[iggyboy60]

I too enjoy growing courgettes,but the four plants I had last season kept my family and neighbours going all through the summer months,so the lord knows how many courgettes you will produce from 8 packets! I also allowed one plant to grow on in my polytunnel,but had to uproot it fairly quickly as it was getting too cosy and given the chance it would have taken over the whole tunnel within a fortnight!!  

[grenhouse]

'Looks like a courgette should' in terms of supermarket standard courgettes (which i suppose is not necessarily like what they should look like at all! ) These are shortish, straight and dark green.

Taxi was also an excellent yellow variety too.

I have also decided to do more winter squash this year, did a few last year but have now got lots of different seeds from seed swaps! Don't think there will be room for anything else on the allotment this year! 

steve

[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

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

I cant even remember what i have, i got a lovely packet of sunburst yellow marrows at the weekend though   Maybe i need courgette AA!

Im biased obviously but even if you dont actively love them they are a great veg for filling out other dishes, pickles, jams, bread, cakes, sauces etc  Although they love alot of space i had my plants in a reasonably small area (5ft x 3ft) and they all did really especiallyso all i can say is give a new variety a try in a corner some where and see what happens.   

[compostqueen]

The little Sunburst yellow patty pan ones are fab 

[Old Tom]

I`m having my first go with them this year. I`ve gone for the Soleil F1. Mainly for the lovely colour. One has already greminated on the kitchen windowsill. A bit cold to plant out just yet though. This winter seems to be dragging on for ever.

[needssomehelp]

last year due to getting my plot and knowing nothing about how prolific courgettes are i ended up with 21 plants!  it became the joke of the year, seeing how many we could pick on each visit lol. i even bought a recipe book called "what will i do with all those courgettes" some v. good ideas in there. but top of the list was the chocolate courgette cake recipe i found here.
i have bought seeds for this year but im gonna stop at 10 plants i think.

[DD.]

10 plants is still a lot.

I grow 4 and there's enough for us, neighbours and a weekly church coffee morning!

[rhysdad]

I'm growing:

Romanesco
Soleil f1
Black Beauty
Venus

How do others prep the ground for them? Last year i dug a hole about a foot square, filled with well rotted horse poop and let them get on with it........We were sick of courgettes by the end of summer. I plan on growing them on the wet side of the plot this year to try and dry it out a bit!! The same area i'll grow my butternuts on to try and do the same!! Does this seem a common sense approach?

[mike1987]

I plan on growing them on the wet side of the plot this year to try and dry it out a bit!! The same area i'll grow my butternuts on to try and do the same!! Does this seem a common sense approach?

im not sure on this one but i have had a simmlar idea i have a smal drain trunch leading into a hloe that fills up when it rains and i was going to plant my toms there as they like watering a lot and the ground there is always moist

i would be interested to hear other peoples views on it

[eeedowls]

Another courgette question - I am hoping to grow some this year in a potato planter/bag.  Will there be enough soil in there for it?

thanks, and sorry to hijck another thread...

[Tigerhair]

I LOVE courgettes.  They were so easy to grow when I was learning that I fell in love - I didn't really eat them til I grew them myself.  I put them in everything - in curry/spagetti dishes because in sauce they don't taste of much but add bulk and I get green stuff in my family.  They are utterly lovely roasted in oil - they go all sweet - absolutely delicious.  I normally go for about 8 plants for the three of us - and give away a load more plants!  LOVE EM!

[New shoot]

Another courgette question - I am hoping to grow some this year in a potato planter/bag.  Will there be enough soil in there for it?

thanks, and sorry to hijck another thread...

You'll need to feed and water constantly - if you have no open ground you can use, go for a bush or compact variety and see if you can get hold of a bigger container than a potato planter bag.  Worth chucking some farmyard manure in the bottom to stop the container drying out too quickly as well 

[eeedowls]

nope - no open ground... I have black beauty seeds - would they be any good - I don't know much about them tbh...

I have one that is a bit bigger thinking about it - maybe that will be ok.... I do have different types of feed but no manure - what type of fertiliser might be most useful to them?

and thanks for the swift response....

[New shoot]

Not grown that one myself eeedowls, but sure someone on here will have and can advise.

It's worth buying a bag of FYM from your local garden centre.  I grew a courgette in a half barrel last year with 1/2 a bag of manure in the bottom of the barrel and multi-pupose on top.  I fed with pelleted chicken manure and got a fair few fruits.  Debateable whether the harvest really earned all the efffort I put in, but worth a go if you have already got the seeds.

It was an experiment as I want to grow loads of veg in containers at work (garden centre) in our veg area as living point of sale.  My plant at home did go down with mildew late on in the season, but I think that was me getting lax with the watering 

[compostqueen]

I've done crooknecks but they're more squash-like in habit and appearance. Good though