The Herbarium
Part IV · Fruit & vegetable
Herb. No. 198
Zucchini
Cucurbita pepo
Cucurbitaceae
The summer squash that becomes a club overnight — pick small, cook often, give the rest away.
Immature summer squash is food. Mature pepos of this species are also pumpkins and gourds — know what you planted.
- Parts used
- Young fruit · Blossom
- Traditional notes
- Kitchen fruit · Stuffed blossom · A summer glut
- Grow · USDA 6b
- Tender annual. Heat. Direct after frost. Two or three plants feed a street. In work: May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep
- Harvest
- Six to eight inches, every day. Blossoms in the morning.
- If you find a baseball bat, it is still bread if it is not bitter.
- Vine borer: a stem wrap or a resistant variety.
Safety
Bitter cucurbit fruit Ornamental gourd as supper
Companions
Plant with Corn, Nasturtium, Pumpkin.
Keep apart from Potato.
Lore
The word is Italian zucchino, a little gourd. Mesoamerica had the species first. American gardeners learned to lock the back door in August. A 1970s casserole with a can of soup is not traditional; a blossom in batter is.
The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.