🥒
Zucchini
Black Beauty
CucurbitsDirect SowTransplant
☀️
Sun
full sun
💧
Water
Every 4 days
🌱
Germination
7 days
🕐
Days to harvest
52 days
📏
Planting depth
0.5 inches deep
↔️
Row spacing
36 inches
When to Plant
Direct sow after last frost
Growing Guide
Soil: rich, warm · pH 6.0–7.5
Zucchini is a vigorous feeder. Work in 4–5 inches of very rich compost into a planting hill or mound. Space generously — a single mature zucchini plant can occupy 4–6 square feet.
- Start indoors 3–4 weeks before last frost (no earlier — zucchini resents being rootbound)
- Transplant after last frost into warm soil
- Plant 2 plants minimum for cross-pollination, or hand-pollinate flowers with a small brush
- Plant on mounds or hills to improve drainage — standing water causes crown rot
- Mulch heavily to conserve moisture and suppress weeds under the large spreading leaves
Care
💧 Water every 4 days
🌿 Fertilize every 14 days
📐 Spacing: 24 inches apart · 36 inches between rows
Harvest & Storage
Ready in 52 days with a harvest window of 21 days.
- Harvest at 6–8 inches long — the most tender and flavorful size
- NEVER let zucchini grow to baseball bat size — it signals the plant to stop producing
- Check daily in midsummer — a zucchini can go from 4 inches to 18 inches in 48 hours
- The yellow flowers are edible and delicious — harvest male flowers (on straight stems) leaving female flowers (with tiny zucchini at base) to fruit
Storage
Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Slice and blanch to freeze. Overgrown zucchini can be used for zucchini bread or stuffed and baked.
Companion Planting
Grows well with:
beancornnasturtium
Keep away from:
potato
Essential Tools
- Sharp knife (harvest)
- Large trowel or shovel (planting on hills)
Pests & Diseases
- Squash vine borer: wilting from inside the stem — slits in stem at soil line; inject Bt into stem or wrap base with foil as preventative
- Powdery mildew: white powder on leaves in midsummer — inevitable late season; plant a second crop in June for fresh plants in August
- Squash bugs: grey-brown bugs clustered on undersides; brown egg masses — crush eggs, trap adults under boards at night