Zucchini Growing Tips I Wish I’d Known | Home Gardening: Ep. 5

Prevent powdery mildew with proper spacing. How to identify male and female flowers, and which ones will produce fruit. How to get rid of insect pests specific to squash.

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[mrsvegaapril]

In Mexico we Fry the flowers in butter and put them in quesadillas 🤤

[MaryMakes]

I grow 8 zuchinni in an 8 x 4 bed every year with no problems. Air flow can be control by heavily pruning the leaves. Up to 40% can be removed and the plant just sends even more nervy to producing fruit instead of leaves.

[StrengthFromGiving]

Just a tip or something I have found to be useful. Zucchini grow big... very big.. and you can use this as a shade plant for things like off season lettuce or brussels. They grow about 3 feet tall and can virtually block out the sun and I use this to sneak in some summer lettuce, which is hard to grow alone in zone 7 this time of the year.

[christineortmann]

I have actually used old banana peels around the base of my plants for protection against the borers or after I cut one out I wrap a banana peel around it. I have even mounded more soil over the base and prevented the plants from dying early.

[Cyourself]

My kids planted zucchini and yellow squash seeds in preschool. We watched them grow then planted them in the garden. We had tons of zucchini for months from 2 little seeds

[RoseBornagain]

I love the flowers more than zucchini, I fill them with mozzarella basil, and anchovy and batter them then deep fry them. This is the way we eat in Italy.

[gatorgrissom]

The best defense I have for the Vine Borers is to cover the stem with dirt/compost as they grow. Renew the coverage after a rain. This allows 2 things—keeps the Clear Wing Moth (Vine Borer Larva) from laying her eggs & encourage the Squash to put down extra roots.

[soldado]

I stake my zucchini and tie the main stem every few inches up the stake with string. They take up less than a square foot of ground space with the roots. Prune off the leaves below your lowest zucchini.

[Blurb]

Those borers? I've always had a problem with them - until last year. Last year I cut plastic bottles in half and inverted the top part over the seedlings as I planted them. This provided a funnel through which the plants were able to grow with their stems protected by the plastic. I buried the lip of the top of the bottle in the dirt and the plants grew out of them, spreading their luscious leaves. The borers were confounded. They were confused. They were frustrated. They were angered. They started to picket. They rioted. They petitioned city hall. They tried to have all plastic bottles and funnels banned. They made deals with Hollywood for a documentary detailing their plight. But they could never penetrate through the plastic funnels to get to the stems of the squash plants to lay their eggs and, for the first time in decades, I hauled a huge harvest. I do believe those borers are now in psychotherapy.

[dw.imaging]

@4:02 "Ants on your plants" what a cool children's gardening book title you have come up with here.

[tomyanno]

Thank you, Nicole. My Italian mother-in-law used to pick my zucchini flowers, dredge them in egg batter and shallow-fry them.

[organicgardener]

Great Video! I grew zuchini last year vertically, it saved enormous space for me, you just need to fix one stick next to the main stem and try to wrap the future growth around that stick, making a tower. I cut all leaves under the fruit so the air circulated and in 2 days I had a massive growth on top and more fruits. I had constantly 3-4 fruits( 100- 200gr weight) from 4 plants every other day.

[tubingtomtom]

Some people overthink their gardening and some people just let it happen. She’s a good mixture of both.

[jwfreese]

I stuff the blossoms with cream cheese, sometimes I mix cream cheese and blue crab meat in with it. Delicious! And I only pick the male flower in the early season, I pick about 50% of the males and still have tons of zucchini. After I’ve had my fill of zucchini I’ll start picking the baby zucchini with the blossoms attached and stuff the blossom attached to the mini-zucchini .. this is the best!!!

[pvc]

Mrs Jolley, We planted 5 zucchini plants between some other plants and we didn't baby them at all----and I want to share with you that we found that these 5 plants would feed the entire country of Ethiopia---maybe Russia too! Thanks for a nice video--:-)

[MaanOnnTheMoon]

I have two zucchini plants growing over top of eachother and they’re still somehow both thriving and producing like crazy but I do agree about the spacing. it makes it hard to get to the zucchini without damaging the leaf stems

[chesterzbytek]

I'm getting to old to get on my knees anymore but when I was younger I loved to garden I wish there was internet back then I love your tips I am a gardener at heart

[richardcatherwood]

Lovely lady who obviously knows what she is talking about.Thanks.

[ZeeshanZakaria]

One reason I read about initial male flowers is to start attracting the bees and other useful insects, so when female flowers appear, bees are already visiting the plant to pollinate them. Smart move by nature. I also have a zucchini plant this year and gave it ample space and sun to grow.

[rongray]

Wow! This lady is very knowledgeable and a great speaker! It's been a very educational experience for me.