How to Grow Zucchini Plants

A Zucchini Plant Mound

Zucchini is a member of the squash family. It is a mid to warm weather plant that produces primarily in mid summer. Each zucchini plant has large fan-shaped leaves that often cover the vegetables that grow at the end of vines. The vegetable yield from each zucchini plant is enormous; three of four large plants will keep you and your neighbors in zucchini for the summer, year after year. Aside from being one of the more flavorful members of the squash family, what with having more than 300 major recipes that incorporate it, the zucchini is also one of the more nutritious. It possesses more vitamins than any other squash. Here is one of the most effective methods to sprout and grow zucchini plants.

Things You'll Need

• Cow manure
• Organic compost
• Hay
• Shovel
• Dithane 45 fungicide
• Wheelbarrow
• Peat moss
• Zucchini seeds

Instructions

1. Begin by prepping the soil where you will be planting zucchini. Zucchini grows to exceptional sizes and has high nutritional needs, so growing it indoors is out of the question. You could transplant it, but that tends to be a hassle with no appreciable payoff. Pick out a nice sunny spot in your garden or backyard. As zucchini needs such well draining soil, the best thing to do is plant it in large mounds of earth. Collect the surrounding soil into a wheelbarrow and mix in the manure, compost and peat in equal measure until you’ve reached a 1 to 1 ratio of soil and organic matter.

2. Shovel out mounds of enriched soil about a foot high and roughly 2 or 3 feet in diameter. You should only need to make three of these to create more zucchinis than you will know what to do with. Space each mound about 3 feet apart to avoid any possibility of mildew or fungi contamination from one to the other.

3. Place 4 or 5 seeds into the center of each mound and drench the entire mound with water. You won’t need any additional fertilizer beyond the compost and manure you’ve already used, so all you need to do is water them heavily once every other day. The plants should sprout after 2 weeks.

4. Wait another two weeks before uprooting two of the least well developed sprouts from each mound. This may seem excessive, but many zucchini plants don’t germinate properly, so it’s best to plant many and then only keep those which grow well on their own. Also it ensures the remaining plants don’t have to fight as strongly for resources. Keep an eye on your plants for any black spots, white spots or slimy areas. Zucchini is very prone to mildew infection and should be treated immediately with a heavy dose of Dithane 45 to remedy the problem.

5. Harvest the first of the zucchini within 50 days of planting the seeds. Many people seem to wait until the zucchini are bigger, but if you do this then the flesh becomes tough and the skins are no longer edible. It’s best to pinch the zucchini off from their stalks when they are 4 or 5 inches long.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Video Guide to Zucchini Care