Milliways Mail order shop: Advice, tips and tricks.
How to grow Courgette's
There are lots of ways to cook courgettes. Which is just as well because you only need a few plants to produce huge amounts of fruits.One thing courgettes all have in common is that given a decent summer they are prolific.
Courgettes are fast and easy to grow and do best when started off in 3in. (7.5cm) pots in the greenhouse or a tunnel.
The best time to sow is in the second half of April so you can plant them out when the danger of frost has passed. Some people sow them in March but early-sown courgettes are like monsters- needing more food, water and space than anything else in the greenhouse. Later sowings are fine. Most will catch up quickly.
Most courgettes are F1 varieties which makes them expensive but the upside of F1 status is that they are reliable germinators so you only need to put one seed per pot, rather than sow two and end up having both come up. You can do this and give them to people or flog them on ebay or swao them.
A far better way to use the seed is to save it for sowing in early June to guarantee late summer cropping if the first batch gets tired. In each batch you can figure out how many courgette plants you'll need by planting one per person.
Tip
Avoid the white leaf-coating fungus, powdery mildew, by keeping plants well watered through the summer. The fungus attacks when the roots are dry and the air is dewy or damp so, to ensure irrigation gets deep into the soil, I bury a pipee with beside the plants or you can use a soda bottle with the end cut off and half buried in the soil. Or rake up the earth around the plant to make easily filled reservoirs that will direct water to the roots.How to grow Courgette's
Courgette's are tender, so sow under glass or plastic.
Prepare soil
Courgette's love lots of humus so for best results dig out a pit 1ft. (30cm) deep and wide and refill, mixing in compost/rotted manure with the soil as you go. On heavy soils plant on to a mound to increase drainage. The site should be sunny and sheltered from the wind.Sow seed
Start seeds off in April in a greenhouse or porch, sowing one seed to a 3in. (7.5cm) pot of moist, multi-purpose compost. Harden off and set out plants once all risk of frost has passed. Space plants 3ft. (90cm) apart each way.Grow on
Feed plants with liquid fertiliser to boost slow growth or seaweed extract if the leaves start yellowing.Harvest fruits
Pick young for the best flavour and regularly to keep the crops coming and prevent the courgette's swelling into marrows (this slows production). The flowers make great parcels for spicy rice while finger-sized courgette's are ideal dip-sticks in salads. Pick round varieties while they're still small (tennis ball size is about right) and solid.
Varieties worth trying
"Parthenon" F1 is the one to sow if you believe a bad summer is coming. It's partially self-fertile so, unlike other varieties, it doesn't need bees to set fruits. Traditional green shape."Tricolour" F1 has glossy round fruits that ripen from pale to dark green and then yellow. They taste best when green but are better for stuffing when big and yellow.
"Parador" F1 is a yellow zucchini type with thinner skin than the green version and milder flavour. It looks great on the plate.
"Ambassador" F1 produces tasty green courgettes early in the year, as well as good quality marrows if you can't keep on picking them.
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