We’re not here to give a full gardening lesson, but here are a few practical tips from our experience that you won’t find elsewhere.
La courgette est une culture facile, à la portée de tous, et sans souci. C’est parfait et valorisant pour débuter en jardinage.
Why grow zucchini?
Yes, it’s true—why bother when zucchini is inexpensive?
However, freshly picked zucchini offers an unparalleled flavor, making it worth the effort.
Sowing or Planting?
You can sow seeds in pots under cover in April, then transplant them into the ground in May. Alternatively, you can buy seedlings in small pots, which is easier. For just two or three zucchini plants, it’s not worth the extra work of starting from seed.
When to Plant?
You can plant your zucchini as soon as the last frost is no longer a threat. However, there’s no need to rush. If the warm weather hasn’t settled in, your plants may struggle. If you’re not an experienced gardener, it’s better to wait until the weather improves—your plants will grow quickly with fewer problems.
How to Plant?
It’s straightforward: plant in rich soil, provide some shade from direct sunlight, and water well for the first few days. One caution: slugs love young zucchini plants. To protect them, cut the bottom off a 1.5-liter plastic bottle and place it over the plant, burying it slightly in the soil. Remove the cap for ventilation, and slugs won’t be able to get in. After a few weeks, the plant will be strong enough, and you can remove the bottle.
How Many Plants?
This is a key question: a single zucchini plant produces fruit steadily as it grows. This means that during the peak season, you’ll have one zucchini ready to harvest, another that will be ripe in a week, a flower that will become a zucchini in two weeks, and so on.nsi de suite.
With one plant, you’ll harvest about one zucchini per week. Since they’re best when picked small to medium-sized, you won’t have enough to feed the whole family. You’ll need several plants—five or six is a good number to ensure a sufficient harvest. But be prepared: with five or six plants, you’ll soon have an abundance of zucchinis!
What to Do with All Those Zucchinis?
It’s simple—explore our recipes for ideas.
Care
Zucchini plants aren’t demanding but they do need rich soil, some sun, and plenty of water.
The main disease to watch out for is powdery mildew, a fungus that appears as white powder on the leaves. While it weakens the plant by hindering photosynthesis, it doesn’t significantly affect fruit production. Remove the affected leaves and keep them away from your plants, or better yet, burn them.
Pollination
Look closely at your zucchini plants: you’ll notice two types of flowers, male and female. You can usually see a small swelling on the female flowers where the fruit will develop. If a female flower isn’t pollinated, it will still produce fruit, but the fruit won’t develop properly, often resulting in a zucchini with a shriveled end.
This is common with the first zucchinis of the season, when there may not be enough male flowers or pollinating insects. You can assist by manually pollinating: take the stamen from a male flower and gently rub it against the pistil of a female flower to transfer the pollen.
Harvesting
One of the benefits of growing zucchini is that you can harvest exactly what you need, at the size you want, when you need it. However, to keep your plant producing, you need to harvest regularly. The plant’s goal is to produce seeds for reproduction, so if you remove the fruits, it will continue to produce more. If you forget to pick a zucchini and it matures fully, the plant will focus its energy on the seeds and stop producing new fruit.
In summary, check your plants daily and pick the fruits—zucchinis grow quickly! Harvest them while they’re small for the best flavor. You can pick them at any size you prefer, but mini zucchinis are delicious, and the flavor is at its peak up to about 20 cm. Beyond that, the flesh can become slightly spongy, though still good for soups.