Growing Zucchini

I have this love/hate relationship with zucchini. Let me tell you about it.

I love how beautiful zucchini plants are but I hate that they are so pokey. It is nearly impossible to harvest them without having your arms all scraped up.

I love how bountiful these plants are but by summers end I hate them and am excited that I won’t have to see another zucchini until next summer. They are the first plants to get ripped out of the garden!

I love how these plants make me feel like an expert gardener but I hate how one day the zucchini looks small and the next day it is overgrown and can only be used to make zucchini bread.

I love growing this plant by seed in my garden but I hate how you blink your eyes and they are taking over the whole garden bed.

Zucchini sprout 1 week after planting

Zucchini plant 5 weeks after planting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zucchini is a very easy vegetable to grow. Maybe even easier than tomatoes. As long as the bees do their pollinating we will have a whole summer full of zucchini. I have to start getting creative with my zucchini recipes because they just don’t stop growing. In the past I would plant about 4 zucchini and yellow squash plants but I have cut back to one of each. I don’t have as much to give to family and friends but I just got tired of dealing with these plants. One positive of planting several zucchini plants is that they are a great vegetable to freeze and then add to stews, sauté and add to spaghetti sauces.

Things to remember when growing Zucchini

1. Plant zucchini seeds directly in your garden when temperatures reach 65 to 70 F outside
2. All squash plants require a constant supply of water
3. Zucchini taste best when picked small, typically 5-6 inches long
4. Use pruning shears to snip the zucchini off the plant…TRUST ME
5. The more you pick the more your plant will grow
6. Check for zucchini to harvest every day. They can become ready to pick overnight.
7. I do absolutely no fertilizing or pest control and have had great success with my plants

When I first started growing zucchini I thought I was a super star. I was growing these enormous zucchini. I was sure I was a natural pro at gardening. Then someone, probably my dad because he knows everything, burst my bubble. You don’t want your zucchini to grow large you want them on the small size. After trying to cook a few large ones I completely understood why you don’t want them large their meat isn’t all that great.

Do you all grow zucchini or any other type of summer squash?

❤ Sarah