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Biggest Zucchini Harvest
I love Zucchini! Steamed, sauteed, in soup, on the grill, stuffed…..it’s such a versatile vegetable. The only thing I love more is growing it so its fresh and organic. Even better is getting your biggest zucchini harvest each summer.
Zucchini is easy to grow, and readily produces tons of healthy goodness. It comes in different colors and shapes too. Those little eight ball zucchinis are so cute!
Want to know how to grow so many zucchinis that you can’t eat them all or give them away fast enough? Read on to find out how I grow so much zucchini every year.
Zucchini Plants 101
What is a zucchini anyway? A Zucchini is a variety of summer squash that tends to be harvested when young and soft. We eat them before they are ripe while the seeds are not able to sprout because this is when they are edible. Technically, the fruit is called a pepo, which is the swollen ovary of the zucchini flower.
Squashes were first domesticated over 7000 years ago and now we have over 100 different types. These are further split into winter squash and summer squash. Winter squashes tend to vine and climb more while the summer variety grows as more of a bush. The zucchini in particular, hails from Milan where it was bread in the late 19th century.
These plants love full sun and lots of water. The fruits need ample watering to get nice and plump. This is also why when you cook it, you get a fair amount of water leaking out of them. Just don’t let their roots get too soggy, make sure the soil is well drained.
How to Grow Zucchini
There are many old wives tales when it comes to gardening. Not all of them are helpful or actually do any good. The one I’m talking about here is to grow squashes on a hill. Sure, it’s what the directions say, and lots of people do it, but I have found that it doesn’t matter. My zucchinis have always done perfectly fine on flat ground but may need some support as they get larger.
What are the best tips to get your biggest zucchini harvest this year? Tips coming from me aren’t going to be old wives tales, that’s for sure! I tell my tried and true advice that has worked for me in the past. Here are the top 5 things that have helped me harvest too many zucchinis many times.
1. Pick a Great Location
Squash love lots of sun and lots of water. Pick a location that gets ample sunlight and where you can water it deeply and regularly. When choosing your location, be sure to add some good compost and mulch to the soil where you will be planting your zucchini.
Knowing when to plant in your location is also a great thing to consider. If you plant too early and get a late frost, your plant will likely suffer for it. Start seeds indoors in organic soil to give them the best shot at growing really robust.
2. Encourage Local Pollinators
You just can’t get any fruits off of anything in your garden without pollinators. Try adding some flowers around your garden area to encourage these helpful bees to come around.
Pollinators are becoming in short supply these days. It seems as if I see fewer honeybees and more other types of bees lately. They are super cute when they sleep in the blossoms though. The important thing is to get bugs to pollinate for you, so you don’t find yourself out with a paintbrush.
3. Prune Them
Prune them? Yes, prune them to encourage new growth and so they give more resources to the fruits. You can remove about 30% of the leaves and they will be just fine.
Removing the lower older leaves will allow those pollinators to be able to see your blossoms. It also means that those zucchinis can’t hide from you and get super big. That is sometimes the worst part about growing them is they hide from you under leaves, and you discover giant zucchinis when you are wanting small ones.
4. Plant New Plants
Succession planting when you have a long enough growing season helps boost yield too. Plants will slow down in production as they age so go right ahead and start some new plants about a month after your first ones go in the ground.
Planting a second batch of plants will ensure that you keep getting zucchinis all summer long. Each plant will yield between three and ten pounds of fruits each year. That’s a ton of zucchini to go towards your biggest harvest ever.
5. Pick Every Day
These plants, like many other plants will stop producing when the fruits are ripe. The point of making fruits in the first place is to disperse seeds. Once the seeds are done, the plant can be done for the season.
Picking the zucchini, or any other squash for that matter will encourage more fruits to be produced. I have seen this work with peas and beans too. I always know I missed a pea pod somewhere when the vines start to wither and turn brown. The more you pick, the more you get.
Use these tips for all varieties of zucchini, and for other squash varieties as well. Try the round ones, the yellow ones, and the striped ones too. They are all great, especially when fresh from the garden.
Grow Your Best Garden
Now you have the information to get your biggest zucchini harvest this year, go ahead, and get your whole garden started. For more great information on how to build greenhouse or raised garden beds check out these other posts:
Building Amazing Raised Garden Beds From Pallets for Practically Free
How to Build an Off Grid Solar Greenhouse