Thanks for the tip. We had no success with the zukes last year. I think the top soil that Hubby used to make his new bed had a soil borne disease.
All the zukes grew well then turned gray and dies before any produce was ready to harvest. I think he is going to have to do some serious solarisation and fumigation. We have trouble with melons, squash etc. anyway.
I may plant a zuke or two in buckets and see if I can get some to grow. I pickled and canned a batch of zuke spears in 2013, and they were better than cukes. Lots more crispy.
Sounds like a problem of either nematodes, or blight in the soil.
Regardless, Johnny's recipie for soil sterilization (6 mil. clear plastic ), blight resistant varieties, or crop rotation would seem to be reasonable and helpful.
If I recall properly , they are all members of the curcubit family .
I would sterilize and rotate crops location, and raise disease resistant varieties.