cougette help!!!

When the female flower opens it already has a baby courgette behind it. If the flower doesn't get pollinated the little fruit dies and falls off, if it does they grow until you decide to pick them :)Have you got flowers without the babies (the males) open as well? Sometimes at the beginning of the season the plants are a bit 'disorganised' and you can get all female or all male But they sort themselves out in a little while, and then you end up having too many

 You can eat them as small as you like - sometimes if the end of the courgette is sitting on wet ground it rots a bit, take these off and cut off the rotten bit - the rest is still good to eat. if you can put a brick or something under the plant to keep the fruits off the ground this might help.

Many thanks for replys will inspect flowers tomorrow .

It is one of the delights of growing your own to eat a baby corgette raw, straight from the plant when it is 2 or 3 inches long IMHO!

G'Day All from Down Under!

Courgette, squash and pumpkin vines produce a heap of foliage, and if it is too dense it will impede bees from doing their pollination work.

So, here's what to do to improve fruit set. Both male and female flowers have just 24 hours to 'do their thing' before withering and dying. If the foliage is too dense get some slender sticks up to 18 inches long and judiciously poke them in the ground to more readily 'make a gap' to better expose the male and female flowers to the bees. This will greatly increase pollination and therefore fruit set. Constantly move the slender sticks around to repeat the exposure to the bees. The bees will love you for it and reward you with more fruits!

I have some of the most fantastic recipes using courgettes, squash and pumpkin so do message me for the recipes if interested.

Enjoy.

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