Growing Courgettes

rms1

I am sorry to be asking so many questions but I am a newbie here and I can't believe the amount of good advice I am getting.

Just one more question re courgettes. I am growing just one plant in a pot as a trial before I devote more space next season. I have had 3 fruits from the plant and there are 3 other beginning to form. I understood that where there was a flower, there would be a fruit but there are some flowers that are growing on stalks with no fruit.

Any ideas:)

rosie383

Easy. The ones on stalks are 'male' flowers. The 'female' ones are the fat ones that develop into courgettes. You will have a mixture of both on a healthy plant. Usually it seems that you get lots more male to begin with, then the females come and you start to get your courgettes.
Having both is what you want. A lot of plants seem to have only male flowers for ages and can be a bit frustrating, so the fact that you have already had courgettes is great. Happy eating.
Mind you, we had 3 plants last year, and it was much more than enough for us, and my OH being North African we eat lots of courgettes. We were giving bags of them away and making chutney with them. Bear in mind that they don't really freeze that well, so unless you want a glut, you may not want 3 plants.

annie123

Those ones are male flowers on thin stalks, insects will transfer the pollen from them to the female ones, who produce the courgettes.
The female ones have a little swelling just behind the flower.

rms1

Now why didn't I think of that. One more question, what do I do with the plant once it has finished for the season.

rosie383

Last year i just pulled mine out and it went in garden waste bin. it will be quite large and woody by the time it's done. Grow a new one from seed next year (or 3!!!)

rms1

Ah right so it's not perrenial

Primrose

Just chuck your plant on the compost heap. By mid September it will be dying back, probably covered with mildew and looking pretty threadbare. Watch your hands though. By this stage some of the big stems can be a bit prickly.

kippers

Definately put in the compost bin

SingleMumAndProud

Just want to steal your thread a min - can I ask, how do you know when they are ready? I have 3 big plants that are producing well and also a small plant that isn't doing much yet. I haven't actually harvested any yet but I think they will be ready soon.

Its interesting to know that 3 should produce more than we need. As sad as it is, I actually love the idea of having too much and being able to give them away. lol

smk77

Primrose wrote: »

Just chuck your plant on the compost heap. By mid September it will be dying back, probably covered with mildew and looking pretty threadbare. Watch your hands though. By this stage some of the big stems can be a bit prickly.

mid september is a bit early in my opinion. I've still had courgettes at the end of October and that's in SE Scotland where I'd expect them to stop producing earlier than most areas of the UK.

SingleMumAndProud wrote: »

Just want to steal your thread a min - can I ask, how do you know when they are ready? I have 3 big plants that are producing well and also a small plant that isn't doing much yet. I haven't actually harvested any yet but I think they will be ready soon.

Its interesting to know that 3 should produce more than we need. As sad as it is, I actually love the idea of having too much and being able to give them away. lol

courgettes should be about 6" long when picked. Let them grow too much and they'll lose their taste.

Primrose

Also, the more you pick them, the more you encourage the plant to go on producing, providing of course that the temperature doesn't fall too low. I pick ours when they're no bigger than 5 inches long. When they're very small they're also highly suitable for slicing raw and eating in salads.