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Originally Posted by FarmerShawn
I almost never buy seeds in a store - the good online companies are so much better stocked and they know what they are doing.
As for varieties with the characteristics you describe, I really like Costata Romanesca from High Mowing and Cocozelle from Fedco. The important thing with any zucchini is to pick them really small. I don't let mine get more than 8"-10" long. Bigger than that, and they are fit to be grated for bread, but not much else, in my view.
An interesting revelation for me was a vining squash called Tromboncino, which does best on a trellis. It grows over three feet long, but only about 2" in diameter, like a really stretched out butternut squash, if you let it, but if you pick it at 12"-15" long, it rivals the best zucchini in flavor, but with a firmer, less mushy texture, and only a few seeds at the bulb end. If you do let it get big, it will mature into a nice winter squash with solid, light orange, tasty flesh. It seems to be available from a wide variety of online sources, including Baker Creek, Territorial, and Fedco.
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Good recommendations, and I concur.
Personally, I switched from zucchini to Tromboncino many years ago, chiefly because of its resistance to SVB... but I would never go back. Tromboncino is a vining squash, and takes up a lot of space if you let it (I let mine ramble) but it is also a strong climber, and can be trellised. The yield is not as high as zucchini grown in the same space; but then - at 12-24" long immature - a single squash serves two people. 90% of that length is seedless, solid flesh, with no mushy interior. I mostly blanch & freeze the seedless portion; it turns a beautiful lime green when blanched, and freezes well... I use the bulb end for fresh eating. The texture is a little less firm than green zucchini, the flavor is mild, somewhere between green zucchini and yellow crookneck... quite pleasant. In a dish, it absorbs flavors well.