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Zucchini is just the perfect choice for diet food. It contains a lot of calcium, potassium, copper, phosphorus, vitamins, organic acids, fat and proteins, and there are very few calories. It is stewed, fried, baked, salted and canned, included in the menu for the elderly and fed to babies. Therefore, the cultivation of zucchini in vegetable gardens is becoming more widespread. They are unpretentious, caring for zucchini brings more pleasure than trouble.
conditions for fruiting
Zucchini grows well in the greenhouse and in the garden. In the south, they are sown directly in the garden; in the middle lane, seedlings of zucchini can be planted in the ground in early summer. For three warm months, you can get 10 – 20 fruits from each plant. Zucchini is an annual bush plant related to pumpkin and cucumbers, there are semi-shrubs and long-climbing species. It has large beautiful leaves, light green or dark green, strong stem, most often pubescent.
The root system is more branched compared to cucumbers, so zucchini is able to survive dry periods. The flowers of both sexes are large yellow bells. The fruits are cylindrical, almost white, green, very dark, striped or bright yellow.
Growing zucchini in a garden (or greenhouse) must comply with crop rotation rules. This is not how zucchini is grown after related crops – cucumbers, pumpkins, squash – their roots are located approximately on the same horizon, which means that useful substances from this soil level have already been selected, but microbes and pathogenic bacteria that are dangerous for related plants have accumulated. It is better to radically change the types of plants, plant zucchini after onions, garlic, parsley, legumes, carrots, tomatoes or potatoes. Since seedlings of zucchini are planted no earlier than June, you can have time to grow green manure in the place of the future garden.
Zucchini need warmth and moisture, but it is better to grow them away from groundwater. They grow well while the temperature is kept in the range of +18 – +25 degrees, they are painlessly tolerated if it drops to +5 degrees for a while.
Video “How to grow a good harvest a month earlier”
Demonstrative video with examples of growing zucchini, as well as tips on how to grow a good crop a month earlier.
Preparation of beds
A place in the garden for zucchini is chosen sunny, but calm. In the shade, they will not grow badly, but they will stretch out a lot and the fruits will not pick up the proper amount of nutrients. In addition, a shady spot will reduce yields because pollen from female flowers will not ripen well. With a short light day, flowering and fruit ripening itself accelerates.
The soil needs loose and fertile, chernozems and loams are best suited. How to grow zucchini if the soil is not suitable? Very simple – you need to prepare a bed that they like. This needs to be done in the fall – remove all weeds, dig deep into the site, make the necessary adjustments and fertilizers, mineral and organic. If the soil is clayey, add half a bucket of peat, sand and humus, 2 cups of wood ash and 1 tablespoon of complex fertilizer for each square meter of planting area.
If the site has sandy soil, it is imperative to add a whole bucket of peat, humus and soddy soil, 2 cups of ash and 1 tablespoon of nitrophoska to it. In addition to compost or humus (half a bucket), 1 bucket of clay or loamy soil, 2 cups of ash and 1 tablespoon of complex mineral fertilizer are added to peat soil. This is the amount of substances for one square meter.
The prepared or improved soil needs to be dug up very well, leveled, and beds are formed, preferably high, up to 80 cm wide. Zucchini grows well on manured land, but if it has not been brought in since autumn, only rotted manure can be brought in in the spring, not fresh at all. If there is not enough organic fertilizer, then they are applied directly to each well. So each hole can be enriched by mixing humus (1 l), wood ash (1 tablespoon), mineral fertilizers (1 teaspoon) with the soil. When the soil is very poor, you can dig holes 30 by 30 cm, fill them with manure or humus, pour soil on top with a 15-centimeter layer, and plant plants in it.
Zucchini in the greenhouse are planted at a distance of half a meter from each other. Before this, the soil is disinfected with a 1% solution of potassium permanganate, and 1 square meter of land should get at least 3 liters of the solution. In the garden, zucchini is planted in rows with a distance of 70 cm and 50–70 cm are also left between plants. Plants should not crowd and shade each other, and the roots need a lot of space.
Sowing and growing seedlings
Unprepared seeds may germinate poorly, so a series of manipulations are carried out with them before sowing. First of all, they need to be warmed up, it is convenient to do this by tying (or simply laying) them to a warm steam heating battery for the night. Then the seeds need to be disinfected, for this they are soaked for a short time with a warm one percent solution of potassium permanganate.
It is advised to soak them in warm water for several hours, you can use not just water, but a solution of ash, nitroammophoska or mineral fertilizers. After that, the seeds are washed and laid out between layers of damp cloth. After the appearance of “spouts”, more than 0,5 cm long, it’s time to sow.
If spring has finally come, the soil has warmed up to 14 degrees, you can sow the seeds directly on the garden. 2 or 3 seeds are buried by 3 cm with their “noses” down, covered with earth, it would be good to mulch with peat on top. With the appearance of a real leaf in the seedlings, they are thinned out so that one plant remains in the hole, others are pinched off and not pulled out, because they have very tender roots. This is what they do when they grow without seedlings. But most often, seedlings are first grown at home or in greenhouse conditions, and then they are planted on the site. So you can get the fruits earlier.
