Courgette

Someone gave me a single courgette plant a couple of months ago. It's in a large pot (no room in the garden for it) and has started flowering.

Ummm...what do I do now? Do I need to stake it - how do courgettes grow? Like tomatoes?

Ta

 

They need to be pollinated too - are bees getting to them? If not pollinating them manually may be necessary

 

Loads of bees here - one of the flowers already has the makings of a mini courgette at the end of it, so I guess pollination is working.

They can sprawl happily on the patio. Thanks all.

 

Hi SG

The mini courgette you refer to is the embryo fruit. It will only grow into a real courgette if it is pollinated by a male flower; courgette flowers are either m or f but should be no problem getting pollinated if it's outside. Sometimes flowers don't get pollinated if the weather is cold or wet. What I do if I'm concerned about the weather is cut off a male flower, peel off the petals and brush it against the female flowers.

Also if growing in a pot it should be big. Courgettes are hungry feeders and will benefit from liquid feeds. It'll be fine sprawling over the patio. Also beware of slugs; they love courgettes.

 

Sorry, started typing this this morning and then got called away for "chores" Duplicated most of what Redwing said ...

"one of the flowers already has the makings of a mini courgette at the end of it, so I guess pollination is working."

Just for the avoidance of doubt (I'm sure you know this):

The female flower starts out with a fruit behind it - basically the flower stem looks thicker than the male flower's stem which is pretty weedy by comparison, and longer.

After pollination the fruit will "set" and start to swell / grow. The flower remains attached to it, and will wither and/or drop off over time.

I think you can harvest the flowers and cook them ...

 

What is the best liquid feed for courgettes - can I use tomato feed?

Thanks

 

I use tomato feed on just about everything, including the courgettes. If the leaves start to yellow I toss a bit of nitrogen around the surrounding soil. I always have an abundance of them, much to my neighbours horror!

 

"can I use tomato feed"

Once they are flowering (and preferably have started Fruiting too) then Yes!

 

Courgette flower are delicious i have been told ,i believe you pipe cream cheese into them :lollol:

 

I have 4 courgette plants which are all cropping? wildly. The more you cut the more they seem to produce. I grew them for the first time last year (3 plants) and due to large harvests tried a small amount (in case we didn't like it) of courgette and tomato chutney . It was gorgeous with cheese so I planted the extra plant this year and intend to make a much bigger batch. It's a good way to store a large crop, was easy to make and lasts ages. I think it needed to mature for 6 weeks. Just hope I can remember where I put the recipe.
Sheelagh

 

When you find it post it up on the recipe thread, with a note o here to say you have please :gnthb:

 

... and cooked in a very hot oil, as I recollect it (and which I suspect is quite difficult to reproduce "over here"?)

 

How much shade can courgette plants tolerate? I'm currently creating a couple of beds in the sunniest corner of our north-facing back garden which suffers from both manmade (tall buildings) and natural (trees) shade. I'm doing my best to increase the light access by thinning out the tree coverage. I'm looking at vegetables that might do okay in semi-shade. Would courgettes cope? Reckon it's getting 3 hours direct sunlight per day in the sunny spot. Soil appears to be clay on the acidic side. I'm enriching it with some multipurpose compost. SHould I also add some lime to try and neutralise the ph?