page_title: Zucchini
section_title: Cultivation
hierarchical_section_title: Zucchini / Cultivation
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a zucchini plant that is on an outside balcony growing in the spring time in Arizona. It is only 4 weeks old and will start producing zucchini very soon
context_page_description: The zucchini or courgette is a summer squash, of Mesoamerican origin, which can reach nearly 1 metre in length, but is usually harvested when still immature at about 15 to 25 cm. A zucchini is a thin-skinned cultivar of what in Britain and Ireland is referred to as a marrow. In South Africa, zucchini is known as baby marrow.
  Along with certain other squashes and pumpkins, the zucchini belongs to the species Cucurbita pepo. It can be dark or light green. A related hybrid, the golden zucchini, is a deep yellow or orange color.
  In a culinary context, the zucchini is treated as a vegetable; it is usually cooked and presented as a savory dish or accompaniment. Botanically, zucchinis are fruits, a type of botanical berry called a "pepo", being the swollen ovary of the zucchini flower.
  The zucchini, like all squash, originates in the Americas, specifically Mesoamerica. Its original name in Mexican language or Nahuatl is ayokonetl, also with the variants ayo or ayocotzin. After this, the concept and use of zucchini was developed in northern Italy in the second half of the 19th century, long after the introduction of cucurbits from the Americas in the early 16th century.
context_section_description: Zucchini is very easy to cultivate in temperate climates. As such, it has a reputation among home gardeners for overwhelming production. The part harvested as "zucchini" is the immature fruit, although the flowers, mature fruit, and leaves are eaten, as well. One good way to control overabundance is to harvest the flowers, which are an expensive delicacy in markets because of the difficulty in storing and transporting them. The male flower is borne on the end of a stalk and is longer-lived.
  While easy to grow, zucchini, like all squash, requires plentiful bees for pollination. In areas of pollinator decline or high pesticide use, such as mosquito-spray districts, gardeners often experience fruit abortion, where the fruit begins to grow, then dries or rots. This is due to an insufficient number of pollen grains delivered to the female flower. It can be corrected by hand pollination or by increasing the bee population.
  Closely related to zucchini are Lebanese summer squash or kusa (not to be confused with cushaw), but they often are lighter green or even white. Some seed catalogs do not distinguish them. Various varieties of round zucchinis are grown in different countries under different names, such as "Tondo di Piacenza" in Italy and "Ronde de Nice" in France. In the late 1990s, American producers in California cultivated and began marketing round yellow and green zucchini known as "8-ball" squash (the yellow ones are sometimes known as "1-ball" or "gold ball"). White zucchini (summer squash) is sometimes seen as a mutation and can appear on the same plant as its green counterpart.
caption: A young zucchini plant grown by a home gardener in the city.
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