Zucchini and Squash are both members of the Cucurbit family, which also includes Cucumbers, Marrows, Pumpkins and Melons. These are technically all fruits however Zucchini and Squash are almost always used in savoury dishes and salads.
Care Plant Zucchini and Squash in spring, chose a position in the veggie patch which is sunny, and well drained. They need plenty of cow manure and compost and don't like to dry out. Don't plant too many, as they will produce a huge amount of fruit through summer and you wont know what to do with them all. Feed every few weeks with organic liquid fertilisers such as Maxicrop, Harvest or Seasol and Powerfeed. The bush varieties don't run and unlike vines such as pumpkin and cucumbers they can be grown in large pots successfully. Plant now and you'll be harvesting in 60 days. You should be able to get 30-40 fruit per plant (usually one every two days).
Varieties
Zucchini
'Black Beauty' - Produces dark green, juicy fruits. Early maturing early and produces over an extended season. Plants are bush-type and require minimum space.
'Gold Bullion' - An excellent compact, bush type plant, perfect for pots. Produces yellow, cylindrical fruit that are best harvested when they reach 15-18cm long.
Squash
'Green Buttons' - A dark green, flat squash with scalloped edges. Flesh is white, with a great flavour. Prolific producer.
'Yellow buttons' - Produces sweet and tender baby squash which are golden in colour. A heavy cropper suitable to plant in the garden or in a pot.
Troubleshooting * Zucchini fruit wither and drop off? Your zucchini are dropping off because they are not being pollinated. Did you know there are male and female flowers on the same bush? You can help pollination with a soft paintbrush if there are not many bees or other insects around. To determine which flower is female and which is male, check behind the flowers - the ones with a miniature fruit are female. You can use pollen from the other male flowers. If all the flower stems are straight, you have male flowers only. That seems to happen when the weather is a bit cool as the plants start flowering.
* Splotches of powdery mildew on leaves can be treated by spraying with Eco-Fungicide. We are spraying diluted worm wee on the leaves as a good organic prevention to this problem.
*A brown mark on the bottom of the fruit? This indicates 'Blossom End rot; a calcium deficiency which effects the translocation of water up the stem. Adding garden lime or dolomite into the soil before planting will prevent this problem.
Did you know? Zucchinis have huge yellow flowers which can be stuffed with ricotta cheese, feta and herbs then pan fried - delicious!
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