Topic: Squashes/ Cucumbers/ Courgettes

[Svea]

yes tasty burpless are an outdoor variety. mine are romping away as i said earlier :)

the warm weather has meant all my heat lovers have quadrupled in size in the last five days :eek:
lets hope there is fruit to follow soon :)

svea

[Lily]

I'm growing Cucumbers both in the greenhouse and on the lottie.  The variety is 'PROLIFIC' are these all female flowers.  The cucumbers are very tiny at the moment without a flower on the end, but there is another tiny stump along side the growing cucumber which could be a flower. 

If it grows male flowers will I need to dead head them before they mature.

Lily

[RobinOfTheHood]

Courgettes then...at what size should I plant them out? They are in the g'house at the mo, at the 4 true leave stage and about 6" high.
My plan is to put them in their final position tomorrow morning, would this be about right or should I wait till they're a bit bigger?
Oh, and at what spacing?

Thanks in advance.

[Piglottie]

I'm no expert but... I planted my courgettes out yesterday, and they had about 4 true leaves.  I planted them 3ft apart as they are trailing varieties but this is the first time I've grown them, so don't just take my word for it!  ;D

I'm sure a more experienced grower will be along soon.

[philj]

Hi there,

I've grown courgettes for the last couple of years, and plant them out when they have about 3 or 4 leaves, after the frosts have gone.  As long as the slugs don't get them they will soon be growing well.  I've planted out some Butternut squash and Cobnut squash a couple of weeks ago, and they were a bit smaller, but seem OK at the moment.  Now the warm weather has arrived they will all start growing fast!

Phil

[Icyberjunkie]

I'd have thought planting them out now would be fine.  My first year with an allotment so no expert - proven by the fact that I put my cucumbers and courgettes out just in time for the last frost!!  As a result I lost nearly all of them.  But....I planted both kinds of seeds outdoors and those plus the survivors are doing very well all with some fruit coming.  I also put some indoor raised plants out and about 4 weeks ago and they are also romping away despire being put in non-manured ground when I ran out of space!

Hope that gives you confidence.

[BAGGY]

We had BTG cues outdoors last year. They were fantastic (picked in october - yes october) for greek salad for my dad's 80th birthday do.

[Svea]

my first cucumber is due on wednesday. how do i know? because we are off on holiday on thursday and i WILL eat that cucumber and not leave it to become too big and/or rot before we return. it's about 10cm long now and will easily grow another 4 or 5 by wednesday night :)

yay!

[RobinOfTheHood]

Didn't get round to it yesterday, will try tomorrow.

And another squash has poked its head through the compost today.
They must like the heat of the greenhouse.

So, that's 5 Butternut squash, 10? BTG cukes, 10 pumpkins, 15 'all green bush' courgettes and 2 melons (sweetheart). I've never grown any of them before. Lucky I've got plenty of room.

I just hope the wife and kids like 'em!

Oh, and I've just picked the first loganberry. Delicious, but as I got the plant in a little late there are only about half a dozen fruits. But the bush has put on loads of growth and I reckon next year's going to be a bumper one for them.
Also got 'thornless giant'? blackberry. This has a lot more small fruits, but won't be ready for a while yet.

[philj]

15 Courgette plants.  I hope you have a large family, hungry friends, or a large freezer!  I grew 9 plants last year and couldn't eat them / give them away fast enough.  Only growing 4 this year.  Here's hoping for a bumper crop now summers arrived.

Phil

[Gill]

Does anyone know about picking courgette flowers to eat. At what stage should you pick them - with the courgettes or before. I have quite a few little courgettes on my plants but I don't think they've been fertilised by the females - if this is the correct terminology, I havent grown them before. Anyway, the flowers too seem to die after about a day.

[RobinOfTheHood]

Try here..
http://www.rivercottage.net/recipes/recipe.jsp?ref=recipes.200304222237