Allotments 4 All

Hello all,
I have a very basic question about courgettes.  It is my first time growing them and am not entirely sure of what i am doing!  I have nine plants (already learnt first lesson - two or three would have been sufficient!) and my Orelia are starting to produce some flower type things at the base of the stems.  Some of them are now growing away from the plant with thick yellow bits at the bottom, which I presume are the actual courgette.  Now my question is this, what do I do with the other flower buds that are not growing out?  Are these the male ones?  And do they actually do anything? Or are they going to turn into more courgettes? I am starting to get confused as I have recently posted a question about pollinating tomato plants and am wondering now if I need to do it with all my plants??!!??   Aaaagghh!  Too much info, such a little brain!!!!    :o

Courgettes should be pollinated to grow a good (non bitter) fruit. The flowers with the baby courgette fruits behind them are the lay-dees, and the flowers with the long stems are the gents. You can leave them to party on their own outdoors, or if you want to be sure of pollination you can introduce them to each other. Take off a male flower, strip off the petals, and you will see a long pollen stem. Pop it inside the lay-dee flowers which have receptors, wiggle about to leave some pollen behind, and you have done your bit. One male flower can pollinate two or three lay-dees :)

PS if you have any kids on the plot this is a job that they LOVE ???

Two types of flower on a courgette: the one with a 'bump behind' is the female flower, and this bump will become the courgette when the flower is fertilised; the flowers without the bumps are male... to get your courgettes, pollen from the male flower has to get into the female flower, either by insects (usual) or by hand (also perfectly okay).

'In very cold seasons and early in year fruits may fail to set, and hand pollination is advisable. Select fully open male flower, strip off the petals and push it into the centre of female flower. You can leave it there or use it to pollinate another flower.' Joy Larkcom.

So let all your flowers happily flower, and hand pollinate should it be necessary. Later on, there should be more than enough insects around to do the job for you.

Once buried under a mountain of courgettes,  ;), when you and your neighbours are screaming for mercy... then the flowers are an edible delicacy - usually  very expensive - and you can take revenge on your courgette factories by stopping courgette production, and harvesting the flowers instead! There are various tasty recipes for stuffing, baking and tempura frying...

(whoops, just duplicated supersprout, apologies!)

1. If it's any comfort - I have never interfered with nature. (In the plant world, that is!!)

2. 9? Yes - a lot. The secret - AS ALWAYS - is succession??

You mean as in sowing some, waiting a bit then sowing more?  I kind of did that... Sowed a whole packet of the Orelia (10, in total) and then four weeks later I sowed six regular courgettes.  Decided that sixteen was too many so have given some away to friends - have realised now that this reduces the number of people to whom I can give the courgette harvest to, but never mind!  The later ones are only just starting to show little tiny buds, so this should hopefully mean I have less of a glut (?).  What would be the recommended plan for sowing, so I know for next year...  !   :)

Alternative to, or with, succession sowing ...

Try growing them on a mounded bed in rows running east to west (not the usual north to south). The plants on the south side will mature faster than the ones on the north side, which might give you a longer fruiting period with the nine plants you already have :D

Edit later: try sowing when you plant the previous lot out for courgettes. For e.g. lettuce, sow when the previous lot shows. You can adjust in the light of experience for your growing conditions! ;)