What to plant in the garden where zucchini grew last year

At the beginning of spring, each vegetable grower draws up a rough plan for planting plants in his garden: the correctness of its preparation directly determines the future harvest. The crop rotation scheme is a whole science that guarantees generous returns from each bed. In this article we will tell you what to plant after zucchini, next to them, as well as about companion plants.

How growing zucchini affects the soil

Zucchini is an indispensable vegetable in our garden beds. With what trepidation we wait for the first tender fruits to appear so we can enjoy their taste. In addition to its excellent taste, zucchini is well absorbed by the body and is also rich in nutrients. To get a rich harvest from a small area, you need to follow simple rules.

Zucchini roots are of medium length, so the absorption of nutrients from the soil can be considered minimal. After harvesting, the land is not depleted and almost any crop can be planted in this place.

There is such a thing as crop rotation. Of course, this term is more understandable to a specialist in agricultural technology, but it is also recommended that a simple amateur vegetable grower adhere to the following recommendations.

Diseases and pests

After harvesting, microbes and pathogenic bacteria inherent to a plant of a certain family remain in the garden. If a similar plant is planted in the same place, then the seedlings are likely to get sick. Relocating the crop to a new bed will reduce the risk of infection and improve yield. The same can be said about pests.

Individual consumption

Each plant has preferences for the depth of soil digging and soil structure. A certain species consumes the necessary nutrients, so after each harvest the soil structure changes. Make it a rule to alternate planting crops to improve soil composition.

Root structure

It should be borne in mind that vegetable crops have roots of different structure and length: in one species they are long, well-developed, reaching to the very depths, in others they are on the surface, they only have access to nutrition from the top layer. It follows from this that plants pull macro- and microelements from different layers of the soil, so a change in planting is necessary.

What is crop rotation

Crop rotation is the alternation of planting crops in the same area. This method is scientifically proven; in particular, it is used on a large scale in the fields. Some gardening enthusiasts could observe in practice how crop rotation has a positive effect on the harvest.

The method in question does not occur chaotically. Each plant has its own predecessors. To decide which crops you can plant zucchini after, you should be guided by a number of factors:

1. Plants have an individual need to consume chemical elements from the soil. Each successive cultivation of a crop changes its composition.
2. The natural structure of the soil layer is of great importance for plants. Also, the level of digging may be different. Sometimes, in order to decide which crop to plant zucchini after, additional work on the soil will help resolve this issue.
3. Pay attention to the biological characteristics of plants. This includes tolerance to weedy areas and common pests.
4. In order to save money, crops with fast ripening periods are grown.

What can you plant after zucchini in the spring?

Now we know that we should not plant the same plant in a certain place every year. The question arises, what can be planted in the garden after the zucchini?

• Tomato is a light-loving crop that requires careful care. It prefers loose soil, the same as zucchini.
• Onions are planted after most vegetables. Excellent for disinfecting the soil.
• Crops of the legume family saturate the soil with nitrogen, so we feel free to plant legumes: peas, beans and beans.
• Root crops (carrots, beets, potatoes) are suitable for planting; their roots go deep, so the surface layers of the soil remain fertile.
• Dill and parsley will also do well in a zucchini bed.
• We plant all kinds of flowers and herbs such as basil and mint.

An excellent option would be to plant green manure plants: they saturate the soil with nutrients, loosen, restore and improve the structure of the soil, act as fertilizer and mulch. It can be mustard, clover, rye, oats, buckwheat.

The most convenient predecessor

A unique predecessor is green manure. Green manure is a plant that rapidly gains green mass. They have very long and branched roots that go several meters deep.

If you sow health-improving plants in one place for several years in a row, you can improve the quality of the soil. Small root shoots rot and make the soil loose and light.

The green mass is cut off and left on the surface. It enriches the soil with essential nutrients.

Green manure is convenient for crop rotation because it needs to be cut before flowering. The gardener thus benefits from the green manures themselves, while at the same time alternating plants occurs in a short time.

It is important to know that you cannot plant a crop after green manure from the same family.

A suitable option for zucchini is phacelia. It can be sown after harvesting the zucchini and left into the winter. Dry bushes retain snow and promote moisture accumulation. In early spring, sow this predecessor again. Before flowering, cut and leave to rot, then plant the zucchini in open ground.

