Topic: Courgette plants

[Jimbo1878]

Hi all

Following on from my introduction post here is my first question..... I have 6 courgette plants growing in the spare bedroom. They all have about 5 leaves and are getting quite big now. When do I plant them out?

Thanks in advance

Jimbo

[Linnea]

after all chance of frost has passed or anytime from now under cloches but they'll probably need a bit of hardening off first

[Duke Ellington]

6 :o  ;D you will have loads......

I don't plant mine outside until after the last frosts so mine are planted on the allotment some time in June. If I plant them earlier or if we get a cold spell I cloche the plants just to be on the safe side.

Duke

[queenbee]

I never sow my courgettes before the first week in May. I plant them out at the mid June, courgettes race away once the have germinated and can become quite leggy in the seed trays. I harden them off at the end of May I have been lucky and had bumper crops. I live in the North, Southerners can get away with earlier sowings. 

[chriscross1966]

Last week of may or early in June normally.... I'm sowing mine this weekend.... you might have jumped the gun a tad.... :D

[manicscousers]

A bloke on our plots has 8 in his polytunnel, in the ground and they're doing really well. He always sows his early and gets generally good results so, I suppose if you could give them a bit of protection.  :)

[Digeroo]

I pride myself on getting courgettes very early and normally get them outside in the garden in April.  But it is a bit of a labour of love.  I have them under large translucent plastic boxes.  These have plastic bottles full of water in them as well.  Since cold night normally follow sunny days these warm up and then keep the plants warm at night.  When frost or anything below about 7 is forecast then it is time to cover them up and I have bundles of old clothes to cover them with.  If it gets really cold I nip out in the evening and give them plastic bottles full of hot water. 

One thing courgettes hate is wind so they need to be covered with fleece until the wind warms up. 

I grow mine in trenches so the wind passes over the top.  The first year I had my lottie it has huge tractor wheel ruts and I put the courgettes in the bottom and they loved it.

The thing to remember is that courgettes do not really like it below about 7C.   So fleecing at night for weeks is necessary.

It is also worth sowing a second batch because the early plants can get rather leggy and then die of mould etc.

Actually my plastic boxes have suffered in the frost and so far I have only four outside at the moment.  It has been very cold and wet here.  The ones on the windowsill are doing much better. 
 

[gavinjconway]

Jimbo - you are a tad early but dont worry. If you have a greenhouse put them in it. If not you can put them in a cold frame to get loads of light and get used to the outside conditions - but cover with fleece if frost is about. If you dont have a cold frame use your imagination and make  a frame with wood or metal, an old bed  or table frame etc will work. Then cover with clear plastic but keep a bit of ventilation during the day. every week open up a bit more to acclimatize them before planting out.  Do this till all frost is gone then plant out. Hope this mkes sense..   ;)

[strawberry1]

my 6 are outside in a small polycarb greenhouse. They are growing slowly and look very healthy, I want them to grow slowly as the weather looks bad for a while yet. I did order 1m windbreak, which has arrived so I`ll be making sections of windbreak, which I can use year on year, just rolling up as we go into winter. I made a rough and ready windbreak last year and it was good, so I am going better this year

[antipodes]

I've not even sown mine yet! Usually I direct sow but the weather is so bad, I might start a couple in pots. I find that with a bright spell they can catch up in a matter of days if fed a lot.

[Pookledo]

I'm worrying about my courgettes and not sure what to do. They have decided to flower on my windowsill.

I don't want to plant them outside yet but they are far too big for the cardboard pots there are in.

Any advice?

[galina]

Pookledo,
You are in the midlands and there can still be frosty nights for several weeks, but we could be lucky and there will be none.  Your plants sound more than ready to be planted out, perhaps they are even flowering because they have been stressed inside too small pots.  But they still need a transition period to acclimatise them to outdoors.

I would plant them out following acclimatising (out in pots during the day, in at night).  I would remove the early flower and plan on a way of frost protecting them when the weather forecast says nights are going to be 5C or less.  A double sheet of newspaper per plant will do, but you need to remove it in the morning.

Maybe as an insurance you could sow another few seeds indoors, definitely not too late to start now.  If the original plants do well and transition well and we are lucky with the weather, nothing lost, but if they were potbound and stressed and perish then you have a backup.  Good luck.

[sunloving]

Pot them into bigger pots and keep them indoors.
good luck
x sunloving

[Digeroo]

The earliest flowers are often males, I would just take them off. 

The weather is supposed to be warming up later this week, I am starting to harden mine off and hope to get some outside then and putting fleece or 5lts plastic bottles over them.

[Pookledo]

Lovely. Thankyou :)

[picman]

I'll be putting mine out from pots this coming week , under a fleece tent , when you get female flowers , do a bit of hand pollination as soon as you can , as i only grow 2 plants sometimes i have to 'borrow' a neighbors male flower .....

[Aden Roller]

In the next day or two I am risking a couple of plants by putting them out on top of a soil covered compost heap that catches the sun. I'll cover them with large plastic (loads of litres) empty water bottles and hope.  ;)

[Digeroo]

Put mine outside for a harden yesterday 13C, but cold today so they are staying in the warm.

[Nigel B]

Oops! Left mine outside overnight by accident.
I'll be constructing a fleece (terram 1000) tent for them on the plot this afternoon. But first I need to find some Hazel or Willow whips for the supports..

[woodypecks]

Oops! Left mine outside overnight by accident.
I'll be constructing a fleece (terram 1000) tent for them on the plot this afternoon. But first I need to find some Hazel or Willow whips for the supports..

What is a terram 1000 tent Nigel ?  Intrigued  !    :)