Zucchini Seeds 7g

Zucchini is one of the most rewarding vegetables you can grow at home: a warm-season summer squash that turns a single seed into a large, vigorous plant loaded with smooth, glossy fruits. Picked young and tender, the flesh is mild and delicate with a soft, fine texture that takes beautifully to grilling, sauteeing, stuffing, or going straight into a fresh stir-fry. Because the fruits develop so quickly, you get a steady, generous supply right through the season, making this a favourite for cooks who want fresh, homegrown produce on hand.

Planting

Zucchini is a warm-season, frost-sensitive crop, so sow only after all danger of frost has passed and the soil has warmed, ideally to around 21°C at 5 cm depth. You can sow directly outdoors about 2.5 cm deep, or start indoors in pots at about 1.3 cm deep and transplant after hardening off. When starting under cover, sow roughly three weeks before transplanting into small 7.5 cm containers. Seeds need warmth to wake up, germinating best at 18-21°C, and in warm soil they sprout fast, usually in about 5-7 days. Give the plants a warm, sunny, sheltered spot with at least 6 hours of direct light a day, ideally 8-10 hours, in fertile, well-drained, slightly acidic soil around pH 6.0-6.5. These plants grow big, so space them about 90 cm apart, with roughly 1.8 m between rows. Sow a few seeds per spot and thin to the strongest seedling, cutting the extras off at soil level with scissors rather than pulling them so you don't disturb the roots.

Fertilizing

Start with rich ground by working compost or fertilizer into the soil before planting. As the plants develop, side-dress them: a good moment is when the vines begin to spread, or as the first female flowers start to appear. For plants grown in containers, feed every 10-14 days with a high-potash liquid fertilizer once the first fruits begin to swell, while plants in genuinely good garden soil generally need little or no extra feeding.

Care

Zucchini is a thirsty, heavy drinker, needing about 2.5 cm of water per week from rain or irrigation, and in hot weather it may need watering every day. Water at the base using drip or soaker hoses and keep the foliage dry, which helps limit powdery mildew, the main fungal problem to watch for along with downy mildew, cucurbit viruses, and bacterial wilt. Keep an eye out for squash vine borers, squash bugs, and striped or spotted cucumber beetles, which can spread bacterial wilt, plus slugs and snails on young plants. The crop matures fast, about 50-65 days from transplant, so harvest while the fruits are young and tender, before the seeds enlarge and the skin hardens, picking at around 10-20 cm long. Harvest often, 2-3 times a week, to keep the plants productive and the fruit coming.