The brother of the white-fruited zucchini - zucchini, which received its touching name in the Italian Apennines, has long won the appreciation of domestic professional vegetable growers and amateur summer residents.
Translation of this characteristic name from fervent Italian means “little pumpkin”, which is consistent with the variety of forms of the vegetable and its belonging to the family of the same name. This article will tell about the features, varieties and agricultural techniques of zucchini cultivation.
Squash and zucchini: the difference
We will not play down the merits of ordinary zucchini, but we emphasize that the popularity of the “Italian” is growing from year to year. Let's see how zucchini differs from zucchini. This culture has a greater decorative effect, its lashes are more compact, and carved, pubescent leaves with a bright zonal coloration impress with size and brightness. But they appreciate zucchini for a rich, delicate and pleasant taste. These qualities make it possible to eat it raw with pleasure, using in salads and light snacks. This vegetable is ahead of its colleagues in the duration of the harvest: its keeping quality is quite high, in a cool basement, zucchini squash will last until mid-spring without losing a pleasant freshness and taste. Another very significant advantage that distinguishes this vegetable is productivity.
Zucchini, in comparison with an ordinary zucchini, produces more female flowers and, accordingly, ovaries.
The benefits of zucchini
This healthy vegetable is delicious in any form. Zucchini, as well as white-fruited varieties, are rich in vitamins. In terms of carotene content, they are not inferior to carrots. In addition, their flesh contains ascorbic acid and biologically active pigments, and the seeds contain oils, proteins and vitamins B, E. Like many pumpkin, zucchini improve metabolism and digestion, normalize the liver and are very useful for people who are overweight.
Zucchini squash: description
The color of the fruits of this vegetable varies from deep dark green to a spectacular rich golden hue. Depending on the variety, zucchini are painted evenly or colored with muffled or bright stripes. Their shape is also different: classic oblong or unusual round. The sizes of fruits can also be different, varying from 10-15 cm to half a meter or more in length.
Culture preferences
Zucchini zucchini, like a true southerner, loves brightly lit areas, but also makes places with short-term shading.
The plant grows well on loose fertile sandy loams with a neutral reaction. Soil preparation for planting is carried out in the fall, digging a bed, adding humus (10 kg), superphosphate (50 g) and wood ash (200-250 g) per 1 m
2 .
The best predecessors that previously occupied the site are legumes, nightshade or cabbage crops, but after pumpkin counterparts, planting zucchini is not recommended in order to avoid the development of diseases traditional for this family. If there is a shortage of space, when planting zucchini after any representative of the genus in spring, the soil is abundantly shed with a solution of manganese.
Site preparation
Being a southerner, zucchini is more demanding on heat. And this is worth considering, since it is noticed that ordinary zucchini in temperate latitudes emerge faster than their striped brothers. Gardeners recommend planting crops on the so-called high beds or compost heaps, covered with a layer of soil from above and ensuring uniform heating. Depending on the weather conditions in the region, the variety is chosen so that very vulnerable seedlings do not damage spring return frosts.
Landing
You can plant zucchini zucchini directly into the ground with seeds or seedlings.
They resort to a similar method only in areas of risky farming or in those cases when the gardener wants to get the crop as early as possible. Before planting, the seeds of zucchini squash are treated by soaking in warm water or a weak solution of the biostimulator for 2 days to weaken the resistance of the dense peel and help the shoots break through. Planted in the 2-3 days of May, seeds germinate after 5-7 days.
Seedlings are sown in early May. Since the seedlings of zucchini are extremely fragile, they are planted immediately in separate cups: this will protect the plants from damage when transplanted into the open ground. The age of seedlings ready for planting on the garden should be 25-30 days. Seedlings are planted in late May - early June.
The planting technology is simple: in a prepared and well-leveled area, dig holes, fill them with a fertile mixture of soil, humus and ash. For seedlings grown through seedlings, the holes do a little more, for seeds - very small. The roots of young plants should not come into contact with ash - it is too aggressive and can damage delicate tissues, so the nutrient soil must be thoroughly mixed.
