Heirloom Squash Seeds: Grow Ronde de Nice, Round French Zucchini

 Heirloom seeds are hugely popular in recent years, and there are many great varieties that can easily be planted and grown in your backyard vegetable garden.  Zucchini hasn't been a favorite squash of mine, dating to it's prolific growth in my Mom's vegetable garden during my childhood.  As an adult, I like it to a point.  Then, I have to get creative.  However, Ronde de Nice has changed my outlook!

Ronde de Nice is a light green complected, round zucchini.  It has a dainty and delicate flavor, and is not pithy, nor heavy, as normal zucchini tend to be.  I can enjoy this summer squash in a sandwich, a salad, or just sliced and eaten raw.  It's delicious.  It grows in a bushy plant, which is nice for the limited space backyard vegetable garden, as it doesn't spread out and take over other growing areas.  I am tempted to move strictly to this, and another variety of round zucchini, rather than traditional long zucchini. 

 I had a great deal of trouble with seeds purchased from Gurney's this year, and though I planted a hybrid zucchini in the same area as these heirloom varieties, it never produced a plant this year.  I had similar difficulties with other hybrid seeds this year, as did many friends and relatives.  My heirloom seeds, however, did extremely well, producing throughout the season.  I'm not quite sure why the hybrids did badly, but this year's experience has caused me to lean more toward heirlooms in the next year. 

Ronde de Nice fits well with any zucchini recipe, so try your favorites again, and get creative. I fit my various summer squash into stir fry, soup, casserole, and paella recipes this year. Additionally, we have developed a tradition of wrapping our excess summer squash in foil, and baking over the leftover coaIs after a summer barbeque. The cooked squash are then pureéd and frozed for soups, pies, dips, and winter use. Read my hub on Summer Squash Soup Base, for another preservation method, suitable for Ronde de Nice, as well.

As for the flavor, I will emphasize that Ronde de Nice is delicate, slightly sweet, and not as heavy, to me, as the traditional style zucchinis. Even the Eight Ball Zucchini I grew the previous year, a hybrid, was still a little heavy for me. I took a lot of raw zucchini sticks in my lunch when I was in middle school, and have a definite aversion to too much raw zucchini, as the flavor and texture aren't my favorites. However, Ronde de Nice, is pleasant, and worth my while. The only traditional zucchini plants next year will be for the sake of the kids' fair entries.

Find Ronde de Nice seeds, and other great vegetable seeds.