The sunny windowsill is a good place to grow zucchini plants yourself. Sowing is easy, enough water, warmth and light to germinate. After just a few weeks, small plants emerge from the approx. 1 cm large seeds.

All you need are:

  • Flower pots, at least 9 - 10 cm in diameter
  • commercial potting soil or garden soil
  • and of course seeds

Seeds from the bag or grown yourself?

You can easily get the seeds in the garden center or choose from the wide range of online shops. A seed bag usually contains 7 to 10 seeds. Even after pricking out, that's enough for a family.

Another possibility is to harvest the seeds yourself from fully ripened fruits. The seeds are removed, dried on kitchen paper for 2 to 3 days, cleaned and stored in a dry place until sowing next spring.

Sowing, germination, pricking out

It starts in mid-April: First you fill the pots with soil and insert the seeds 2 to 3 cm deep. Then you can carefully water them and place the pots on the sunny windowsill.

The first seedlings appear after 6 to 14 days. During this time, the soil must always be kept moist. If several seedlings develop per pot, only the stronger one is left. The weaker ones are carefully removed by hand.

While the young plants are growing, you can place them outdoors for a few hours in the sun. This is especially recommended if they gradually become too big for the windowsill.

The planting out

About 4 weeks after sowing, the plants are big enough to be transplanted outdoors or into a balcony planter. It is good if you wait for the ice saints in mid/end of May. Without damaging the sensitive root ball, you carefully remove the plants from the pot and place them in the prepared planting holes in the vegetable or flower bed or in the large bucket.

tips and tricks

The name zucchini derives from the Italian word "Zucca" and means small pumpkin. While squashes originated in America, zucchini was first cultivated in Italy in the 17th century.

Category:

Vegetable garden