Thompson and Morgan sells a trailing zucchini, Black Forest. The other trailing summer squashes are mostly the Italian Tromboccino types, which are related to butternut squashes. I don't like this type steamed - they're better sauteed with garlic - but we have friends who let them grow a little bigger and use them in soup. Some people use young winter squash of certain varieties - Banana and a few of the acorn varieties, for example, as summer squash. Check variety descriptions. Some of the more typical bush summer squashes tend to grow squashes along a central stem, which you can tie to a support to make harvesting easier, frustrate squash bugs slightly and keep the squashes out of the dirt. But it's not exactly like growing on a trellis.

I'm still wondering what the problem is then because my patty pans are the most open and vine-like of the bush summer squashes I grow. And I can harvest them with kitchen shears instead of a large knife since the stem is thin. Its the Black Zucchini that are hard to harvest. They hide deep under the heavy leaf cover and have short, thick stems so its too easy to cut the leaf or the vine while picking the squash. I find very little variation in flavor from variety to variety of the summer squashes though I do find a distinct difference between the 3 main types -- the patty pans, the zucchini, and the warty yellow ones. That difference shows up most when I grill them. Since patty pans aren't commercially popular they haven't been subject to having the taste bred out of them in favor of toughness in shipping. They are firmer than other summer squash though, even hard if overmature. 4-5 inches across seems best to me. I choose my varieties for vigor, production, and aesthetics. It suits my desire to present an attractive plateful to have white patty pans, dark green zucchini, and bright yellow crooknecks/straighnecks. :-)

nancyjane: well, at least she knew it smelled like COW poop- that City gal!!ha Now pig & chicken poop smell entirely different but 'poop' never- the- less! The manure x the dairies around here smells awful ... those cows do not belong in a dirt enclosure & fed heaven- knows- what from bins... they belong in a green pasture to eat normal 'cow food'-grass! The cow manure x a pasture smells different & when dry & dug in the garden actually smells good & makes me homesick for the 'country'which cracks my husband (city slicker) up! Thanks for all the help everyone!! : I put the cut beans in boiling water for about 2 minutes, drained them & fill the kettle with cold water and ice cubes. I then drained the cooled beans & filled gallon zip-loc bags half full, squeezed the air out & froze them. I did not dry them first so wonder what that will do to the texture when I thaw them? Yes, I like to add onion, garlic & crumbled bacon in them & for me I add some vinegar like the Germans back home did but hubby wants none of that vinegar! It has been a long time since I grew beans so I had forgotten how to freeze them correctly as earlier I later just boiled the beans I froze with out blanching them first before freezing & they were TOUGH when thawed & cooked! I had forgotten how many beans a 10 ft. single row would keep producing! The yellow bush wax beans are not quite ready yet & I do like the too!

I'd try picking them a bit younger and see if they can be used for summer squash. Otherwise, try letting some fully mature and see if they can be eaten like an acorn squash. George Tahlequah, OK