Note about courgettes for next year

Thought I'd share my experience - before going on holiday late May I had no choice but to plant out all the courgettes and squashes I had going in pots.  They were hardened off but due to the awful weather that followed whilst we were away they looked really sad or dead when we returned. Chucked the dead and nurtured the rest.  About the 12th June direct sowed some seeds as nothing to lose.  The courgettes romped away are now at about the same stage as the ones grown in pots and the squashes are just a little behind and they all look really healthy. So next year I'm not going to bother with starting them off indoors, at least the courgettes.  I think although it's tempting to get them going early there's little to be gained.  Must remember that next spring...

One of my early courgettes survived the cold spell, but hasn't been very fruitful - the later sown replacement hasn't even flowered - let alone fruited 
So no courgette glut here this year *sigh*

Both my Defender and di Nizza courgette plants went into hibernation over the past few very cool weeks - they didn't exactly look unhappy but didn't produce any new flowers or develop the set fruits either, which is particularly surprising for the di Nizza which are usually unstoppable.

They weren't planted outside until the second week of June, which is probably just as well because the cold start to summer and the recent courgette-unfriendly weather may have caused them to adopt the suicidal tendencies of their cucumber cousins!