Green manure plants include: mustard, lupine, spring rape, winter wheat, rye, clover, oats, phacelia and peas.

With the use of green manure, the question of whether it is possible to plant zucchini after zucchini is settled. It is also not necessary to use the vegetable rotation method.

Companion plants

We learned what types of crops are recommended to be planted after zucchini. Now let’s find out which species will feel good with them in the same territory.

• Ideal neighbors for zucchini will be representatives of the pumpkin family, that is, close relatives. They have the same requirements for watering and fertilizers.
• To save space in the garden, we plant lettuce, spinach, dill and parsley between the rows.
• Carrots, beets and bulbous plants will not interfere with zucchini.
• To saturate the soil with nitrogen, we plant legumes: they are only beneficial.
• Well, don't forget about flowers. Marigolds and calendula will decorate the beds and repel pests.

Growing pumpkin

The process of growing pumpkins in open ground is not too complicated. It can be grown both by seeds and seedlings.

Pumpkin is a plant that is classified as a light-loving crop, so a site for planting it is chosen with access to sunlight for at least 6 hours a day. But the culture is also able to tolerate light shadow.

Pumpkin can grow on almost any soil, but it would be preferable to plant it in soil that contains a sufficient amount of humus. To do this, compost is added to the soil before sowing.

A plot planted with pumpkins

What not to plant after zucchini

Proper selection of crops in the garden beds is a guaranteed harvest and fertility for many years. You just have to follow the recommendations and observe crop rotation.

It is not recommended to plant cucumbers, watermelons, and pumpkins after zucchini, since they belong to the same family and require the same minerals for their nutrition.

You cannot plant zucchini in one bed for several years in a row. This rule applies to other cultures as well.

During the summer season, it is impossible to imagine your diet without zucchini. This fruit is suitable for preparing a variety of dishes, ideal for dietary and baby food. It’s easy to grow this tasty and healthy vegetable in your garden; to do this, you need to listen to our useful advice, follow the rules of agricultural technology, and then you will be guaranteed a rich harvest.

Zucchini: which crops can be planted after it and which cannot

Zucchini is grown in almost every homestead or garden plot, so it is very useful to know which crops will grow well in their place next season.

Briefly about the need for crop rotation

The need to rotate plants in the garden is associated with the following important points:

• During the growing season, any crop consumes certain nutrients and microelements from the soil. To avoid depletion of the soil, you need to alternate plants with different needs.
• Related crops, which are often affected by specific diseases and pests, cannot be planted one after another. This is fraught with loss of harvest.
• The root system of all plants releases certain substances and enzymes into the ground that can have a negative effect on other crops.
• To maintain a high-quality soil structure, it is necessary to alternate plants with deep root systems and crops with shallow roots.

Zucchini is a versatile plant that can be used to grow almost anything.

The root system of zucchini is universal: along with a long central root that goes deep into the ground, there is a very branched network of roots at the very surface of the soil.

Video: about the rules of crop rotation

What crops are planted after zucchini?

Zucchini depletes the soil slightly . Therefore, after it you can plant a large number of vegetable crops:

• Tomatoes, which are extremely picky about soil composition.
• Legumes:
• beans;

beans;

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• peas;
• soybeans, etc.

Legumes themselves are excellent predecessors because they enrich the soil with nitrogen.

Onion vegetables disinfect the soil because they are natural phytoncides

Root crops have a root system that goes deep into the ground

Any herbs can be sown after zucchini

I have long noticed that capricious cherry tomatoes grow best in the place where zucchini was last year. So I try to prepare a place for them in advance.

What crops should not be planted after zucchini?

Zucchini is a very favorable predecessor; after it, the cultivation of almost all garden crops is allowed. But there are exceptions:

• Closely related plants:
• pumpkins;

zucchini;

• squash;
• cucumbers

Pumpkin crops cannot be planted after zucchini

The zucchini themselves can be returned to their original place only after 3–4 years.

You can see the compatibility of plants in special tables

Compatibility

It is important what plants will surround the zucchini planting. The concept of compatibility has not been canceled.

Moreover, proper compatibility can increase crop yields and improve their taste.

