Zucchini, Courgette, Summer Squash 'Eight Ball'

Received the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), 2006 Award of Garden Merit.

I want to add to my comment. I grew this this ...Read Moreyear and I love it. Great for saving space in the garden. 9-4-08

The Eight Ball is the perfect squash for those like myself
who eat squash as a meal in the summer. Perfect
size for one, th...Read Morerow in two for a couple.

Very busy bushes, neat and tidy and quite the
conversation piece. The taste is wonderful.

Salt, pepper, a bit of butter and summer time. MMM!

I tried to grow these last year. The strangest thing happened. I got nothing but male flowers, not a single fruit the whole season. I ...Read Moregrew them from seed and placed 3 plants in close proximity (about 36 inches apart) to eachother hoping for a great crop.......nada!

This is the earliest-producing zucchini I have ever grown -- about 50 days from planting the seed directly in the ground. It is also far...Read More more tolerant of cold, damp weather than any other summer squash I've grown. This summer (2004) was unusually cold, damp, and VERY rainy here in Northern Minnesota (we actually had record lows and FROST in mid-August). My other zucchinis succumbed to powdery mildew or simply did not come up at all, but the Eight Balls kept right on producing those nice round squashes. The August frost took down some of the outer leaves but did not get the growing tips, so as of today (Sept 19, 2004) I am still harvesting.

The fruits are much sweeter in flavor than other zucchini, too. They are best harvested when they are about three inches across (like billiard balls, hence the name) but are still edible as six-inch diameter balls. At this stage, you can scoop out the middle and stuff them with your favorite stuffing. I have also made some very good zucchini pickles from older fruits by discarding the centers (which by now are forming seeds), peeling the outer parts, then slicing them into "chips." They work well in both dill and bread-and-butter recipes. All in all, this is a very versatile squash that I highly recommend, especially for short-season places like Minnesota.

This was the first year to try this cultivar. It is a dark green round zuchini from Hollar. It is vigorous and prolific. At its most edib...Read Morele stage, it is the size and shape of a pool (billiard) ball. Attracts a lot of attention as a novelty.