Nothing says garden quite like a fat, sassy hill of summer squash plants. Their huge, deep green leaves, mounding growth habit, and prolific production make them easy-to-grow plants that can really add to your weekly menu options. 

Did you know summer squash is much more than just zucchini? There are dozens of shapes, colors, and even textures to choose from, and they're excellent raw (if picked small), sautéed, grilled, or baked. Zucchini bread was a favorite when I was a kid, and people even use them to make vegetable pasta noodles.

What is Summer Squash?

These plants are annuals in the cucurbit family, like winter squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, and melons. Unlike winter squash, summer squash is harvested when it is still younger and tender. While both summer and winter squash grow in summer, they are so named for when they are best enjoyed; summer squash doesn't keep in the cellar through the cold months like winter squash will. 

Summer squashes are normally one of three shapes: long, curved, or like a flying saucer. We're all familiar with a traditional zucchini's long, cylindrical shape and dark green color. Crookneck varieties are similar but a bit more like a curved pin from a bowling alley. Their blossom end is typically wider, while the stem end narrows to form a neck and often curves to one side. Pattypan squash are round, and look like a Martian spaceship. 

Summer squashes can vary in color from dark green (almost black) to pale yellow and nearly white, with plenty of variation in between. Pattypans and crooknecks are often golden yellow, although pale mint green, striped, and even ghostly white varieties are available. 

Are summer squash vines?

Summer squashes grow in a bushy habit, not vining like many winter squashes, which makes them the perfect choice to harvest lots of garden produce from a small plot. While the actual plant can get several feet across and two or more feet high, it won't spread out into the yard or neighboring beds. 

How many summer squash grow on one plant?

Lock your car doors, tape your mailbox shut, close the curtains, and don't answer the door; it's zucchini season. The joke is that your neighbors will be trying to offload all their extra zucchini on you. In a good year, that's not far from wrong. 

When planted in a good, fertile, sunny spot, a single strong zucchini plant can overwhelm a small household. Two plants will have you looking for ways to freeze it or give some away. Other summer squashes vary in productivity, but all are prolific. I've had one plant yield over two dozen fruits. 

Are summer squash and zucchini the same thing?

Yes and no. All zucchini are summer squash, but not all summer squash are zucchini, like how all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares. Zucchini is just one type of summer squash. You'll also find pattypans, crooknecks, straight necks, and other forms. There's much more to summer squash than the old standby dark green zucchini.

How to Plant Summer Squash

Summer squash are warm-weather plants and are most often direct-seeded right into their home in the garden. Choose a spot with at least six hours per day of sunshine for the best yields. They need fertile soil with good drainage and love a big heap of compost worked into the spot with a garden fork. Soil pH of about 6.0-6.8 is best, but they are not picky. 

Prepare the bed and then sow summer squash in hills or rows. Plant individual seeds ½-1 inch deep, with 3-4 seeds per hill, or space plants 24-36 inches apart in rows. Lightly firm the soil over them, water them gently but well, and scatter a light mulch over the top to keep the soil moist and deter birds from digging up your seeds. In warm soil, they should pop up in a week. Thin young plants to 1-2 per hill, or one every three feet in rows.

If you need to start your summer squashes indoors (squirrels, rabbits, and birds stealing seeds or nipping the cotyledons), plant seeds in individual pots about two weeks before you plant them out. They don't like transplanting and can grow too large indoors rather quickly. Wait to transplant them outdoors until all danger of frost has passed.

Growing Tips for Summer Squash

Summer squash are perfect for busy gardeners because they don't need much from you. They'll do fine with the inch of water per week the rest of your vegetable garden needs, although if in sandy soils, you'll need to water more frequently. They will grow large, produce well without frequent fertilizing, and won't spread out of control. 

• Watering from below with a soaker hose or drip line is best. If watering with a sprinkler or hose wand. To reduce fungal issues, try to water in the morning so the leaves have time to dry before the cool evening hours.

• Mulch under and around summer squashes will reduce weed pressure and keep the fruits clean and off the soil.

• It's okay to snap off a leaf or two that grows too far out and shades other plants.

• Summer squash is normally well pollinated by bees and other insects, but if your squashes aren’t setting fruit or the fruit is misshapen, try hand pollinating. Many urban areas are short on natural pollinators.

• Check for harvest-sized summer squashes often! Some varieties can go from not-ready-yet to The Zucchini That Ate Milwaukee in only a few days.