• Using the method of mixed planting saves a limited area (a vegetable garden rarely takes up large areas these days. Few people have long beds for zucchini on their plot, and this is not required, since if grown correctly, it will give a huge harvest from 4-5 bushes).
• It does not deplete the soil, since if crop rotation is disrupted, some elements may disappear completely, which is difficult to restore.
• The taste and nutritional value of fruits improves.

Neighborhood

What to plant after potatoes next year

What to plant next year

Then plant onions

After growing zucchini, the soil remains loose in structure, depleted of nitrogen only in the upper layers, nutrients at a depth of 0.4 m and below remain untouched, so crops with deeper roots or undemanding amounts of nitrogen can be planted in the garden next season . These include:

• root vegetables: carrots, radishes, beets;
• representatives of the nightshade family: eggplant, potatoes, bell peppers and tomatoes (provided that the zucchini was not affected by viral diseases during the season). For the first three, zucchini is a neutral predecessor, for the last three it is one of the best;
• all legumes that will restore the level of nitrogen in the soil after growing zucchini;
• onion and garlic;
• cabbage - for this crop, zucchini is considered neutral;
• corn, which shows the highest yield when planted after zucchini in steppe zones.

Important! After them, you cannot plant melons (pumpkins, melons, watermelons, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, etc.) and large-fruited garden strawberries (strawberries).

Taking into account the rules of crop rotation is very important when growing garden crops. This helps to grow healthy and high-yielding plants that are cultivated throughout the season without any problems associated with nutritional deficiencies, diseases and pests.

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Unwanted neighbors

You won’t get a wonderfully productive garden bed if it contains squash, pumpkin and zucchini next to each other - they are all pumpkins, requiring approximately the same care.

Important! A cucumber with similar flowers will also be an unwelcome guest in such a row. The pollination process may be disrupted, as a result of which the fruit will be defective - both in taste and in appearance.

However, there is another opinion about cross-pollination, and it is based on practice. Some argue that closely planted zucchini, pumpkin, watermelon and melons do not interfere with each other at all, that no mixing occurs, but on the contrary, the listed crops require the same watering and care, which makes the gardener’s work easier.

Hybrids can be obtained only next year if you use the seeds of your own fruits.

Hybrid

So, if you do not have the goal of growing zucchini and other pumpkin seeds for seeds, then one year they may well coexist in the garden bed, and the next year, this place must be given over to completely different crops.

• Care must be taken when planting climbing squash. Its long and powerful vine will wriggle over a large area, and all other small plants can simply be “strangled” by it.
• Zucchini is absolutely incompatible with tomatoes.

The most acceptable, good conditions for growing zucchini

Despite the fact that zucchini, planted in open or closed ground, causes little trouble, which is why we love it among summer residents. Still, you need to know the basics of growing it. First of all, this applies to the choice of landing site.

Selecting a location

Since the crop is light-loving, a place for it should be chosen that is illuminated by the sun from all sides. The ideal location would be a southern or southwestern area, since daylight hours will last longer, protected from drafts.

Soil preparation

The plant will feel great near a fence or hedge, outside the greenhouse, but close to it, next to the outbuilding or shed. It would be great if the wind protection is located on the north side. Any available material is used for this purpose.

Soil composition

Chernozem or lightened but fertilized loam is the best choice for vegetables.

A compost heap will also work, but it should not be fresh, since an excess of nitrogen will only benefit the leaves - they will grow gigantic, which will not happen to the fruits.

According to the rules, preparations for planting zucchini should begin in the fall. The area chosen for planting is cleared of the previous crop and harrowed with a rake, which will speed up the germination of the weed seeds remaining there. After two weeks, the area is dug up and freed from weeds. When digging, add a bucket of organic fertilizer (rotted manure or compost) per square meter and superphosphate with potassium.

After the work has been done, they return to tillage only in the spring, after the snow has melted. It is loosened and the remaining weeds are removed.

In the second half of May, you will have to dig again, but to a shallow depth and fertilize with ammonium nitrate. The place is ready for planting.

What to plant after garlic next year

Additional Information! If the soil is heavy and clayey, you should additionally add a mixture of sand and peat.

Arrangement of beds

The most convenient bed should have a width of at least one meter. In open ground, it will be more comfortable for the zucchini to be in an insulated bed. Compost is placed in the groove in the middle or directly in the holes to a depth of 30-40 cm, which is covered with earth. This procedure will speed up growth.

