[RsT]

She has waved her wand here

Only four to date, but given that a month ago I thought all  i would get was slug food I am happy   

Plus a patty pan, I was thinking they were yellow courgette seeds! LOL

Hoping for a bit of a glut as love chutneys!

[Growster...]

Think the fairy must be residing in Maidstone, though a few initial problems getting them established already giving them away!

I'm coming over to Maidstone soon Galen, and will whistle a happy tune on your behalf...

We had five this evening, and they'll pay for the eggs we get from some friends nearby...

...when they really start that is...!

[maxyboo]

Courgettes are one of the few things I have done well with so far. Just been out and picked a carrier bag full. Mind you I have ended up with 20 plants. Made some soup to freeze today and must make some chutney when it cools down a bit. Can't bear standing over the hob in these  temps.

[suziet88]

.............. has arrived at last, and delivered a yellow courgette - yipee!

[lazza]

My 4 black beauty plants outside are slowly withering away, although I am getting some male flowers; the same variety in the lean-to is growing well, but so far no flowers at all 

The 2 Atena yellow plants are even more vigorous in the lean-to, and producing a lot of flowers, male and female.... just that so far the female flower-lets are falling off before they open!

TBH, similar story to last year. I think I just don't have the right set up for courgettes here! (The lean-to is on the west side of the house and partly shaded by a fence, so only gets about 2h full sun each day) Might try again next year with some more standard varieties, and then give up and give the lean-to over to cucumbers and chillis, which seem to work very well)

[mumofstig]

can the insects get into the lean-to to pollinate the flowers 

[davesellars]

I've got  different types a few courgette plants all mixed together with the squash plants. They've all only just started growing courgettes / squashes (until which i have no idea what is what...)  The yellow round ones seem to be the most profilic at the moment.   A few marrow type ones started to grow quickly last week but then just withered away...

[lazza]

can the insects get into the lean-to to pollinate the flowers 

Yes.... it's never been quite the same since the storms last autumn, and the frames are rather wonky, so there are plenty of gaps. Also leave the door ajar most days.

But the female flowers aren't even opening, exactly as last year.

[kermit]

Just to reiterate. I had this same problem for 3-4 years. Despite cruddy summer, Parthenon are romping away - flowers are even growing and opening (not that you need them for fruit, but good to eat!).

[Growster...]

"But the female flowers aren't even opening, exactly as last year"

Yes, this is a new one for us this year, Lazza - very odd!

But there again, there are several other things going awry also, like toms winging off in all directions, and onions sulking...

[lacewing]

I had to have a quite word with my courgette plants today. They seem to be working overtime. I have two yellow and one green and they are producing four courgettes per day. And today I found another plant, which I had forgotten about and it had four round fruits ready to harvest. I can't cope!

[Springlands]

It really does seem to be a contrasting story for peeps - some successes and some failures. Any two of my courgette plants have got a short reprieve - the recent hot warmish weather has encouraged them to put out new leaves and even some flower buds so they are getting another chance to see what happens. The other two have been hoiked out never to be seen again.  Hard to believe that I originally sowed about 10 plants.

[New shoot]

First courgette today from my white courgette plant, plus flowers and baby fruits on this and the yellow courgette plants  

Gem squash that I got via a seed swap romping away and covered in little round fruits as well, so thank you Gavin for those    

[Raven50]

I just have three plants that were gifted by one of the other plotholders, two yellow ones and a green one. I'd avoided growing any at all because of memories of stuffed marrow when I was a child (- I'd rather have eaten dirt!) but TOH said to give them a go. So, last year we grew a green one, called black Beauty or something similar, and ended up giving most of them away and chutneying the rest. This year I wasn't going to bother, but as we had some space and three free plants I thought we'd give it another go. Surprised to find that they have grown well, producing their first small fruits this week, and that the yellow ones have not only grow better than the green, but they taste much better too! I tried them just simply fried with some nice salty bacon, then piled on toast - lovely!

[gazza975526570]

Mine are going great guns - have 7 plants each producing one or two courgettes maybe twice a week.

Already im scouring the net for new recipes and i know loads will end up in the bin!!!