Name: Cucurbita pepo ‘Zephyr’ aka zephyr summer squash

Type of Plant: A vigorous summer squash that produces delicious tasting squash with nutty flavor and firm texture all summer. I’m talking gangbusters through the summer and into the fall.

Why I love this: Not only do the ‘Zephyr’ plants bear large quantities of tasty squash in the summer, but they keep producing even into the fall after the vines have powdery mildew. Anyone who grows summer squash knows that they are prone to the fungal disease, powdery mildew. Most of the time this causes the plants to shut down and die. But the remarkable Zephyr keep on making squash even after they have PM. I harvest these squash into October and up until hard frost!

This is, frankly, one example of when a hybrid vegetable is superior than an heirloom.

A Word to the Wise:  It’s important to keep fighting powdery mildew even when you grow a vigorous variety such as Zephyr. Spraying weekly to every 10 days with an organic fungicide, beginning when the plants are very small, really helps. It’s always more effective to treat before a plant gets a fungal problem. So from the beginning use Green Cure, Serenade or Actinovate – or a similar organic fungicide frequently.

The two-tone Zephyr squash are easy to spot in the garden. But even better, are also YUMMY. A nutty flavor. You almost don’t have to add seasoning.

Here you see my Zephyr squash plant on October 7th. Yes, they don’t develop as quickly in October as they did in July and August. Nevertheless, I pick these every three or four days in October and that’s wonderful.

This photo, taken October 6, clearly shows that the old foliage has powdery mildew but the plant keeps producing new, fresh and clean leaves, flowers and squash.