[Casey76]

Now I've already planted 5 courgette seeds, then I found a nice little mix of different courgette plants, including some pattipan squash...

Now just how many courgettes can one person eat???

I'll probably see what sprouts, keep one plant of each, and give the rest away.

Courgette soup, frittata, quiche, bake... anyone???

[Weston grower]

  last year 2 plants that grew well and were watered regularly kept 2 of us going far longer than we were interested in eating them. Still got some in the freezer!

WG

[mumofstig]

All the different kinds do look tempting don't they

I wish it was warm enough here to start courgettes
We can't match your weather here in the UK, so won't think about about sowing courgette seeds until April at the earliest

[Mazzie]

My weakness is courgettes and squashes, last year i had 6 plants for two people and towards the end we were going a little crazy but i have managed to accidentally *cough cough* buy 8 new packets of seed this year again

[New shoot]

8 packs - wowser you are going to have fun this year 

Well despite my best intentions I have ended up with 2 different courgettes to sow as well, so that norty courgette fairy will probably be a frequent visitor to my plot this summer, turning my courgettes into marrows  

I will give some plants away and probably scare everyone at work with bags of courgettes appearing in the staff room every few days    

[mumofstig]

My weakness is courgettes and squashes, last year i had 6 plants for two people and towards the end we were going a little crazy but i have managed to accidentally *cough cough* buy 8 new packets of seed this year again

I hope some of them are winter squashes, for storing, so you won't have to eat them all at once  

[Kristen]

Perhaps I should grow something other than our normal, boring, green, F1 Green Bush?

20 seeds in the packet, 5 seeds a year ... but the packet I have has only 5 seeds left (and might not germinate - its dated 2008!)

Other than being Yellow, or Round, or somesuch is there significant taste difference between Courgette varieties? I'd be very happy to grow something "superior", but my experience with weird-shape or wrong-colour Fruit & Veg is that whilst everyone says "Interesting, it tastes just like the real thing" they bypass it after the novelty has worn off, so I'd prefer "normal colour & shape" unless the taste is exceptional.

[Lardman]

Other than being Yellow, or Round, or somesuch is there significant taste difference between Courgette varieties?

I can't tell any difference but Im told there is. I always grow black forest F1 from TM as it looks like a courgette should, but in recent years I've also started to sow gold rush and taxi which are the right shape but yellow which makes them easier to find on the plant !

[Casey76]

I don't know about the round ones, but I like a mix of green and yellow as it looks pretty on your plate!

I've grown "Goldrush" in the past, and it tastes the same as a normal green courgette.  this year I have a mix of greenones, including "Black magic" which is very gark green!

[compostqueen]

I think you'll be surprised just how well flavoured some of the more unusual varieties are. Don't just stick to the same old thing, get yourself some yellows and pale greens, stripey ones etc.

It's only by trying the various ones that you find out how good they are, or indifferent but at least you'll have a harvest basket brimming over with colour.  Makes life more interesting in the kitchen too.

You'll have no trouble getting rid of the extras if they're not just all bog standard green ones that everyone else is growing. I send my husband to work with a trug full of the various colours, shapes and sizes and they all go. We used to have regular sales of the coloured ones and we thought that folks would be quite reserved but they were really keen to try them, especially the yellow varieties which, incidentally are fab in cakes!

[grenhouse]

I have a terrible weakness for courgettes! Last year I grew 9 plants which all performed brilliantly! There is a distinct taste difference between some varieties I think. and some like romanesco are much firmer I find. I grew:

-Sicilian Long white (not the best in my opinion)
-Di nizza (lidl seeds, excellent crop and left 2 on at the end of the season which hardened up and we carved them at halloween!)
-Firenze (nice green fruits all uniform in size)
-Zuccini (excellent heavy cropper!)
-Romanesco (my favourite ridged fruit with pale green stripes)
-Soleil F1 (very prolific yellow courgette)
-Patriot F1 (looks like a proper courgette!)
-All green bush (what can you say......loads!)
-Black Beauty (again, prolific to say the least!)

Made lots of courgette and chocolate muffins which were excellent. This year I am going to try chargrilling them and putting them in jars of olive oil.

I still have loads of courgette seeds to swap of anyone would like any (can make them up in small batches of 2's. Either a SAE or desperate for peas! PM me if interested.

Steve

[compostqueen]

the yellows look wonderful after chargrilling. They have a lovely smokey taste too 

Romanesco was my absolute favourite last year. It looks cracking on a tray of roast veggies

I use various yellows in cakes and muffins as they don't show up as the green ones do which is a boon when you have a family that believes they don't like courgettes    Substitute them for carrots in carrot cake or muffins. Believe me they'll never suss it 

I really like Genovese, a pale green one with sparse unprickly foliage which makes picking less of a pain 

[Lindeggs]

... This year I am going to try chargrilling them and putting them in jars of olive oil...

Excuse me for drooling.  That sounds divine.  You could make beautiful platters with different coloured chargrilled courgette strips, some sundried tomatoes, olives, feta cheese, decorated with sprigs of herbs and served with chunks of crusty bread to soak up the fantastic olive oil... *sigh*

On the other hand maybe not.  It's just not seemly to leave your dinner guests swooning.

[compostqueen]

 

Sounds divine grub to me 

Loads of great dishes to be made with the humble courgette. Nigel Slater has some good ones and I really like the pasta sauce where you sweat down loads of them with some good olive oil and a few anchovies, add quite a lot of garlic. It cooks down to a mush, then parmesan gets added and it becomes a lovely sauce for pasta. It can be done with broc but I think most of us get gluts of courgettes rather than brocs

It's very filling and a little goes a long way. I saw an Australian chef doing this on telly so I had a go myself and it's lovely

[grenhouse]

I have seen them for sale in the supermarkets and presume they will be as easy to do as making ovendried toms and storing them in oil. Nothing better than a big platter of all your own stuff, with some courgette bread, and chocloate and courgette muffins to follow lol!

offer still stands if anyone wants any seeds.

Steve