Watering

Some gardeners, especially inexperienced ones, believe that watering zucchini does not require special knowledge, but this is not so.

• The root system of the vegetable is quite powerful, penetrating up to 2 meters deep. This allows you to water less frequently.
• The water from the hose is too cold, the zucchini does not like it. It is optimal to water it with water from a barrel that has been warmed up during daylight hours; its temperature should be no lower than 20 degrees, and in cool weather, when the water has not warmed up, add a little hot water to the barrel.

Attention! Watering with cold water leads to the development of fungal diseases and root rotting. In extreme heat, it is enough to water the zucchini three times a week.

Water them abundantly until moisture penetrates half a meter. In the evening, when the sun does not burn the leaves. We must try to water at the root.

The plant will benefit if watering is combined with complex fertilizing. Every two weeks, the zucchini should be fertilized with a solution of organic matter, and so on throughout the growing season.

When the fruits ripen, it is effective to spray them with nitrogen and potassium fertilizer on the leaves.

Mulching

Mulching gives good results to retain moisture.

Tips for gardeners

It is necessary to alternate crops, because at your summer cottage you can get:

• Many different pests, as well as pathogens, accumulate in the soil. Proper organization of crop rotation on the site reduces their impact on the subsequent crop to a low level;
• The consumption of essential nutrients from crop soil is significantly improved;
• Fertilizers applied, organic and mineral types, are used rationally, taking into account their effect on different plants;
• Substances that are secreted by the roots of different plants have a much less negative effect on the subsequent crop.

The correctness of crop rotation of vegetable crops can be controlled by dividing the plot for a vegetable garden, in a conditional sense, into several so-called zones. There can be three or four of them, according to desire or convenience.

The crops to be planted must be placed in the beds in groups that require different types of fertilizers applied. For example, vegetables are planted with the need to apply organic fertilizers, this is group 1. Vegetable crops that need mineral fertilizers more are planted in another place, and so on.

Advice. Also, in order to increase the yield, quickly ripening plants are planted between those vegetables that have a medium or late ripening period.

Having applied the recommendations given above directly to your summer cottage, you will notice that there is nothing too complicated in them, and even a novice gardener can understand what to plant immediately after the pumpkin. Following these simple rules will enable summer residents to get a decent harvest after seasonal work in their garden.

Favorable neighborhood

In small plots, summer residents have to save planting space and plant several crops at once in one bed. For zucchini, it is quite possible to select suitable neighbors, joint cultivation with which will not harm any of the plants.

This list includes:

• other plants of the pumpkin family (cucumbers, squash) that have the same requirements for care and feeding;
• root vegetables (carrots, beets) - these plants do not take up much space in the garden and take nutrition from another layer of soil;
• bulbous crops - they also require little space for planting; at the same time, onions and garlic will repel pests from the garden bed;
• legumes - these crops will release nitrogen into the soil, which promotes the rapid growth of zucchini;
• lettuce and greens (spinach, parsley, dill) - these crops can be planted between rows.

The perimeter of the garden bed can be planted with calendula, marigolds or other fragrant flowers that release essential oils. In this case, the plantings will not only look beautiful, but will also be protected from insect pests.

Useful properties of zucchini

Zucchini comes in different shapes and colors. Recently, gardeners have been giving preference to more tender zucchini. All zucchini contains vitamins from groups B, A, C, PP, K. Microelements: potassium, magnesium, copper, cobalt, vanadium, zinc, selenium, phosphorus, iron and others.

Zucchini is very healthy when eaten fresh.

At the same time, zucchini is an absolutely dietary product. It is part of many diets and balanced meals. Zucchini lowers cholesterol naturally by stimulating the liver to produce the necessary enzymes to break down fat. The risk of atherosclerosis and blockage of blood vessels is reduced by an order of magnitude. The vitamins contained in zucchini remove dangerous carcinogens from the body, preventing cancer.

The crop requires virtually no maintenance during the season. The exception is the dry period, when the bushes are watered abundantly. Weeds do not choke the planting, since the plant has wide, large leaves. In a well-fertilized and “rested” garden bed, the zucchini crop is harvested right up to the cold weather.