Zucchini

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-07 15:51

© Yana Gayvoronskaya / Rusmediabank.ru

Latin name: Cucurbita pepo Family: Pumpkin Categories: Vegetable crops

Zucchini (Cucurbita pepo) - a popular vegetable, a type of vegetable pumpkin.

Geography

The homeland of the squash is Central and South America. Zucchini can be found today in the garden of any Russian summer resident.

Zucchini is popular not only for its excellent taste, but also for its high yield and early maturity. It is grown almost throughout the country, with the exception, perhaps, of the Far North and the southernmost regions.

Zucchini is an annual plant, usually bush-shaped. Long-leaved varieties are also not uncommon. The squash has a well-developed tap root system. The leaves of the plant are hard, large, five-lobed, flowers are dioecious, monoecious

The fruits of the squash are elongated, the bark is white or green, when ripe it is creamy or yellow. The plant ripens in one and a half to two months. The seeds are rather small and white.

The most common varieties with high yields are such cold-resistant varieties as Gribovsky 37 and slightly less cold-resistant Beloplodny, Odessa 52, Dlinnoplodny, Grechesky 110 and others. The varieties of zucchini and zucchini with an Italian "pedigree" are very popular. These are Zebra, Runaway, Tsukesha and others. They are quite fruitful and have excellent taste. They also store well and therefore will be a decoration of your table for a long time.

Care rules

Zucchini as a whole can be called a mid-season crop, although there are also early-maturing varieties.

The technical maturity of zucchini occurs in one and a half to two months, until physiological maturity takes three months or a little more.

Temperature … Zucchini is demanding on temperature. Seeds germinate at a temperature of + 26-27 ° C. The minimum temperature required for seed germination is + 8-10 ° C. The plant does not tolerate frost well, it is resistant to drought. However, watering is needed to get a good harvest.

The soil … The soil must be chosen fertile. The place is chosen well lit, but without a draft.

Sowing … Zucchini is sown with seeds in the ground. Take three or four dry or naklyuvshisya seeds and put into the hole to a depth of 5-6 cm. Sowing begins when the soil warms up to a temperature of 10-12 ° C. Before sowing, it is necessary to add half a kilogram of humus, 22-25 g of superphosphate, 15 g of potassium chloride to each well.

To obtain an earlier harvest, it is better to grow zucchini in protected ground, planting through seedlings. Zucchini seedlings are usually grown in a greenhouse, under film shelters, as well as at home - for example, on a balcony, on a windowsill, in paper or plastic cups.

The seedlings are between three and five weeks old (depending on the size of the pot). In open ground, marrow seedlings should be planted after the spring frosts have passed. For temporary shelters made of film - two to three weeks earlier.

Caring for zucchini crops is loosening between the beds, watering and feeding. Zucchini is watered quite abundantly. In the phase of one or two true leaves, the seedlings must be thinned out, leaving one plant in the hole. Top dressing must be carried out once or twice using organic fertilizers.

The ovaries are removed when they reach 9-10 cm, as well as larger fruits with unripe seeds, as they ripen, in order to avoid overripening. It is necessary to cut the zucchini together with the stalk. The fruit has a soft skin and delicate flesh. The vegetable yield is 9-10 kg per square meter. Zucchini fruits do not ripen so quickly, but they are stored longer. The best preservation is in large zucchini fruits.

For seeds, select typical fruits. Cleaning must be done before frost. The seeds need to be dried in the sun, stirring them from time to time.