Summer Squash
Fordhook Zucchini is a classic dark-green summer squash that earned its stripes as a 1942 All-America Selections winner, and it remains a gardener's reliable workhorse. The variety produces uniform, straight fruits with tender, mild flesh that's equally at home on the grill, in a sauté pan, or baked into bread. Growing 50-59 days to harvest in zones 3-13, this vigorous annual sprawls across garden beds with characteristic spreading vigor, reaching 24-30 inches tall and producing prolifically throughout the season. It's a heirloom, open-pollinated cultivar that gardeners have saved and replanted for generations, and its resistance to powdery mildew means fewer battles with one of summer squash's most common frustrations.
Full Sun
Moderate
3-13
30in H x ?in W
Annual
High
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What sets Fordhook apart is its combination of reliability and classic performance. The plants produce abundantly without demanding fussing, generating a steady stream of harvest-ready fruits in under two months. Its straight, uniform shape makes it excellent for grilling whole or slicing lengthwise, and the tender flesh resists the mealy texture that plagues less refined varieties. This is a variety bred for productivity and flavor working together, not fighting it out, gardeners have kept coming back to Fordhook for good reason.
Fordhook Zucchini excels in the roles that make summer squash indispensable to warm-season cooking. Its tender flesh makes it ideal for grilling, slice it lengthwise, brush with oil, and the straight shape lies flat on the grates beautifully. It sautés silkily when sliced into half-moons, takes on flavor readily when baked into gratins or fritters, and freezes exceptionally well for off-season use. Gardeners growing Fordhook often find themselves with enough fruit to justify making multiple preparations: grilled for tonight's dinner, sautéed with garlic for tomorrow's pasta, and a batch into the freezer for January.
Sow Fordhook seeds directly outdoors into the garden after the danger of frost has passed and soil has warmed sufficiently. Plant seeds 1 inch deep, spacing them 36 inches apart with 48 inches between rows to accommodate the spreading growth habit. Seeds germinate quickly in warm soil, typically emerging within 7-10 days.
Harvest Fordhook zucchini when fruits reach 6-8 inches long, at which point the skin is still tender and the flesh hasn't become watery. Pick fruits regularly, every 2-3 days during peak production, to encourage the plant to keep flowering and setting new fruit. Once squash reach pencil thickness or beyond, they're mature enough to pick; waiting longer risks overgrown, seedy fruits that won't cook as well. Use a sharp knife or pruning shears to cut the stem rather than twisting fruit off the vine, which can damage the plant.
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“Fordhook Zucchini's distinction as a 1942 All-America Selections winner marks it as a variety that impressed judges and gardeners alike during a critical moment in American gardening history. The AAS award, given to vegetable varieties that demonstrate superior garden performance across the country, elevated Fordhook from one good squash among many into a nationally recognized standard. The variety's heirloom, open-pollinated status means seed savers have maintained its genetics faithfully across eight decades, preserving not just a plant but a piece of mid-20th-century horticultural achievement. What began as an officially recognized superior performer became embedded in seed catalogs and kitchen gardens across North America, a testament to genetics that simply work.”