Zucchini
These bush style of squash grow very well in our environment. They are fast growing, produce numerous zucchini all summer and require little to no maintenance. They grow from the central plant and young ones are harvested at between 8 to 12 inches in length for stir fries, baking, zucchini loaf/muffins.
Preservation
A lot of people only teat young fresh zucchini in a multitude of ways. Older, larger zucchini can be frozen and added to different soups or sweet breads.
I have been spiraling older ones as noodles and freezing them to add to stir fries to success.
There are numerous zucchini pickle recipes out there, I do enjoy the sweeter ones – with the thick skin removed.
The larger zucchini with thicker skins can last a month or two in a cool dry basement.
Days to Grow: 50
Spacing: one per two square feet
Effort: Minimal
Plant: Transplants after last frost
Yield: moderate
Will not survive light frost!
Gardening Shortcut Links
Square Foot Gardening
Information and resources for square foot gardening here in NW Ontario.
Excel Garden Planner
An excel worksheet I developed to help plan and track my square foot gardening.
North Hardy Plants
Not all plants will grow here, but a lot will.
Useful Resources
The following are additional resources and information as well as basic information for growing this and many other garden plants here in NW Ontario.
Square Foot Gardening Basics
Preserving methods
High productivity, small area
About Garden Planning
Laying out your garden and pre-planning what to plant is best accomplished over the winter months. It gives you escape from the north winds, allows for ordering of seeds and allows you to put some time and effort into laying out your garden.
Since I use the square foot gardening method, I have created a garden planner using Microsoft excel. It allows you layout your garden using the cells in excel, then based on what plants you choose it will calculate planting/harvest times, potential yields, how many seeds you will need and more.
The Garden planner is provided as is, I can and will answer questions on using it and I have made videos on using it. I am hoping to have a full updated version ready for 2019 planning season.