• Use a sharp knife or hand pruners to snip through the thick stem.

When is summer squash ready to pick?

Summer squash are best picked when still tender and young. If you've seen a zucchini almost big enough to use as a canoe, that's far too large. Their flavor and texture are best when smaller, and their skins are more tender. For many varieties, the fruits will be ready to harvest 5-8 days after flowering, especially in hot weather. 

• Pick zucchini when still small, usually less than 10 inches long. If eating raw, get them even smaller, say about six inches. When (not if) one gets away from you, harvest it anyway to force the plant to keep setting more fruit and use it to make stuffed zucchini boats.

• Yellow summer squashes, including yellow crooknecks and straightnecks, will develop harder skins as they age on the vine. Use your thumbnail to make an indent. If it is starting to resist, pick 'em.

• Pattypans won't get larger forever, but they will start to develop thicker skin. Pick them when the skin is still soft and easily indented, but their color is fully developed.

Continuous picking of fruits, even if you have to give them away, acts like deadheading for flowers. It forces the plant to try again, setting new fruits to complete its reproductive cycle. Removing larger squash prevents the plant from focusing energy on those overripe fruits, and it will create more new, tender young squash for your kitchen.

Common Issues with Summer Squash

While summer squash are easy to grow, a few potential pests can spell problems. If you aren't familiar with which pests afflict summer squash in your area, check with your county extension office or local gardening club; they'll have all the details.

Powdery mildew

This fungus issue is common for gardeners around the country. It loves cucurbit leaves and looks like a fine white powder or dusting. A little isn't cause for concern and won't affect the plants much. If the leaves are so covered they look white, the fungus blocks light and makes photosynthesis difficult. Cut those leaves off and dispose of them. 

Squash vine borers

Depending on your location, you may have issues with squash vine borers. They can burrow into the base of squash plants and effectively kill the plant in only a few days. Symptoms include wilting plants and holes in the stems, which may be covered in frass (insect excrement). 

Squash vine borers only go through one generation per year, and it's the larvae that do the damage. Try planting a second crop of summer squash in late summer. Most varieties mature in about 50 days, and the larvae will be gone by the time the seeds germinate in August.

You can attempt to kill the larvae as soon as you notice the vine wilting. Use a sharp knife and cut a slit in the affected stem, moving up the vine until you find the larvae and kill it. This may not save the plant, but it will prevent the larvae from maturing and overwintering in the ground and bothering you next year.

Favorite summer squash varieties

While they are all delicious, the selection can be overwhelming, and most of us don't have room or enough hungry mouths to feed to grow them all. Here are a few to get you started.

• Black Beauty zucchini is the old standby and a 1997 AAS winner. It provides prolific numbers of dark green classic fruits with white flesh on a fairly open and upright plant, making harvest easy. If I could only grow one zucchini for the rest of my life, this would be the one. Watch out; this plant is vigorous, and a leaf-hidden zucchini can become a softball bat.

• Easy Pick Gold II is a perfect yellow zucchini. It’s easy to harvest (you can see the bright yellow fruits among the dark leaves) and a predictable and well-behaved plant that won't get away from you. 

• For a unique pattypan or scalloped squash, try Bennings Green Tint. These are the ones that make me think of little green men from Mars in their flying saucers. It's a prolific and heavy yielder that will provide many tasty palm-sized summer squashes.

• For delicious squash coins sautéed in butter, you can’t beat Early Golden Summer Crookneck. They have firmer flesh than a zucchini and the bright yellow fruits are best picked when about as long as your hand.

Summer squash recipe ideas

There are a ton of delicious recipes out there for using the bounty of summer squash, but a few favorite ways in my kitchen are:

• Roasted yellow squash: Cut young yellow squash into bite-sized cubes, coat with garlic-infused olive oil, dust with parmesan cheese, then roast until tender with slightly browned edges. You can also bread them with seasoned Panko breadcrumbs before roasting for a little crunch.

• Sautéed: I like to sautée in olive oil, and depending on the squash, I might toss in a few pine nuts or some cherry tomatoes or just make a medley of several summer squash varieties. Serve as a side dish or add an egg and a slice of toast for breakfast.

• Baked as squash bowls: Cut a few summer squash in half, remove the seeds, and fill the cavity with peppers and a sausage crumble. Top with goat cheese, then bake. Add a touch of marinara sauce if desired.