thank you! Hope you’re grow well for you! :)
I have read about the trombochino on Linda’s blog before – yours looks lovely and healthy. I am hoping to get some seeds to try to grow them during our dry season. we always get downy mildew on zucchini up here in the tropics. thanks for the reminder.
Such a different growing climate to Sydney! :) We get humidity too, but it hasn’t been too bad this year!
Hi Celia! I love how your Dome looks so neat & impressive.But I’ve never heard of Trombonis before, well not spoken in English that is! But I’m wondering if the seeds can be bought from Bunnings or some Sydney Nursery perhaps? We eat a lot of stuffed Lebanese zuchinnis in our culture and use the inside stuffing to make omelettes or slices(like yours), but I would love to try cooking Trombonis!!! Thanks for introducing them to us !
Lina, I haven’t seen them around, but Bronwyn mentioned above that you can buy them from Diggers Seeds online. I don’t know if they’re really good for stuffing, as the neck is very thin, but they are very delicious! :)
That looks like one very enviable plant! And, being the huge zucchini lover I am, there is obvious homework to be done: I have heard of the gorgeous beasties before, but never grown them – daily pollination, huh? OK: worth it :) ! – may be a tad late on the Southern Highlands for this year, but one can make plans! Like the pork recipe!!!
Eha, we hand pollinate only because we haven’t had a huge success with zucchinis in the garden. If you can grow zucchs, you can grow tromboncinos, I’m sure, although they do require lots of food and water!
I love the way you show the full circle of what, why and how you plant something around to what, why and how you (& the chooks) eat it.
Hehehe…I’m a fan of corny old romantic fiction, ED. Love an epilogue. :D
What a very exciting vegetable.
Sally, I do get excited about things. :) I’m out every morning checking the plant! :)
Now that’s lot of squash, Celia! Glad it’s doing so well in your garden for you. It’s always a good thing when 1 vegetable results in 3 dinners — and of course the chook dinner counts. If they ate it, it was a meal. :)
John, the chooks love the seeds of the zucchinis and tromboncinos, which works well for me! Is this a vegetable that your grandfather would have grown? Apparently it’s an old Italian variety…
Had Grandpa tried growing tromboncini, Celia, it would have been early in his gardening career when I was quite young. He did quite a bit of experimenting with vegetables until he got his first grape vine. With the exception of a small patch of arugula, the seeds of which came from Italy, his garden eventually became almost all grapes and tomatoes.
Wishing you and your family, Celia, the very Best of Holidays!
Wow, they look amazing! And what lucky chooks and a blessed neighbour :)
Tandy, they’re so cool! And we’re the lucky ones – both the chooks and the neighbour are wonderful! :)
Not a common vegies then Celia. I love the look of the pork Trombones and yellow bean paste .mmmmm!
If they’re still fruiting, I’ll bring some for you next time we get together! :)
I can’t believe the size of the plants themselves as well as the vegetables they produced.
Karen, there’s something glorious in the abundance, isn’t there? :)
There certainly is.
It looks like everyone and then some was fed by these! They’re massive :o
They really are, Lorraine! You should see the one we’ve left on the vine, it’s now approaching the one metre mark!
I planted seeds just over a month ago for my first ever crop and sadly none have germinated, either the birds ate them or they were out of date.
I do however have 2 healthy Romanesco Zucchini which are producing well……
and there’s always next year !!!
I think a while back I found one in New York and did a post. Mine was so big…I made so many dishes from it.
Catching up again being that I took off december and will be doing a post in a week.
[…] forgotten that you can also pollinate zucchinis by hand, until I was reminded to do so by Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial. This will help your plants to set fruit, and as a result you can now find me in my vegetable patch […]