Growing a Highly Productive Crop of Zucchini
by John Yazo
Zucchini squash is a member of the cucurbita family, the same family as pumpkins. It is a highly productive crop that only a couple of plants will supply you, your friends and the whole family with all the zucchini you will need. Growing this crop is very easy to do in the home vegetable garden, container planting or even as apart of your edible landscape.
Growing zucchini is very simple. It is a crop that will grow in just about any type of soil. If you really want your crop to thrive then a good healthy soil structure that is well drained, retains moisture well along with nutrients and has plenty of organic matter worked into it, your crop will thrive.
Zucchini being a member of the squash family needs warm temperatures to grow. It is a crop that is very sensitive to cold temperatures, especially frost. Wait until all dangers of frost have passed before planting and choose a sunny location with a lot of room for them to grow. So seeds directly into the garden when the temperatures permit in hills or rows. Space you rows and hills about 3 to 4 feet apart and sow the seeds 1 inch deep and about 1 foot apart. In hills you can use 3 to 4 seeds per hill. Cover the seeds with about 1 inch of fine soil, firm the soil and water. Keeping the soil moist at all times is very important with zucchini. To give your plants an extra boost you can give them a feeding of compost tea once every two weeks until the flowers start to form. The maturity time for this crop is between 45 and 55 days.
Harvesting is best when the zucchini is young and tender, about 4 to 6 inches long. They can be picked when they are larger and can be stewed or baked in bread.
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