They seem bit too crowded; yank out the one in the middle. Regards cutting off the leaves, that's not going to kill them. My wife cuts the leaves all the time on our zucchinis. That doesn't hurt them, nor does it attract extra bugs. hugelkultur - see below link Here is a link that might be useful: hugelkultur

I have hade in the past minimal pollination problems with zucchini, but this years the first 7 or 8 zucs all aborted. The difference? In the next bed I have 5 squash plants (butternut and some cinderella type winter squash) and those flowers are full of bumblebees (in fact, I tried to make a squash blossom omelette and I could not because every single flower was occupied). The zucs, nada. Also, someone around here is doing something to the yellow jackets because I have not seen a single one this year. Hand pollination has solved the problem for the time being (I use a small paint brush, that I push into a few males, and then into all the females), and just today I picked 5 of 6 hand pollinated zucs, and they are all fine. But I need to find a way to get the pollinators back in there.

I'm in the same boat with zuke and yellow squash in a raised planter. The planters were meant just as seed starters to then transplant, but I kept putting it off, and now the plants are too large to transplant. Mine were draping over the side, too, and stems getting "cut" from the pressure at the edge of the planter. I put a short stake in the planter and am slowly training the vines to grow vertical. I cut several of the lower leaves so there's a decent "stem" exposed that I loosely tied to the stake; very very loosely, to not break the vine. As the plant gets used to the vertical shape, I've been tying them tighter/closer, little by little, to the stake so they're starting to look more upright. There are still leaves/stems that are touching the edge of the planter, but nothing actually hanging over the edge now or getting cut by that 90 degree kink. My planters are 17" deep so there's enough dirt to hold the stake firmly in place. I first tried to put a small tomato cage around them but the vines were already too big and stems were breaking as I was trying to shove them through the cage. But the stake system seems to be working so far. Bonus - since the plants are about eye level (planter is almost 3' above ground plus I'm short), and they're growing vertically, looking under the leaves for pest egg masses is way easier than if they were in the ground! Good luck!

Yes, edible, if a tad on the large side. If there is some seedy going on inside that you don't want to eat, just scoop it out like one would with cucumber seeds. If the rind is a big tough for you, peel it off. But what is causing the misshapen fruits... most likely uneven watering. Except that last pic, I suspect that was inadequate pollination since it has blossom end bulbing going on. It is not because of them being old and having seeds growing- I let end of season ones go to full past ripe if I want seeds, and if the plant is treated kindly the fruit is even throughout. Zucchini is a variety of summer squash. And is suseptible to the same ick other summer squash is. So there is also a chance there is a viral issue with the plant causing the misshapen fruits. Not as likely since it is still pretty early in the season for most folks. If the plants look healthy, look back to the uneven watering as the principal cause. With poor pollination being the second one. Also, a random. Try to cut off a half inch to inch of the stem with the fruit. It will keep better than a damaged fruit end.