A Complete Guide to Growing Summer Squash & Zucchini: Planting, Watering, Fertilizing, & Pruning

Timestamps. I cover planting, pollination, brown tips, watering, fertilizing, pest & disease management, pruning, and harvesting for your summer squash and zucchini.

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0:00 Introduction
0:49 Planting Strategies for Summer Long Harvests
3:50 Pollination - Male & Female Flowers and Brown Tips
6:40 Summer vs Winter Squash
8:00 General Watering Overview
10:33 Leaf Inspection for Pest Assessment
12:04 Basic Top Dressing & Fertilization
14:50 Direct Seeding vs Transplants
16:24 Plant Spacing
18:07 Basic Mulching & Water-Soluble Fertilizing
21:10 10 Second Pour - Water-Soluble 'Monthly' Feeding
23:09 Fungal Disease Spraying & Routine
27:23 A Basic Insect Dusting Strategy for Pests
30:24 Detailed Watering with Examples
35:18 Basic Planting Hole for Transplants & Direct Seeding
39:07 Pruning Basics & Leaf Removal
41:27 Harvesting (Simple Twist)
41:48 My Fully Pruned Zucchini Plant (How it Should Look)
42:43 Conclusion

Thanks so much for your support! Cheers & Thanks, Gary!

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[THERUSTEDGARDEN]

Thanks so much for your support! Cheers & Thanks, Gary!
Visit My Seed and Garden Shop

Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop

Popular Items from My Seed and Garden Shop...


Seed Starting, Growing, and Pest Management
Seed Starting Flats with Drainage Holes: Coming Soon

Seed Collections and Packs
The Rusted Garden 'Scan and Grow' Collection



My Amazon Garden Store Front
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
I put the products I use and discuss, in videos, there and have gardening products set up by categories. Such as Grow Lights, Fertilizers, Pest Control, and More.


My 2nd YouTube Channel Geared Towards Brand New Gardeners

My Podcasts

My Blogs

Join this channel to get access to Perk Memberships which focus on providing small live garden mentoring Q & A sessions, classes, and member influenced videos:


My Books:
The Modern Homestead Garden: Growing Self-Sufficiency in Any Size Backyard

Growing An Edible Landscape: How to Transform Your Outdoor Space Into a Food Garden


Products I Use and Recommend and I have an affiliation with them:

GreenStalk Vertical Gardening Towers

AgroThrive Organic Bio-Fertilizers

Vegega Metal Raised Beds
There is often free shipping and my code does NOT stack when current sales are active and equal to or above 10% off.



#gardening
#gardeningtips
#garden
#gardentips
@THERUSTEDGARDEN

[teresaedwards]

Hi Gary, I appreciate the time stamps! Makes it easier to go back if I want to hear something over too.

[ivdge]

Guy-younger-than-you here, your videos have almost single-handedly helped me garden well. I still manage to wipe plants out a lot but for the most part I get lots of food. Can't tell you how much I appreciate you maintaining this channel. But enough of that, how bout this Tyson-Paul fight?

[happyman]

2 cups of milk to a half gallon of water works great for the fungus. Works fast, too.

[_FadedPolo_]

grow the hottest pepper you can find and make a all spray out of it, & it has worked well for me for. A trick my Grandma taught me when I was young

[JohnWood-tkge]

An old market gardener once told me put in another planting of both zucchini and cucumbers August first, everyone has them all summer long come fall nobody has them and everyone wants them!

[avelsgard]

Superb information and so well organized! Thank you so much for this!

[gailntag]

I was just heading out to plant another round of zucchini seeds. Thank you for this video.

[mandys]

This is so incredibly helpful! This is my first time having planted Grey Zucchini seeds and they are currently in the beginning stages of developing zucchini (container planting).

This helps me know and understand their normal cycle and when to be concerned about something or not in that cycle. Thank you so much for your well-detailed instructional videos.
(zone 10 in So. Calif.)

[Ididitonce]

I love the long videos! Thank you for all the great information.

[Denise_B]

Thank you for sharing this. I had no idea you can cut back zucchini. I also use mostly homemade compost and I get great crops. Thank you for the information on the bad insects. I saw the brown last year and I wasn't sure what caused it. I appreciate you mentioning zucchini since last was my first time growing. Seems us home gardeners are learning all the time.

[juliethorn]

Thanks so much for the information Gary. No one ever talks (at least I have not heard) about planting in succession when it comes to zucchini or squash. I love both of these vegetables, but either the vine borer or the dreaded squash bug destroys my plants. I have two zucchini plants in 20 gallon grow bags. I really appreciate your teaching style. Have a great day!

[leroydennis]

Thanks Gary. I was looking for info on this very subject. You answered all my questions!

[thcelisabeth]

Thanks Gary. I am an unfortunate expert on the darn SVB's. Plants look so good before the borer gets to them. Nicely done of the succession planting, a great strategy. Very informative video, thanks!

[nightrush]

These are some plants i need to improve on.. Thanks Gary! Oh Yeah hope youwere clear of those tornados Teach. Me and my boys were thinking about Rusted Garden

[julieanderson]

Great info. I went through my zucchini plants yesterday and cut out some of the leaves that had squash bug eggs and squashed all the squash bugs I could find, I was surprised there were quite a few.

[cathymalapit]

Thanks for sharing. Now I accepted that I can't save them, I just have to plant again

[EpicenterLLC]

Another great tutorial. Thanks, Gary.

[Glenda-dz]

Very informative video. Thank you very much.

[westdrdw]

May want to give the Chapman 2000 sprayer a try. The HDX sprayers last one season for me. The Chapman takes spraying to another level.