If you’re a fan of summer squash, then you probably like to grow as much as humanly possible. The types you grow will either thrive or fail, depending on your growing zone and how much space you have available.
Some zucchini cultivars are prolific, others have massive fruits, and still others are more drought or disease-resistant.
In this article, we will look at 10 of the best zucchini cultivars around. You’re sure to find one that’s right for you, whether you have a patio or a farm, for cool climates or hot blazing summers.
1. Ronde de Nice
Do you love zucchini, but you don’t have a ton of space? No need to fret: ‘Ronde de Nice’ fruits are absolutely delicious and don’t grow much larger than five inches in diameter.
You can pick them when they’re even smaller to sautee or roast whole, but don’t let them grow beyond five inches across. Any larger, and they lose their flavor and become tasteless and woody.
These are bush plants rather than vines, and generally grow up to 30 inches tall, and 20 inches wide. Their small stature makes them ideal for small backyards or community plot gardens, and you can also grow them in tubs on balconies and patios.
Find 25 heirloom seeds at Amazon.
2. Benning’s Green-Tint Pattypan
This is another bush cultivar that’s wonderful for small spaces. ‘Benning’s Green-Tint’ zucchinis are round, scallop-edged squashes with tender, sweet flesh.
The plants grow to around four feet in height and three feet in diameter but produce abundant fruits after 50-54 days. As such, you really only need one plant to supply you with oodles of tasty fruits all season long.
Pattypan squashes have tender skins and can be roasted or sauteed whole. They don’t store well, however, so you’ll need to devour them within a few days of harvesting.
Sound like something you’d like in your garden? Head to Amazon for 20 or 60 seeds from TomorrowSeeds.
3. Dunya F1
If you’re in a colder climate with a short growing season, you’ll likely benefit from ‘Dunya’ F1 plants. It’s one of the best zucchini cultivars for cool regions.
This is one of the fastest-maturing zucchini cultivars, maturing in a scant 48 days, and it’s resistant to the powdery mildew and mosaic viruses that often afflict plants grown in cooler, damp locations.
The plants are compact bush types, growing no taller than 30 inches tall and 20 inches wide. They benefit from cage or lattice supports, as their branches can bend or snap under the weight of their own fruits.
Harvest the lovely green zukes when they’re about seven inches long.
4. Nimba
Here’s an additional short-season zucchini plant for those of us in colder climates. ‘Nimba’ zucchini plants hail from Poland, and mature in around 50 days.
They produce high yields of striped, slightly speckled medium green fruits that are tastiest when harvested at under six inches in length.
These are bushy plants that grow around 32 inches tall and 25 inches wide, and thus benefit from growing supports. Additionally, like many other Northern and Eastern European cultivars, they’re resistant to damping-off disease and powdery mildew.
5. Success PM
This is another prolific bush variety that’s incredibly resistant to fungal infections. ‘Success PM’ is one of the best zucchini cultivars for areas that are prone to mildew, as it’s startlingly resistant to just about all fungal infections.
These plants produce copious amounts of tender, sweet-flavored golden fruits on compact bushes, which grow around 24 inches tall, with a 20-inch spread.
Aim to harvest the fruits when they’re about six inches long for maximum tenderness. These are notably sweeter than most green varieties, and lend well to roasting, sauteeing, used as fillings for ravioli, or pureed into soups.
6. Cocozelle
My godmother used to grow this Italian heirloom variety, and it ended up being a daily staple at almost every meal for months. In contrast to the ‘Dunya’ cultivar mentioned earlier, ‘Cocozelle’ plants are among the zucchini cultivars that thrive best in hot climates.
They take longer to mature than many other cultivars (namely 58-65 days), and love to bask in plenty of hot summer sunshine.
These plants are compact and bushy, averaging around 25 inches tall but close to 40 inches wide. Since they’re such prolific fruiters, it’s best to stake or trellis them for support.
Note that since this plant does best in hot, dry conditions, it’s quite drought-resistant but vulnerable to fungal infections such as powdery mildew, downy mildew, and leaf spot. Aim to avoid these by pruning off excess foliage and keeping branches and fruits off the ground.
Sow Right sells small packets of seeds on Amazon if you’d like to grow this marvelous heirloom.
7. Desert F1
This is probably the best all-purpose, all-climate zucchini cultivar I’ve ever grown. It thrived just as well in California’s hot, dry 9a conditions as it does in my damp, cold, 4b Laurentian mountain garden.
They’re compact bush plants that grow about 30 inches tall and 20 inches across, and benefit from supports such as frames or lattices.
Not only are ‘Desert F1’ plants highly drought resistant, they’re also incredibly resistant to the most common zucchini diseases, namely powdery mildew, cucumber and zucchini mosaic viruses, and ringspot virus.
The fruits are medium in size (around eight inches long at full maturity), with excellent flavor and texture.
8. Black Beauty
Of all the zucchini cultivars listed here, ‘Black Beauty’ is one of the most prolific. The plants are of medium size, and their growth form is semi-vine, semi-bush.
They only grow 12-24 inches tall, making them ideally suited to smaller spaces, and are known for their high productivity. Basically, if you have a little bit of space and would like a substantial yield, go for these babies.
The fruits are dark green and are both tender and very flavorful. Aim to pick them when they’re quite young, around six inches in length and two inches in diameter. They’ll mature in 45-50 days and may keep producing well into the autumn.
Although these plants are quite disease-resistant, you can help them along by pruning off dying leaves to improve airflow and sun exposure.
You can bring home seven grams of seeds from The Old Farmer’s Almanac at Amazon.
9. Black Forest
If you really love zucchini and you have a fair bit of space to work with, try to get your hands on some ‘Black Forest’ zucchini seeds. This is a vining zucchini cultivar, and its vines can grow upwards of ten feet long.
The fruits are six to eight inches long at maturity, with deep green skin and tender, mild-flavored flesh.
Now, since this is a vine rather than a bush, you don’t need to plant it in the ground to take full advantage of its extraordinarily prolific yield. Balcony gardeners can plant a couple in pots on either end of their space and train the vines across their railings.
I’ve also seen these grown over and across trellises, hoop tunnels, and even gazebos.
10. Rampicante
Do you have a large garden that you’re aching to fill with more zucchini than you know what to do with? Then consider ‘Rampicante.’
This Italian variety is unique among the zucchini cultivars listed here because it can be both a summer and winter squash, depending on when you harvest it. ‘Rampicante’ vines grow 20-40 feet long, and the fruits can reach 4 feet long if left on the vine.
Note that these vines will take over your garden. This is vine if you have plenty of land to spare, but if you don’t, then consider growing them on trellises around the perimeter of your space. Alternatively, create hoop tunnels out of cattle fencing and grow them up and over.
If you want to eat them as tender zucchini/summer squash, then aim to harvest them when they’re 12-16 inches long, and around two or three inches in diameter. Alternatively, you can let them mature fully and develop a thick, hard skin, ideal for long-term winter storage.
Pick up 10 or 30 seeds from TomorrowSeeds at Amazon.
Growing Zucchini
Remember that all zucchini varieties need full sunlight for at least six hours a day in order to bear fruit. They’re also heavy feeders, so you’ll need to amend the soil with plenty of aged compost, and nourish them every week or so with compost tea drenches at soil level.
Make sure there’s enough calcium in the soil ahead of flowering so the fruits don’t suffer from blossom-end rot, or amend with calcium carbonate tablets like Tums near the stems as needed.
Once you harvest your delicious zucchini bounty, be sure to share it with your friends, even if that requires you to tuck them into their mailboxes and boots, if necessary.