Seedlings are moved to the garden at the age of 20 or 30 days. Knowing this, given the timing of the arrival of heat in your area, you can easily decide when to sow. Thus, if you need to plant zucchini from May 20 to June 10, then you need to sow April 20 – May 5. If caring for zucchini is supposed to be indoors, sowing is done earlier, April 10 – 20. Zucchini are perfectly stored for a long time, so for storing ripe fruits until the spring of next year, it is better to do without seedlings, and sow the seeds in June right on the garden – the fruits will ripen later, but will be stored for a long time.
For seedlings, the soil mixture is prepared as follows: soddy soil (5 parts), peat (3), humus (2) are mixed; add superphosphate (1 g), ammonium nitrate (20 g), potassium sulfate (10 g), wood ash (5 glass) to 1 bucket of this soil. All this is laid out in jars or a pot of approximately 10 by 10 cm, spilled with potassium permanganate (1%). The seeds are deepened by 2 cm, usually 2 are planted in each container, and after the appearance of a real leaf, a weak sprout is pinched off.
Seedlings should be grown at a temperature of +18 – +22 degrees, watered weekly with warm water, preventing the earth from drying out. At the age of one week, seedlings are fed by diluting 5 liters of water with 1 tablespoon of superphosphate and half a tablespoon of urea. The second time the seedlings are fed in another week. For the second top dressing, 5 tablespoon of any complex mineral fertilizer is diluted with 1 liters of water. No need to dive.
Landing in the ground
It is necessary to plant seedlings when it reaches the age of one month, when it is already warmly firmly established in the garden. It must be remembered that the roots of young zucchini are very fragile, so the plants are carefully removed along with an earthen clod, placed in holes that were previously poured with warm water, covered with soil, lightly tamped the ground around. If there is even the slightest threat of frost, the seedlings need to be covered, for this they usually use a film or non-woven fabric.
Care
How to care for zucchini? As with all vegetables in the garden – weed out, loosen the ground, water, feed if necessary, and harvest fruits on time. Water the zucchini weekly only with warm water, each plant should get up to 2 liters of water. When fruiting becomes massive, water more often (after 3 days) and more. Water should not be poured under the very root, but in the near-stem circle at the stem (with a radius of 20 cm). Weeds must be removed, not left between rows, so as not to create a danger of infection or conditions for pests. The earth needs to be loosened to ensure the flow of air to the roots.
Bush plants do not need to be pinched, but when the plant has bloomed, it is better to remove the leaves from the center of the bush so that it is easier for insects to pollinate the flowers, and light comes to the ovaries better. In climbing plants, lashes without ovaries can be removed so that the plant does not waste strength on them. If there are no pollinating insects (especially in a greenhouse), then you can pollinate like this – tear off the male flower, carefully remove the sepals and rub them with the pistils of female flowers (3 – 4 flowers).
Fertilization can be adjusted according to the condition of the soil. In fertile areas, zucchini grows well and bears fruit without a single top dressing, but when the soil is depleted, up to three root top dressings are carried out per season. The first time – after two weeks after disembarkation. Use mullein tenfold diluted with water, or slurry with nitrophoska.
The second time fertilizers are applied when flowering begins: 10 glass of wood ash and 1 tablespoon of complex mineral fertilizer are diluted in 1 liters of water. When the fruits are formed, you can feed with a solution of chicken manure, or take 1 tablespoon of double superphosphate, urea and potassium sulfate, dilute with 10 liters of water. Bushes can be sprayed with a solution of urea, they perfectly absorb fertilizers, just do not burn the green bush – you need to take only one tablespoon of fertilizer per 10 liters of water.
Zucchini can suffer from fungal diseases and other infections. Sometimes they are affected by powdery mildew, root rot and bacteriosis. Provokes disease temperature difference, watering with cold water, excessive humidity – all this must be avoided. If there is too much moisture, slugs can threaten the zucchini. Ash scattered around the stems, or tooth powder will help fight them. Scoop caterpillars can cause serious damage. You can fight pests with chemicals or decoctions and infusions of onions, garlic, celandine.
Collection and storage
The most tender and delicious fruits are harvested when they reach 15 – 20 cm, which means a couple of times a week. By cutting the fruits, we stimulate the formation of new ones and all the time we have a delicate vitamin dietary dish on the table. But for bookmarking for long-term storage, zucchini must be fully ripe. Such a fruit has a thick and strong crust, and it responds to a knock with a booming sound, like a ripe watermelon. The fruits are cut with a sharp knife, leaving 5 cm of the stalk, before frost, store them in the basement or refrigerator. Before being sent for storage, zucchini is not washed – only dry processing.
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Information for gardeners and gardeners with proven methods and secrets that will help you grow a good harvest.
