Well, you CAN get them to go a lot longer, but it takes a bit of work. Three things really do them in -- A) disease, especially powdery mildew; B) insects, squash borers and so forth; C) letting them go to seed, not picking soon enough. So, if you spray them regularly with fungicides and insecticides, be really good about picking them all young, and keep them watered and fertilized, you can keep them producing a lot longer. HOWEVER, it's actually a lot easier just to plant a couple of batches of them -- you can do an early one, started about a month before your last frost and transplanted, one planted just after the lost frost date, and another planting about end of June/1st of July. Now,I used to do this some years. But frankly, we get kind of bored of them by late summer, and I've usually put up all I need by that time. Also, in September, I will usually pick and use the small winter squash and pumpkins as summer squash, since they usually won't have enough time to make mature squash anyway.

How long ago were they picked? I wouldn't use them for pickles if they're more than 2 days old - you may have to make relish since it doesn't matter if they're not as crisp. Any you picked this weekend could be fermented or canned as a quick vinegar pickle - Linda Ziedrich has some good recipes in her Joy of Pickling. I haven't tried any from NCHFP. But I made 4 quarts and 4 pints (plus 1 quart-sized PB jar to stick in the fridge) of her Really Quick Dills (vinegar) in spears yesterday and have another 4-5lbs of cukes picked yesterday to do today, have to decide if I'm going to do dill or sweet, I've got 3 gal of half sours fermenting and about a quart left in fridge, but I've made 3 batches (1 canned, rest in fridge) of Bread and Butters this year already. I guess I can do both - could use some more B&Bs for the pantry since they're my dad's favorite and I still have dill chips from last year still. We're not relish fans either. Hoping more ideas coming since I don't know what to do with mine either!

I was confused by your post as you discussed using up carrots but asked for a squash relish. It's also helpful to know the specific address for the recipe you'd like re-formatted rather than having to search it out. I think this is what you were looking for: Zucchini Relish (an homage to Muriel and Linda Lou) 10 cups zucchini, peeled or not, cored, seeded and either ground (who has a grinder anymore?) or shredded (which I much prefer) 3 cups onions, peeled, ends removed and grated or finely chopped 2 cups carrots, ground or shredded 1 red pepper, seeded, cored and finely chopped 1 cup mixed hot peppers, seeded, cored and finely chopped (or one green pepper if you're a wuss) 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced 5 tablespoons canning/pickling salt 2 1/2 cups cider vinegar 3 cups sugar* 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 2 teaspoons mustard seeds (I used yellow--brown would be spicier) 2 teaspoons celery seeds 3/4 teaspoon tumeric Combine all of the shredded/chopped vegetables with the salt in a large, non-metallic bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight. The next day, drain very well. (Some people choose to rinse the mixture to remove more of the salt, but I like my pickled relishes a little on the salty side!) Bring the vinegar, sugar, and spices to a boil in a large stock pot. Add the drained zucchini mixture, stir well, and bring back to a vigorous boil. Some recipes call for up to 30 minutes of simmering the relish, but I think it gets too mushy and colorless if you cook it that long. I would opt for 10-15 minutes until much of the liquid evaporates and the mixture just starts to thicken. Pack in hot, sterilized jars (using that plastic stick thing that came with your canning kit, or any non-metallic spatula, to remove air bubbles from the thick relish). Process in a boiling water bath, 10 minutes for half-pints, and 15 minutes for pints. As with all pickled products, let the flavors develop for at least a month before opening and consuming. Yield: 5 pints *This still makes a pretty sweet relish. In subsequent batches, I cut the sugar by half again (= 1 1/2 cups), and that was perfect for my tastes. So take that under advisement . . . http://lindseysluscious.blogspot.com/2007/08/god-save-us-all-fromthe-zucchini.html P.S. What you do next time with a recipe like this is Select+Copy+Paste into a document. It won't have a black background but you will have to change the color of the text. Carol

It all depends what all varieties are around you of the same species. Summer squash and many winter squash are the species C. Pepo and they all cross. The diversity of culinary use in the species is too high to think a volunteer will be good for anything, unless you last year planted a very limited amount of varieties. Like if around you was just summer squash and some acorn/ dumpling types they may be good to eat as immature. But if you had pumpkins and gourds it wouldn't be worth bothering. C Pepo is not a good species to let freely cross.