Growing Blackjack Zucchini
Zucchini (also called summer squash) is a great vegetable for small-space gardeners. In fact, it's one of my 5 Favorite Vegetables for Container Gardening. Zucchini is nearly guaranteed to grow, it produces tons of veggies all summer long, and comes in lots of fun shapes and colors. Zucchini plants like rich soil, and hilling gives the plants an extra boost of nutrients they'll appreciate. Make sure plants receive an inch of water per week. The reason this is important when growing zucchini is because its flowers need to be pollinated to form a viable fruit, and each female flower is only open for one day.
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Do you find growing zucchini in your garden harder than you thought?
Growing zucchini is popular because zucchinis are one of the easiest plants to grow in your garden. Most gardeners can plant a few zucchini seedlings and watch the plants grow rapidly without any issues.
I love zucchinis. Aside from tomatoes, zucchinis are the one vegetable that screams summer to me. I love dicing up zucchini in our stir-fry recipes or making zucchini muffins. So, I want to make sure that our harvest is bountiful. You can (and should) freeze zucchini if it is shredded, so I want to be overrun with zucchini.
That usually is what happens. In fact, our crop tends to be so plentiful that I’m begging my parents, family, and friends to take their share as well.
Here are some tips that we use for growing zucchini plants.
1. Plant at the Right Time
Zucchini plants are NOT friends with frost. If you plant your zucchini plants before the threat of frost passes, you risk your entire crop.
Zucchinis don’t even like cold temperatures, but I can’t blame them!
So, that means you have to resist temptation and don’t plant too early. If the fruits form during cold weather, it is unlikely they will grow well.
2. Pick the RIGHT Spot
Once you got the right timing to plant your zucchinis, you have to decide where to plant zucchinis in your yard. The spot you pick needs to receive full sunlight, so that garden bed that is shady because of a large tree is a BAD choice!
It also needs to be an area that is moist and drains well. The site shouldn’t be soggy though! Make sure you add compost and organic matter into the soil you selected for growing zucchini plants.
3. Use Succession Planting
Many people don’t realize that growing zucchini plants are a good option for succession planting because they aren’t frost hardy. When we think of succession planting, we think of plants that grow from spring to fall, not summer-loving plants.
Zucchini plants break that mold. These plants grow fast, and you typically can harvest the first fruits 40 to 60 days after planting.
To prevent drowning in zucchinis (which really isn’t a bad thing if you LOVE zucchini), start new plants two or three times each season. That allows you to extend your harvest season. Zucchini plants tend to produce a lot of fruit at one time and then slow down to a halt.
Best of all, you don’t have to start zucchini plants inside. Just pop those seeds into the ground.
4. Plant in Hills
Planting in hills doesn’t mean that you are planting your zucchinis on an actual hill, but it sounds that way. Instead, “hills” refer to a cluster of plants. Gardeners can opt to purchase seedlings or plant zucchini seeds directly into the garden.
Plant a hill of 2 to 3 zucchini plants together. Doing so is important because zucchinis have flowers that must be pollinated to create the fruit you want. Those flowers open for ONE day. Yes, only ONE! If pollination fails, you don’t get any zucchini, and that would be a bummer. Planting several plants together improves the chances of pollination.
5. Understand Zucchini Pollination
So, you now know that the flowers open for one day, but did you know there are male and female flowers on a zucchini plant. Both the male and female flowers open at the same time, but only a female flower creates a fruit. Male flowers are for pollination only.
Sounds like humans, right? You can fry up those squash flowers though, so don’t let them go to waste!
On most new plants, the male flowers tend to set first, and then you are frustrated because your plant is bursting with blossoms without any fruit forming. Don’t fret just yet, especially if you see pollinating insects fluttering around. The female flowers are on the way.
Female flowers have tiny fruits behind the base of the blossom, making them easy to distinguish. If you are worried about your harvest, you can remove the male flowers and pollinate the female flowers yourself.
6. Learn How to Handle Squash Vine Borers
These frustrating pests hideout in winter soil. Some refuse to emerge until June or July. Then, these pesky creatures want to find a place to lay their eggs, and the base of your beautiful squash plants seems like the perfect spot. The larvae will burrow into the stem of your plant an feed.
Soon, your plant stops receiving water through the stem, and it dies off. I’ve had this happen, and it was so frustrating.
To prevent squash vine borers, you can plant your zucchini mid-July, which prevents them from destroying your plants. Make sure that you rotate your crop locations and don’t plant zucchini plants in the same area each year. When you plant your zucchini seedlings, place insect netting to stop the adult vine borers from reaching the plants.
Another cool trick is to wrap aluminum foil around the base of your stem, which stops the larvae from attacking your plants.
7. Mulch Around Your Plants
After the seedlings emerge from the ground and establish themselves, put mulch around the base of your plants. Doing so keeps the weeds are bay, and mulch also helps the soil to retain moisture. Mulch also helps to regulate soil temperatures.
Start Growing Zucchini Plants Now!
