isnt it too early for my zucchinis to flower?

[Gevalia]

hello! just a bit concern about the zucchinis that im growing now...its my 1st time to grow it and ive never tasted zucchinis before, my zucchinis are less than a month old, 21 days to be exact..they already have few leaves, like 8-10. what intrigues me is that at a very young age they are already showing some male flowers that are about to bloom ( though they seem to be soo small)...anything wrong? pls help me

[Lesley Jay]

Hi Gevalia, yes it does seem a little quick for the UK as the estimated time from sowing the seeds to harvesting the zucchini's is about 12 weeks. But in Australia the estimated time is only 6 weeks and you will have pretty similar weather conditions so I wouldn't worry. To begin with the plant only produces male flowers so you still have to wait for the female flowers before the zucchini's begin to grow. The flower buds do seem small until they open properly and male flowers are smaller. You can eat the flowers but if you do make sure you leave enough male flowers on the plant for pollination.