- Sugar Snap Peas- Success
- Cucumbers- Success
- Zucchini- Whoa...wait until you see the pictures!
This is my Zucchini Plant. It is enormous. See that thing in the middle?
That would be a "burning bush" that we planted last spring. It is completely engulfed by the Zucchini plant. The one that is NOT growing vertically.
Hence the trellis that is propped up behind the plant...for decoration.Lesson #3
Be vigilant if you plant a "BUSH" variety when you are wanting to grow vertically. And if possible, find a "viney" option.
Apparently I didn't pay much attention to the package of seeds I purchased, just chose one that looked good in the picture and buried it in the ground. It grew wonderfully and has produced many lovely Zucchinis, but just not vertically...Bummer.
I am not giving up, I will try again next year. But this is what I will do different...
- "Install your string support or stake immediately next to the seed you have just planted. You will want the support as near to the plant as possible, so as to minimize unnecessary bending of the plant. Also, putting the support in now will help you avoid disturbing the root system by installing it later.
- Tie the resulting zucchini sprouts up to the stake every few days as it grows. It will grow flat and back down to the ground, so you must tie it up every three days or so. Simply lift it gently into position and attach to the support. Continue this process until your squash is ready to eat."
If you are interested in trying your hand at growing squash vertically, click HERE to get more detailed info.
2 comments:
So how can zucchinis, which get so huge, grow vertically? Wouldn't they just bend the whole plant or pull it off the trellis? I am all over the peas and the cucumbers (lemon, of course), but I'm quite curious about the logistics of the vertical zucchini plant. I'll be interested to see what happens to yours next year.
Zucchini's do grow huge...but ideally you should cut them off the vine before they get too massive. Just picture the size of Italian Squash that they sell at the store. That is the ideal harvest size.
That being said, you would still want to make sure your trellis was nice and sturdy before you tied a squash plant to it as you are right...they can become very heavy.
Hope this helps.
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