There never seems to be the right amount of zucchini – you either have too little or too much. But they are popular, fairly easy to grow, and delicious in my opinion. So it seems dour to complain about their tendency to produce their fruit in a hurry.
Not only the number of fruits a zucchini plant can produce is the problem, but also the size they reach quickly. Let them sit a few days and they’ll swell to pulp proportions, with a bland, watery flavor — and the truth is, there’s only so much zucchini for everyone to enjoy at once.
Pumpkins and large zucchini are very similar but not really the same as they are different varieties of the same species. Pumpkins pull like a squash, while zucchini are much bushier.
Pumpkins and large zucchini (pictured) are very similar but not really the same as they are different varieties of the same species
The optimal size for a squash is much larger than any zucchini should be. However, both like the exact same growing conditions, and both are cucurbits.
The cucurbit family includes pumpkins, gourds, cucumbers, pickles, squashes, and melons. All thrive in fertile soil and warm weather with plenty of water, but zucchini are the most forgiving and adaptable.
I sow my seed in April, planting two seeds per 3″ pot and weeding out the smaller of the two when they both germinate. If two in a pot don’t germinate, I transplant a replacement to even out the numbers.
I grow them in a greenhouse before hardening them off for about a week and planting them outside in late May or early June. However, you could sow seeds now and have a perfectly good harvest in September.
They should be planted at least a meter apart and in a slight depression that will act as a saucer to ensure they get plenty of water to their roots. They also grow perfectly in a container, but make it generous – these are hungry plants with a large root system.
And if you grow them in a container, they’ll benefit from a weekly liquid fertilization – seaweed is ideal – while soil-grown plants need no fertilization if you add plenty of fresh garden compost to the soil before planting.
Mass production tends to favor hardy zucchini varieties for ease of transportation. However, such as “Ronde de Nice”, the bright yellow “Gold Rush” or the very dark “Verte de Milan” are nutty and delicious and do not need any robustness to master the path from the allotment garden or vegetable patch to the kitchen.
You can grow round courgettes like Tondo Chiaro di Nice or Tondo di Piacenza, or courgettes scalloped around the edges like Custard White. Most of these are bred and prized in Italy, where “Zucchini” is eaten in every possible variation.
You can also harvest the buds, which are delicious raw, deep-fried in a light batter, or stuffed with cheese.
Powdery mildew is a problem that seems to affect all zucchini over time and is made worse by overcrowding. I get around this by growing two batches, the first to harvest in July and August and the second to be sown in June or even early July to harvest from late August into fall.
Slugs will also nibble on young fruit, but due to their tendency to overeat, there are usually enough of them undamaged to get around.
MONTY’S PLANT OF THE WEEK: NICOTIANA SYLVESTRIS
By mid-August, giant tobacco plants, N. sylvestris, grow to nearly 2 m tall with huge, sticky leaves
The giant tobacco plants, N. sylvestris, are just beginning to appear in my orchard beds. These were grown from seeds sown last fall and planted out in May, but are well worth the wait.
In mid-August they reach a height of almost 2 m with huge, sticky leaves. But the flowers are even more stunning, with long tubes of white petals hanging down from the bloom.
The flowers shrink and close in bright sunshine and open in the evening, releasing their distinctive musky scent.
