Zucchini
Dates below are counted from the average last spring frost or the average first fall frost. Enter a ZIP in the calendar for NOAA 1991–2020 station averages, or pick a zone and use the zone table.
When to plant
Soil and site
A rich, composted mound. Zucchini are hungry and fast.
Seedlings
Direct sow 2 seeds per spot and thin to the strongest.
In the garden
Squash vine borer is the Southern menace — a second sowing 4 weeks later outruns them. Sawdust-like frass at the stem base is the tell.
Picking
At 6–8 in, checking daily. They genuinely double overnight.
Harvest
First harvest is about 45–55 days after sowing or planting outdoors. The picking window often runs about 6 weeks.
Cut fruit at about 6–8 inches. Check daily; they size up overnight.
Preserving
Do not can plain zucchini or summer squash. USDA has no tested process for it.
Pickled bread-and-butter zucchini is a tested boiling-water recipe. It is not a method for canning plain squash.
National Center for Home Food Preservation: Pickled bread-and-butter zucchini →Freeze summer squash with the NCHFP method. This is the tested way to keep it plain.
National Center for Home Food Preservation: Freezing summer squash →Dry slices using the NCHFP drying guide, then condition them before packing.
National Center for Home Food Preservation: Drying fruits and vegetables →A home freeze-dryer can dry this crop, but USDA has not published a canning-style time for it. Follow the appliance manual for load and cycle length, then store the dry food sealed. Freeze-drying is not a substitute for a tested canning process.
Appliance manual (no USDA process time)
Canning, pickling, and fermenting notes here are summaries of tested USDA and National Center for Home Food Preservation methods. Times, pressures, and amounts live only on those pages. This site does not publish home-invented processing times.
Gear placeholders
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- Placeholder: seeds for Zucchini
- Placeholder: canning gear
- Placeholder: home freeze dryer
Dates by zone
These pages turn the same frost offsets into calendar dates for each zone the calendar covers.