I have had terrible luck with zucchini (black beauty) while *every* other bush squash goes gangbusters, to the point that I don't even bother with zuchs any more and focus on what works. Have you tried other varieties of summer squash to see if it may just be something about that particular sub-set of the squash gene pool.

You do have to watch for squash vine borers on all of them, and learn how to do surgery on the vine if you see signs of infection.

Not sure how relevant it is to where you live, but here in my garden, I had a terrible year for zucchini the first year I grew... and it was all because the plants were crowded out by tomato plants and didn't receive enough sunlight.

The 2nd year I moved my Zuc planting to a different part of the yard and away from other plants, they received more sun, and the harvest was MUCH larger.

Third year, I shifted them about 12-18" further away from a wall, thus giving the plants more sunlight, and our harvest this past summer was overwhelming. We couldn't give the squash away fast enough.

Now, in the third year, I also amended the soil with fresh compost from our compost bin. So that could very well have helped too.

Thanks for the replies. I will try a different variety and will try "flip-flopping" the garden. They will then get a little more sun, but not a whole lot.

I have the same problem with zuchini and I get full sun.
I still try but find that white bush scallop which is an early variety, more resistent to pests and really tasty does so much better that I have given them most of my squash space.

Are you giving it enough room? I allow 9 sq ft for each zuke plant. They are enormous by mid-summer and need the growing room and the nutrition from the soil.

They sure vary a lot from year to year, don't they?

Last year I had awesome success with a summer squash called Magda, so I am planting them again this year. They were also particularly delicious :).

Black Beauty tend to always be sort of ho-hum producers for me. That's true in full sun in a bed of compost and in part shade with unamended soil. So I just stick them in where I have room and don't worry about conditions.