Let's talk about growing zucchini and squash in the open ground. Zucchini and squash are annual vegetable plants of the pumpkin family. Anyone who was engaged in their cultivation, planting care, harvesting can confirm what fruitful vegetables these are! Ripen quickly, without much hassle. And after they begin to bear fruit, they can no longer be stopped. That is why they are so popular in our gardens.
The birthplace of zucchini is America. There, they cultivated zucchini 3 thousand years ago BC. But mainly plant seeds were used for food. Christopher Columbus brought zucchini to Europe, along with potatoes and tobacco. About 20 years ago, a variety of zucchini appeared - zucchini. They differ from ordinary ones in that their peel is very soft, they are much more tender, tastier than just zucchini.
Zucchini are diverse in shape and color. They are very fruitful. Some varieties can be stored until March-April.
Varieties and hybrids are numerous - zucchini-zucchini Astoria, Gold F1, zucchini White Swan, Anchor, Tsukesha, Yellow-fruited, Gribovsky, Kuand, Cavili F1, others.
The agrotechnology of growing zucchini and zucchini is the same, so below we will call all their varieties zucchini.
Zucchini can be grown not only in the garden. They grow well near the fence, outside the greenhouse, that is, where something else will not even grow. But the place must be sunny. They do not require as much heat as cucumbers. They grow, yield crops all summer.
Growing zucchini - so how to do it right so that they benefit you?
These are quite hygrophilous plants. When growing zucchini through seedlings or sowing in open ground, one rule must be observed - on the eve, spill the beds well. This will help reduce stress seedlings and germinate seeds faster if you plant them directly in the soil.
How to choose a place for planting zucchini? Like any plant, they love the sun. That is, a place for growing zucchini, for their planting, choose a sunny one.
If you are planting seedlings, then dig shallow (5-7 cm) holes, add azofoska to each 1 tablespoon. Do not forget to mix the soil inside the pit so as not to burn the roots. Pour some water there. Deepen the zucchini bush to the first leaf.
When sowing seeds also on the bottom of a shallow hole, pour the same mineral fertilizers, mix, pour and spread 2-3 seeds on a moist surface. Shoots appear after 6-7 days.
If you live in the middle lane, in the north-west of our country, Siberia, I advise you to provide protection from northern cold winds before planting zucchini when planting. In our Kuban, I also noticed that the zucchini growing near the shelter is much faster than the growth of their counterparts growing in the open.
Such a shelter can be a small stack of mowed grass, a barn wall, a fence, an old metal barrel placed on the north side or just a pile of land. During the day, all this protection will heat up, and at night it will give heat to the zucchini, that is, day and night temperature differences will not be so noticeable for plants. You will definitely notice the difference between plants growing outdoors or under protection. Bushes of zucchini, grown under protection, delight with their well-being, intense dark green color indicates favorable conditions, the leaves reach enormous size. Harvest also pleases.
How to care for zucchini? Zucchini love organics, respond well to mulching. Weeding is important for zucchini when they are small and the weeds are large. It is undesirable for grass to take nutrients from the soil from them. But after the tops ascend to the sky, weeds are almost not afraid of her. Under the squashy leaves of zucchini, the grass does not really grow.
Another secret to growing zucchini. At the time of their flowering should stop watering. Resume it only after the beginning of fruit setting. The thing is that their pollen becomes heavy during irrigation - bees or insects can not cope with pollination. But, frankly, zucchini or squash are so productive that sometimes you don’t know where to put the crop, so I personally don’t have a headache if they are tied or not. Almost never left without a crop.
If your zucchini grows in mulch, then watering will not be so burdensome. Well, of course, you need to pick up the zucchini from time to time - young and not so that new ones can be tied. You can leave 2-3 pieces per seed, and do not let the rest grow.
Last year I made such a mistake. It was hot, the leaves of the squash drooped, some began to turn yellow. I decided to cover several bushes with lutrasil. And what? By this I closed all the flowers from the bees, the flies that pollinate them. For some time, the fruits, of course, ceased to be tied. Until I realized this, time passed. On these bushes of vegetable marrows I began to pluck only in August.
As soon as the temperature at night (August, September) begins to drop below 10 ° C, you can cover the planting of zucchini with spanbond, lutrasil or any other covering material. This will extend the harvest period.
You have harvested a rich crop of zucchini. How to store them correctly? Let's get it right. Zucchini or squash is usually eaten when the fruit is no more than 10 days old. Seeds are still small. And over time, useful substances become less. Therefore, it makes no sense to store them. It is better to recycle young zucchini or squash, to make blanks.
Only ripened fruits of zucchini can be stored.
There is a very interesting sort of vegetable marrow - Winter handsome. This is a very slow variety. It is well kept until April of next year in room conditions. The pulp remains juicy. The peel, of course, is hard, but it belongs to hard-bark varieties. The seeds inside will not germinate, they will be suitable for planting over the next 5 years.
Squash is grown in Russia for 1.5 centuries. They did not get much distribution. Although, in my opinion, to taste, squash is more tender than zucchini, especially pickled.
In shape, their fruits are very diverse. They may look like a plate, with or without cloves, in the shape of a bell. The color of squash can also be different - white, yellow in different shades, green, purple.
Usually more popular are white varieties of squash - Disk, Umbrella, Rodeo, and others. Yellow varieties - Sunny, Fuete, UFO orange. Purple variety - Bingo Bongo. Green varieties - Chunga Changa, Gosh.
The agricultural technique for growing squash is the same as zucchini, but keep in mind that squash is more heat-loving, so more compost is added when planting. It is better to pluck them young. Like zucchini, squash, the longer they grow, the harder they become.
I don’t know about you, but I'm just in love with zucchini, squash. I fry them, prepare pancakes from them, preserve. How delicious they are! It is a pleasure to open a jar of pickled zucchini or squash in the winter, eat them with crumbly potatoes. Caviar, salads, snacks! And what an unusual jam is obtained from zucchini! A great variety of dishes can be prepared!
She was always surprised to the fact that some people say: but I don’t like zucchini ... Well, how can you not love them ?!
Zucchini, squash diet vegetables. Useful. Even medicinal. Dishes from them are useful for those who are losing weight and those who want to get better. Yes Yes! Do not be surprised! She herself witnessed such a story. She worked in the same organization with two women. Both waited for the summer to feast on zucchini. One had a goal - to lose weight, and the other - to get better. Each of them reached its goal. Moreover, they ate almost the same dishes. Well, perhaps for weight loss, one of them did not include fritters from zucchini in her menu.