Zucchini, despite being green, is just a cultivar variant of squash, just like pumpkins are. Zucchini have nearly the same growing requirements as squash and roughly the same uses. The biggest difference between the two plants is the color as zucchini are green and squash are yellow, but they have very similar flavors and nearly identical uses beyond that.
Zucchini Details
- Family: Cucubitaceae
- Growing Season: Spring
- Growing Zones: 3 through 10
- Spacing: 36 inches (90 cm) apart
- Seed to Harvest time: 40-50 days
- Indoor Starting: Not recommended
- Earliest Planting: After danger of last frost
- Watering: Water when soil is dry, keeping soil moist, but never wet. Do not over water. Zucchini need 1-2 inches of water per week.
- Sunlight Requirements: Full sun
- Planting: Directly sow seeds in the garden, planting 1 inch deep.
- Weeding: Weed zucchini at least weekly.
- Harvesting: Harvest zucchini by cutting them straight off the vine.
- Known Pests: Cucumber beetles and vine borers, use neem oil.
More about Zucchini
While zucchini and squash are the same species, zucchini can be a bit fussier in the garden. Zucchini does not start indoors as well as squash can and it pollinates a bit less easily. On average zucchini grows about 5 days faster than squash does, but being that it doesn’t take well to being started indoors you end up with a negligible difference in growing time.
We personally grow both zucchini and squash in our gardens (and usually use both together when cooking for a bit of color variation in a dish), but you can easily choose one or the other. If you need a plant that can be started indoors, choose a squash, but if you are going to direct sow outside we recommend zucchini. The difference is pretty negligible, but it’s there.
Zucchini Tasting and Food Notes
Zucchini are a lovely variety of Cucurbita pepo. They have a mild earthy flavor and aren’t really bitter at all. Zucchini, like squash. are harvested young while their flesh is still tender which enhances their flavor and texture in the kitchen. Zucchini can be roasted, steamed, sauteed, fried, or really cooked in just about any way you like. They’re rather astringent if eaten raw, but it is perfectly safe to do so. We recommend cooking them.
If you have a spiralizer, you can make them into “noodles” fairly easily. From here they can easily act as a vegetable substitute in many dishes. They tend to fall apart if overcooked, but if paid attention to make for a lovely and flavorful vehicle to carry a dish.
Zucchini take to seasoning very well. The fruits are mostly water and when cooking them they can soak up flavors readily. Because of this you can get them to pair with just about everything savory. Zucchini don’t really go well with most sweet thing. Unlike acorn squash which have an easier time pairing with sweetness, zucchini are better off without any sugar.
Should I Grow Zucchini In My Garden?
If you have the space for such a large vining plant, zucchini are an easy addition to the garden that can put a lot of food on your table very quickly. While they are just like squash, you can grow both or either and get nearly identical utility out of the fruits. Overall we think zucchini are a great thing to add to the garden and space concerns are your real deciding factor for this this cultivar of Cucurbita pepe.