courgettes we love them in our famlie so i'm hoping to grow a few on my new lotty any info when and where to plant what type of soil do you grow them like cucumbers ? thank you in advance
Pete
;D I dumped mine on the Farm Yard Manure and got a bumper crop, just make sure you wash them throughly, I also had enough room to plant pumpkin, marrow and cucumbers ;D
Edited to say Welcome aboard the A4A ;)
Hi Humbertug, as Roy says they like a rich soil, I dig a big hole, fill with rotted manure and plant on top, they like a sunny spot too.
Oh and don't plant too many, or you will be overun! :o I find 4 plants for our family of four is almost too many, but I do give a fair few away and make chutneys etc. with them!
Hello humbertug, courgettes are very popular on this site. If you do a search on 'courgettes' you'll never get to the end of it!
They are ridiculously easy to grow. Here's what I do:
Wait until danger of frost is past (that's the hard bit)
Start in pots (kids love to watch them come up) indoors. Tip: plant the seeds on their side.
When plants have two or more true leaves, after danger of frost, plant out in rich soil in full sun.
Most courgettes are bush varieties. About 1m apart is fine, you can grow lettuce or beet between them whilst they fatten up. You can even plant them on a full compost heap or in a builders bag full of compost/manure where they look fantastic.
Mulch and/or water if it's dry, so they get a constant supply of water and nutrients.
Think 'marrow' rather than cucumber and treat accordingly ::) It was the marrow family that caught my imagination as a kid, so I hope the same might be true for your brood too. I am going to experiment this year with planting courgettes in succession, one month apart, with the hope of fresh courgettes from August to November :o.
You will almost certainly have too many courgettes :P, and be able to join in the lively debate about surpluses in the A4a forum. Happy growing ;D
Well said Supersprout, your post beat mine, so I have reposted. May I disagree on one small point. It is not necessary to wait until the frosts have gone to start the plants, if they are being germinated under cover, it is just the planting out that needs to be done after the frosts have gone. I was caught out by this last year, and put out four plants in mid may on my bench to harden off, bang, a late frost wiped them out. I still recovered new plants though. There is a lesson here, dont harden off all your plants at the same time !!! (eggs and baskets etc ).
Editted PS Check out the Recipes board, there is a wonderful thread in there on courgettes.
The only really annoying thing with courgettes is their propensity not to set fruit when the weather conditions are not right. It is all to do with the ambient temp at flowering and needing differing temps for male and female flowers.
But there are now self fertile types, such as Parthenon, which don't suffer so much.
I also sow some in July as a cecond crop to spread the season a little further for the small tender pickings
HTH
Jerry
Jerry - yes - few & succession. Even as replacements for failures.
And I'll always stick to the 'bush' variety. Up to 60 per plant (Genovese). With the exception that the 'ronde' type last year filled a 4' circle (too big, man - too big!) & was so prickly that searching in the depths for fruit was very painful!
And do let some grow on as marrows for storing until December - or so.
Now matter how many plants i stick in, i always have a glut. I normally go for three plants, one yellow and two green variaties. The problem is that you cant really freeze them as they just go to mush. However if you let them mature on the plant and get big, they will keep as they are for month or two.
I grew 2 of the yellow ones last year and was very pleased with them. Found one packet and it was Aurelia. Nice raw, too, lovely nutty flavour. I actuallly do freeze them, cut into rounds or cubes, to use in dishes over the winter and the yellow ones are good for this, they add a bit of colour to a dish. I don't find they get too mushy, but then I pick them really small, about the size of a large cigar.
I grew El Greco and was not disappointed. Fantastic quantity, quality and taste. We started cropping in July and were still eating them in November until the first frost killed them off. Every time I turned my bag they were a foot long or longer. Swapped them for apples and stuff with other plotholders too.