Abbey Road Girl Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 I'm about to harden off the courgette and squash I potted up. I noticed that one has roots you can see snaking across the surface and two more have things that look like emerging roots near the bottom of the stems. Should I treat them like tomatoes when I plant them out by burying them nearly up to the first leaves? I have never grown these before, so thanks for sharing your advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 Courgettes are pretty forgiving plants ARG, so I would bury it to cover the 'new' roots. If you plant them in a slight dip, then watering is easily as the water will drain directly to the roots. You could always cut the bottom off a plastic bottle and sink the neck in next to the plant. Makes watering easier too. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 Indeed - wop 'em in & you will be rewarded (or is that punished???) with so many courgettes that you won't know what to do with them all Spicy courgette fritters for us this weekend,with my first pickings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tara.F Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 and don't forget to feed them....they lurve composted chicken poop! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abbey Road Girl Posted June 12, 2009 Author Share Posted June 12, 2009 Many many thanks, Christian, Cinnamon and Tara, for your prompt and helpful advice. If the weather is halfway decent then (looks nice today!) I should have a glut of courgettes to add to my glut of eggs! Yellow patty pan, round 8 Ball, yellow Soliel, a stripey one and a Uchiki Kuri squash! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drew and Alan Posted June 13, 2009 Share Posted June 13, 2009 hi! just want to add our two centimes worth! becareful of the courgette flowers, dont knock them off or u wont get courgettes, or if the flowers do go mouldy cut them off straight away! when u harvest ur courgettes cut them not twist. u can even eat the young courgette leaves, dip them in batter n fry them! and the flowers too! we planted too many last year and had over one hundred kilos of them! still eating them in chutney or frozen form! my OH wont let me plant more than 6 plants this year! oh, grow one on in to a big marrow , chop the top inch off, hollow our, fill with brown sugar and raisans, put the top back on, secure with cocktail sticks. put in a tight / nylon leg and suspen verticaly (cut end up) over a clean bucket which is covered in a t towel. when the marrow goes soft, pierce the end with a knitting needle and let it drip in to the bucket, straining thru the t towel. bottle and leave for a few months! et voila you will have marrow brandy!!!! tastes nice too! and its strong! enjoy ur courgettes!! Drew n Alan ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abbey Road Girl Posted June 13, 2009 Author Share Posted June 13, 2009 hi!just want to add our two centimes worth! becareful of the courgette flowers, dont knock them off or u wont get courgettes, or if the flowers do go mouldy cut them off straight away! when u harvest ur courgettes cut them not twist. u can even eat the young courgette leaves, dip them in batter n fry them! and the flowers too! we planted too many last year and had over one hundred kilos of them! still eating them in chutney or frozen form! my OH wont let me plant more than 6 plants this year! oh, grow one on in to a big marrow , chop the top inch off, hollow our, fill with brown sugar and raisans, put the top back on, secure with cocktail sticks. put in a tight / nylon leg and suspen verticaly (cut end up) over a clean bucket which is covered in a t towel. when the marrow goes soft, pierce the end with a knitting needle and let it drip in to the bucket, straining thru the t towel. bottle and leave for a few months! et voila you will have marrow brandy!!!! tastes nice too! and its strong! enjoy ur courgettes!! Drew n Alan ) Crikey, what an amazing post! A glut of food followed by brandy? Don't know how to respond at the moment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 (edited) I use up "spare" courgettes by oven roasting them with shallots, aubergine, orange and red peppers and skinned tomato all drizzled with good olive oil then blitzed in the food processor. Put this in freezer and you have the yummiest home made pasta sauce to use up in the winter. Edited June 15, 2009 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 I do that too In fact,you can add almost any spare veg you have - it all tastes great when its roasted with oil & basil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abbey Road Girl Posted June 15, 2009 Author Share Posted June 15, 2009 I use up "spare" courgettes by oven roasting them with shallots, aubergine, orange and red peppers and skinned tomato all drizzled with good olive oil then blitzed in the food processor. Put this in freezer and you have the yummiest home made pasta sauce to use up in the winter. Yum! Summer sunshine, DA, in the depths of winter. Don't have the room for a separate freezer, so I would cook this down into a concentrate to save space. And no reason it couldn't be canned. I am still shaking my head over Drew and Alan's marrow brandy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunshinesupernova Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 I know you can do courgette / marrow and ginger jam. Not tried it - but may have to ! My courgette plants are just starting to bud up. I've got yellow and green courgettes this year and yellow and white summer bush scallops. The squash plants are almost ready to plant out now. I had six plants last year. At one point - peak season - we had over 30 courgettes on one week !!! Never weighed any - but they produced from end June right through until early October. We never bought / ate courgettes from October until March as couldn't stand the sight of them any more. Courgettes had been incorporated into practically everything. It's about to start all over again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 That pasta sauce idea is great, we eat them roasted with other veg too but I had never thought of blitzing them for pasta. The only problem now is freezer space. mine is already filling up with fruit and broad beans and we have a massive crop of peas on the cusp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&T Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Can't wait to try the marrow brandy.... Wow!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milly Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 I'm growing round courgettes for the first time this year (and the first time for courgettes in many years). The yellow ones have lots of courgettes but they get to ping pong ball size then start going soft. The green ones are only coming one at a time, but they are growing well and not going bad. Any advice on the yellow ones? Would it help if I remove the flowers? Milly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redhotchick Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 I'm growing round courgettes for the first time this year (and the first time for courgettes in many years). The yellow ones have lots of courgettes but they get to ping pong ball size then start going soft. The green ones are only coming one at a time, but they are growing well and not going bad. Any advice on the yellow ones? Would it help if I remove the flowers? Milly Try hand pollinating them. Are they going soft / rotting from by the flower? or soft all over? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milly Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 Try hand pollinating them. Are they going soft / rotting from by the flower? or soft all over? They are going soft from the flower end, then it spreads all over. I'll try hand pollinating - or is there any way of telling if they have been pollinated? Milly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redhotchick Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 If they are rotting from the flower end it is most likely that they have not been pollinated. I think it's too late if they gave started rotting. Best to wander round with a little paint brush/make up brush regularly. I've realised that I probably shouldn't just plant vegetables. Flowers that encourage pollinating insects are high on my list of things to plant in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 It is quite common for the first few to go like this, just cut them off and before you know it you will have more courgettes than you can deal with. We inherited 2 more large courgette plants from the accounts person at my husbands office, so i dread to think how many we are going to end up with, we are picking them really small at the moment to try to stay ahead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milly Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 Thank you both for all your advice, I have tried hand pollinating a couple that were open today and taken the flowers off some that were already closed. The strange thing is the yellow ones have lots of small courgettes (that don't come to much) whereas the green ones only have one or two that grow properly. I wonder if the pollinators get distracted by the yellow fruits and miss the flowers whereas on the dull green ones they go straight to the flower. Milly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redhotchick Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 Thank you both for all your advice, I have tried hand pollinating a couple that were open today and taken the flowers off some that were already closed. The strange thing is the yellow ones have lots of small courgettes (that don't come to much) whereas the green ones only have one or two that grow properly. I wonder if the pollinators get distracted by the yellow fruits and miss the flowers whereas on the dull green ones they go straight to the flower. Milly An interesting concept Milly. Who knows? My own courgettes, all green varieties, have yet to flower They look promising, but they are taking their time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 I had just the same problem with yellow ones last year - I haven't bothered with them this year. Our round ones have just started.........and we have about 20 plants - what on earth posessed me?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