Now that you know how to grow zucchini plants, take these tips and get to work. Summer is officially here, and we all want to have fresh zucchini for dinner.
Give my Zucchini Shrimp Pasta recipe a try. You create zucchini noodles with the help of a spiralizer. It is a healthy recipe that kids and adults love.
With the right tips, you’ll find that growing zucchini in your garden isn’t so hard after all.
The zucchini is one of the most popular plants that people like to grow at home. It’s a summer squash that grows around one meter in length, though it’s harvested much earlier. Zucchini is commonly used in a variety of different recipes and if you want to consume only healthy and organic vegetables, you should consider planting them at home.
However, you should know that not every person who plants the zucchini in their garden is able to get a big harvest. In some cases, you will end up losing out a significant part of your harvest as the midsummer arrives. You might notice that the plant is green and leafy, and even produces flowers, though the zucchini might be turning yellow.
In some cases, it might wither and even drop from the plant outright. While there is absolutely no way to reverse the yellowing, you should know that there are ways to prevent this from happening. Many people who like to grow zucchini are often disturbed and disappointed that despite taking so much care about their plants, they are unable to get a good harvest.
Before you focus on the reasons for the zucchini yellowing, let’s talk about the biology of the zucchini plant.
The Biology
Zucchini grows primarily on bushy plants, and they produce male and female flowers. The male tends to blossom, and you can find these flowers on the long and slender stems. These are used to pollinate the female flowers, which you will find on the shorter and swollen stems. The female flowers then develop into the zucchini fruit.
If the male or the female flower does not blossom at the same time, or if the bees intervene, you will get relatively poor pollination. For instance, if there is a bit of rain or high winds in your area, the pollination will reduce dramatically. Similarly, if the temperatures rise considerably or fall drastically, the pollination won’t be as good.
There are several symptoms of poor pollination that you should look for. Plants that are not properly pollinated will usually develop less fruit, and you will notice that the zucchini turns yellow and will drop prematurely. In the world of horticulture, this is known as fruit abortion.
In some cases, the zucchini will be stunted and may be misshaped. You will notice that the yellowing will usually occur from the end of the fruit (where it blossoms from) and then moves down toward the stem.
There are several reasons why your zucchini might be turning yellow (apart from the pollination reason). In some cases, the zucchini leaves might be turning yellow as well. Here are just a few reasons why your zucchini might be turning yellow.
Reasons for Zucchini Turning Yellow
1 – Cucumber Mosaic Virus
The cucumber mosaic virus is one of the most common diseases that plants might succumb to. It is caused by the presence of insect pests. As the name suggests, the cucumber mosaic virus also affects cucumbers in the same family. The first signs of the disease include yellowing leaves of the zucchini plant, along with the veins.
This is caused due to the aphids which start to feed on the underside of the leaves. The virus is transmitted through these tiny insects which leads to stunted growth as well as relatively poor development of fruit. Once the plant gets infected, you should know that there is no definitive cure for it.
Growing Blackjack Zucchini Bread
If you notice the plant infection, you can limit the spread by cutting off the affected parts of the plant. If you notice any signs of aphids, you can make use of neem oil as well as insecticidal soap. Even then, the best solution is to just remove the infected parts.
2 – Spider Mites
Another very common pest that is going to affect your plants is the spider mite. The spider mite usually sucks the sap from the leaves of the zucchini plant. Again, you will notice that the leaves will start to turn yellow first, and then it’s going to slowly spread toward the fruit as well, which is going to break off and fall prematurely to the ground.
Thankfully though, there’s a cure for the spider mites. The best way to get rid of these mites is to treat the plant with an insecticidal soap. Create a mixture and spray it all over the leaves. These tiny mites know how to hide properly and you are going to face quite a bit of difficulty in getting rid of them properly.
That is why you need to make sure that all exposed surfaces are covered with the insecticidal soap. If you want, you can put up some attractions for lacewings or ladybugs. They love feasting on the spider mites, and it won’t be long before the entire population is cleaned out from your plants.
3 – The Fusarium Wilt
The zucchini plants can also be affected by the Fusarium wilt. This is a fungal disease that tends to affect the vascular tissue of the plant.
Cucumber beetles are usually responsible for carrying the spores that are found in the soil into the plant. Even though cucumber beetles primarily feast on cucumbers, there are a few who don’t care about this, and are just as attracted to the zucchini.
Keep in mind that once the plant is infected, there is no way to cure it. Fungicides are going to be completely ineffective in these cases. The only thing that you can do is to remove the damaged plants and clean the area. It’s best to turn the soil as well.
Growing Blackjack Zucchini Recipes
If you want to make sure that your plant does not get so easily infected, you should consider planting the disease resistant variants. There are quite a few varieties available, so it’s best to talk to your local plant nursery owner or a horticulture specialist.
Growing Zucchini In Containers
You will need to make sure that the plant gets its intake of nutrients, and you will have to regularly water the zucchini plants as well.