Growing Zucchini: From Seed to Harvest
One of my favorite vegetables to grow for summer and fall harvests is zucchini! Here are my best tips and advice to be successful from planting all the way through your harvest. Be sure to check out my YouTube video which also shows you how everything looked last year when it was putting out zucchini every day!
Site, Preparation and Planting
The first thing you want to think about when growing zucchini is your site. Zucchini get BIG and like a LOT of sun and water, so you need to pick an area that has room, gets 6-8 hours of sunlight or more, and has ready access to water. I grow mine in raised beds that are watered either by a sprinkler system or hand watered. Below is how mine looks now:
This year I am growing two zucchini plants that are companion planted with bush beans. Last year I grew six plants, and for a family of four that was WAY too much! I was giving away zucchini all summer. You want to think about your goals for growing zucchini and realize that one plant will give you lots of fruit for many months.
For reference on size, here is how my zucchini looked last year:
And the image above is before they were fruiting! Check out my YouTube video to see me harvesting zucchini last summer.
Once you have selected your site and figured out how many plants you want, it is time to prepare the site. The biggest thing you can do here before planting is to amend the site with compost as well as a slow-release fertilizer. Zucchini are HEAVY feeders and will need fertilizer at multiple points in their growing season. Check out my video here on how I prepare my vegetable beds.
When it comes time to plant, you want to plant your seeds 1 inch deep, roughly 18-24 inches apart. The seeds are quite big so you can easily pick 1-2 seeds per spot. You do NOT want to start these inside. Zucchini do not like to be transplanted. Wait until it gets warm out, when the soil is at least 70 degrees Fahrenheit and the outside temps are 70-95 degrees Fahrenheit. Direct plant them outside. They will grow fast and love the heat, and you should start having some fruit to eat within around 60 days.
Water and Fertilizing
Various sources will tell you you can water your zucchini once deeply 1-2 times per week, and while I think that is fine in most areas, in my region it gets HOT. I tend to water them every 1-2 days and they do better. Water them at the root; don’t spray overhead.
As for fertilizing, they are heavy feeders. You want to amend the soil with fertilizer and compost before planting, and then fertilize the plants once they form seedlings and again when they flower. Any general vegetable or tomato fertilizer is fine; you can see my faves on my Amazon storefront.
Keep an eye on them. If you walk outside and check on your plants and you find they are droopy or turning yellow, they likely need a hit with a fast-release fertilizer like fish emulsion. I prefer the liquid form, and just apply it into the soil around the plant. You can also foliar feed them if you want.
Companion Plants
There are various other plants you can combine in the bed with your zucchini. This year I am companion planting with bush beans, as legumes fix nitrogen into the soil which will feed the zucchini. Bush beans are a lighter feeder and zucchini are heavier feeders so this will work well.
Other plants that do well with zucchini:
- Borage
- Catnip
- Chives
- Corn
- Dill
- Garlic
- Marigolds
- Mint
- Nasturtiums
- Oregano
- Peas
DO NOT PLANT potatoes or pumpkins with zucchini. They will compete for nutrients and space and neither will do well.
Let’s Talk About the Flowers
Zucchini plants have both male and female flowers, and the female flowers need to be pollinated in order to make fruit. This can be done by the pollinators that visit your garden (hello, honeybees!) or by you!
First of all, how do you tell the difference between the males and females? The male flowers will have long skinny stems, and there will be a lot more of them. The female flowers have more bulging to their stems, and there will be less of them.
If your pollinators aren’t doing the job for you, you will see your blossoms start to fall off, and your plants won’t bear any fruit. You can go through early in the day when the flowers are open and use a soft paintbrush to transfer pollen from the male flower to the female flower. Easy!
Zucchini’s Nemesis: The Squash Vine Borer
This little critter, which is actually a moth larva, is your number one enemy when growing zucchini. It will come by with a stealth attack and lay eggs on your plants that will hatch larvae to dig down and decimate the roots, ultimately killing the plant. You won’t know it has happened until it is too late.
So what the heck do you do? There are a few ways to try to combat this pest, but overall success isn’t the strongest. First thing, grow squash on the west coast! You won’t see any borers over there. However, if you live in the middle to the east of the country like me, you will fare better with more plants and planting for a fall harvest. You can cover your zucchini with row cover, but if you do this you keep out your pollinators so you will need to hand pollinate your plants. Some people have reported success with injecting their plants with neem oil or BT or just spraying once weekly with BT.
I have found the best way to combat these pests is to remove the eggs. I go out each morning and inspect the plants and scratch the eggs off or remove them with tape. They look like tiny brown dots, about the size of the tip of a pen.
Harvesting
You can pick the zucchini when they are between 4-8 inches, but I have found when they are on the smaller side they taste better. Personal preference! They will store well unwashed in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks. You can also harvest the blossoms, but you will want to cook/eat those right away.
Be sure to check out my video here on how to make yummy apple zucchini bread!
That’s all, folks! I do hope this was helpful. Message me here or on Instagram if you have any questions, and be sure to check out my video on growing Zucchini.
Happy gardening, y’all!