Planted crops are generously watered, compact the soil and mulch the beds with humus or
wood chips. Experienced vegetable growers when planting seeds often put 2-3 seeds in one hole, insuring against possible failure. Subsequently, the extra germinated seedlings are removed. Since zucchini squash needs sufficient space for productive growth, the intervals between holes should be at least 0.5-0.6 m.
Zucchini Care
Cultivating measures include cultivating the soil, weeding the weed, timely watering and removing yellowing leaves of the lower tier. The plant is especially in need of good hydration during flowering and fruit setting. When watering, water should be avoided on leaves and ovaries. Feeding is also necessary, which is carried out twice a season. For the first time, the plant is fed 7-12 days after planting with a solution of rotted manure, the second time fertilizers will be required during the formation of the fruits. During this period, use solutions of potassium phosphorus preparations, the concentration of which should correspond to the recommended in the annotation.
Harvesting
Remove the fruits 1-2 times a week, cutting off with a knife along with the stem. Zucchini squash, shot at the stage of milk maturity (weighing up to half a kilogram), is eaten fresh, in salads and snacks.
For storage, culinary processing or traditional preparations in Russian cuisine for the winter, zucchini are harvested in the phase of technical maturity, i.e., when the fruit has ripened, but the seeds have not yet ripened. During storage, such zucchini ripen.
In order to get seeds, remove the fully ripened zucchini when the lashes of the plant turn yellow and the stem begins to dry out. They are stored in the light in room conditions until February-March. Seeds are selected as the fruits turn yellow. One medium squash contains 140-170 seeds.
Varieties and hybrids
There are many varieties of zucchini, and thanks to constant breeding work, they undergo state varietal tests annually, replenishing a wonderful family with new varieties of "Italians". Next, we present to your attention an incomplete list of the most popular varieties among gardeners.
• Zucchini zucchini zucchini varieties form a compact medium-sized bush with weak branching. Ripening, give a good harvest of cylindrical green in a small bright speck on the cover color of the fruit (up to 0.7 kg), smooth or with a slightly noticeable ribbing. The pulp is white, crispy.
• The early ripening Aeronaut, who forms an almost unbranched main stalk covered with beautiful undescended leaves, is pleased with high yields. The fruits are smooth, large, painted in deep dark green tones, reach 1.5 kg. The flesh is yellowish, dense. The variety is fruitful, but the fruits of the Aeronaut variety are zucchini (zucchini), the cultivation of which is productive only on fertile soils.
• Ambassador - an early ripe variety, the bushes of which are characterized by medium spreading. The fruits are large, dark green, reaching a weight of 3 kg.
• Variety characterized by high productivity - Zebra. When planting nearby white-fruited zucchini, the Zebra is able to tie fruit without pollination by insects. A decorative undersized bush with dissected leaves gives high yields of cylindrical fruits with a slight uniform thickening at the end. Zucchini smooth or slightly ribbed, with bright green longitudinal stripes.
• Runaway - an early ripening, high-yielding hybrid with a short main shoot, forming an average unbranched bush and giving an oval shape, the stalk has slightly ribbed fruits of medium size. The color of the zucchini of this variety is remarkable - cream-green with an abstract pattern of blurry interrupted dark green stripes. These are the characteristics of the souvenir hybrid.
• Diamond - a medium-ripening variety with a high spreading bush and elongated grayish-green fruits weighing up to 0.8 kg.
• Di Piacenzo - mid-season zucchini with an extended fruiting period. Dark green rounded fruits are distinguished by excellent taste.
In one publication it is impossible to list all varieties of such a wonderful representative of pumpkin, such as zucchini squash. The photos presented in the article demonstrate the beauty of this culture. The Italians who settled in the garden of your site will undoubtedly decorate the garden space and bring tangible benefits.