Gadenin日本語Get the appA short, intense season
From planting to the end of picking a zucchini runs about three months, and the heavy picking is concentrated in six or seven weeks in the middle. Everything before that is preparation and everything after is deciding whether to rest the plant or clear it.
The obstacle is always in the same place: powdery mildew arriving in the second half. Planting date, spacing and staking are all really decisions about how far you can push that arrival back.
| Stage | Main jobs | What decides it |
|---|---|---|
| Before planting | Prepare the bed, sow, raise plants | Spacing and how much base fertilizer |
| Planting | Plant out, cover, stake | Soil above 54F (12C) |
| First month | Hand pollinate, remove the first fruit | Whether the plant is big enough to carry fruit |
| Peak picking | Pick daily, feed, strip lower leaves | How long you delay the mildew |
| Late season | Rest the plant or clear it | Whether the growing point is still producing |
Sowing and planting
Sow four to six weeks before you intend to plant, and plant once the soil is reliably above 54F (12C). It grows quickly, so there is no advantage in sowing very early: an overgrown plant transplants badly.
The bed needs preparing two weeks ahead so that compost and lime have settled, and the mulch wants to be down a week before so the soil warms.
- Six weeks before planting Sow in pots somewhere warm, one or two seeds per pot, and thin to one. Aim to plant at three or four true leaves.
- Two weeks before Work compost and, if needed, lime into the bed. Leave a gap of several days between them.
- A week before Add the base fertilizer, build the bed and lay the mulch so the soil warms through.
- Planting day Water the hole, plant level, add a short cane, and cover with row cover if late frost is possible.
The first month is about building the plant
For the first few weeks the job is growing the plant rather than growing fruit. Female flowers appear early, but fruit on a small plant never fills and simply costs it, so remove the first two or three.
This is also when to get the stake in, before the plant starts to lean, and when the first feed goes on, about two weeks after planting.
- Remove the earliest fruit Pinch out the first two or three female flowers before they open and let the plant build size instead.
- Feed two weeks in About an ounce (30 g) per plant scattered around it and worked in. Do not overdo it or the female flowers stop.
- Stake at sixteen inches Once the plant is sixteen inches (40 cm) tall it starts to lean. Put the stake in then, before you have to force it upright.
- Start pollinating From the first fruit you intend to keep, pollinate by hand before mid morning. Note the date each time.
Peak picking
In the busiest weeks a plant produces a fruit every few days, and in real heat that becomes daily. Feeding every ten days to a fortnight and taking one leaf off with each fruit picked are the two routines that hold the season open.
| Job | How often | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Hand pollinate | Every morning as needed | Female flowers open for a few hours only |
| Pick | Daily in hot weather | Fruit gain more than an inch a day |
| Feed | Every ten to fourteen days | Running short shows as thin fruit tips |
| Remove one lower leaf | With every fruit picked | Keeps the crown open and slows mildew |
| Check for mildew | Twice a week | Catching it at a few leaves keeps the plant going |
Deciding how the season ends
When the fruit start coming small, you choose between resting the plant and clearing it. Take every fruit off, feed, water, and a good proportion of plants push out new growth within a fortnight and crop again into autumn.
The decision has to be made while there is enough warm weather left. Cut back too late and the temperature falls before the plant can recover, and you have lost the fruit you would otherwise have picked.
- Judge by the growing point If the growing point is still producing leaves it will recover. If it has stopped and the crown is browning, clear the plant.
- Strip the fruit and feed Take every fruit off, feed straight away, and wait for two new leaves before pollinating again.
- Clear thoroughly Take mildewed leaves and the crown off the plot rather than digging them in, and do not follow with another squash.
Two or three years between squash crops in the same ground. Ground that grew pumpkins or cucumbers counts as the same slot.