Seeds 3 Seeds (Cucurbita pepo var. cylindrica)

This golden "egg-yolk yellow" zucchini (Cucurbita pepo var. cylindrica) stands apart from the usual dark-green courgette with its warm yellow skin and slender, straight cylindrical shape. The flesh is pale, fine-grained and mild with a soft, buttery taste, while the thin, glossy skin needs no peeling. Its bright colour makes it a standout in sauteed mixes, grilled slices, stuffed dishes and the classic Egyptian mahshi, and it brings a cheerful pop of colour to any plate when picked young and tender.

Planting

Zucchini is a warm-season squash that frost will kill, so wait until the cold has fully passed and the soil has warmed before sowing outdoors. As a guide, the soil should reach at least about 21°C at a 5 cm depth. You can sow seed about 2.5 cm deep when planting directly outdoors, or about 1.3 cm deep when starting in pots; in warmth of roughly 18-21°C the seeds sprout quickly, usually within about 5-7 days. To get a head start you can sow indoors and transplant out about three weeks later in 7.5 cm containers, hardening the young plants off first. These are large, vigorous plants, so give them room: space single plants roughly 60-90 cm apart, with about 90-150 cm between rows. Sow a few seeds at each spot and thin to the strongest seedling, keeping plants around 20-30 cm apart; snip out the extras with scissors rather than pulling, so you do not disturb the roots. Choose a position in full sun, ideally with 8-10 hours of direct light a day, in fertile, well-drained, slightly acidic soil (pH about 6.0-6.5).

Fertilizing

Start with rich ground: work plenty of compost or fertilizer into the bed before planting. Once the vines begin to spread, give a nitrogen side-dressing (for example a 46-0-0 source), and time a feed to coincide with the appearance of the first female flowers. If you grow in containers, feed every 10-14 days with a high-potash liquid fertilizer once the first fruits start to swell. Plants growing in good garden soil generally will not need extra feeding.

Care

Zucchini is a thirsty, heavy drinker. Aim for about 2.5 cm of water per week from rain or irrigation, keep the soil consistently moist, and in hot weather plants may need watering every day. Drip lines or soaker hoses are best, and keeping the foliage dry helps hold off disease. Watch for the main pests, squash vine borers, squash bugs and striped or spotted cucumber beetles (which can spread bacterial wilt), as well as slugs and snails on young plants. Powdery mildew is the main fungal problem, alongside downy mildew, cucurbit viruses, anthracnose, angular leaf spot, bacterial wilt and grey mould. This is a fast crop, ready in roughly 50-65 days from transplant, so harvest young and tender before the seeds enlarge and the skin hardens, picking fruits at about 10-20 cm long. Harvest often, two or three times a week, to keep the plants producing. In Egypt frost is rarely a concern, so the aim is warm but not extreme conditions: in the Nile Delta and Lower Egypt sow in February-March for a spring crop, or in August-September for an autumn harvest, avoiding the harshest mid-summer when heat and disease pressure peak. In warmer Upper Egypt, sow earlier in January-February to crop before the intense summer, or sow in September for a cooler-season crop; protected tunnels or greenhouses can extend growing into winter anywhere in the country.