How To Grow A Good Crop Of Courgettes

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Oh yes, zucchini

The past year pleased us with the harvest, especially there were many favorite zucchini. Once again I was convinced that my cultivation technology gives excellent results in any weather, therefore I offer it to all readers of "Flora Price".

The garden bed is always high. At the bottom I put the cut stalks of raspberries, Jerusalem artichoke, carrot tops, beets and any garden debris, of which any gardener has a lot by autumn. In the spring, I pile last year's grass, compost or rotted manure, garden soil there. I do not use mineral fertilizers. I cover the bed with polyethylene.

After a week, you can plant zucchini with dry seeds or seedlings. I put two stones or bricks along the edges of the bed, and on them - a long stake. I close it on top with lutrasil or spunbond and another layer of film.

I keep the garden closed until about mid-June - it depends on the weather conditions. I try to ventilate as much as possible during the day in good weather.

It is better to place such a bed in a place well blown by the wind. Let the learned agronomists forgive me, but all my attempts to "attach" zucchini in a lull, to protect them from drafts ended in zero harvest. They are well covered in the spring, and in the summer they are not afraid of the winds and do not get sick. A garden bed for zucchini needs to be arranged a new one every year so that diseases do not accumulate.

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I give top dressing to plants closer to flowering with infusion of green herbs, and 2-3 times more during fruiting, you can feed it with a diluted mullein. Last year, for the first time, I used the growth stimulator "Empakt", which she received from the "Poisk" company for winning the competition. I am grateful to her for that. 10 days after planting the seedlings, I fed the zucchini and did not feed anything else over the summer (for a pure experiment). The best results were given by round Tintoretto (VIR named after Vavilov) and Spaghetti (Unwins).

It is better to take black film for covering the garden. Weeds do not grow under it. A round hole is cut above the zucchini. I do all watering and fertilizing under the film (you can lift it from one side of the garden).

If the plants are healthy and fruitful, they should be protected from cold winds at the end of August.

Spaghetti zucchini have a drawback - they are very long-leaved. But a new variety F1 Tivoli has already appeared (by the firm "Russian Garden"). It has a compact bush. The company also offers gardeners a new round squash variety - Festival. Very cute, elegant variety (yellow-green-white). I don't know anything about taste yet.

Spaghetti zucchini fully ripen only after the New Year (January-February). They are recommended to be boiled whole (without cutting) in boiling water for about 20 minutes. But I prefer to bake in the oven in foil or cook in a pressure cooker the squash, which has been sliced across and peeled from the seeds. The taste is excellent.

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I also want to offer my fellow gardeners a recipe for beetroot salad (it can also become a dressing for borscht) - use it as you like.

Beet salad

So, for 4 kg of beets you need to take: 0.5 kg of tomatoes, 0.5 kg of carrots, 0.5 kg of onions, 150 g of garlic, 200 g of granulated sugar, 140 ml of 9% vinegar, 3 tablespoons of salt, 0, 5 liters of vegetable oil.

Grate beets and carrots on a coarse grater or cut into strips, cut tomatoes into slices, onions into rings. Finely chop or crush the garlic. Put all the seasonings in the finished mixture and leave so for at least 3 hours, then cook over low heat under a lid, stirring, for about 50 minutes. Put the finished mixture in sterile jars. It turns out very tasty both as an independent dish, and as an addition to a side dish, and as a dressing for borscht.

Cucumber salad

There are many variations of this salad, including Ganichkina's recipe with red onions. But he is, rather, an amateur (my family did not really like it). The most delicious is this one:

For 3 kg of cucumbers (cut into slices), you need to take 150 g of granulated sugar, 100 g of salt, 100 g of sunflower oil, 100 ml of 9% vinegar, 3 cloves of garlic (cut), dill to taste (rinse and cut well).

Mix everything, leave under oppression for 12 hours. Then put the mixture in jars and sterilize half-liter jars for 12 minutes, liter jars - 20 minutes.

Enjoy your meal and health for years to come.