Courgettes

Ease of Growing  [Scale 1-5] - 1 (Easy)

How Time Consuming

Once established regular watering and feeding is all that is required.

Recommended Varieties

• Organic ‘Defender’ F1 Hybrid – is resistant to cucumber mosaic virus and has a very upright growth habit.
• Organic ‘Soleil’ F1 Hybrid – Prolific variety of tasty golden-yellow fruits.
• Organic ‘Dundoo’ F1 Hybrid – Dark Green shiny fruit with an open upright growth habit so easy to harvest.
• ‘Venus’ F1 Hybrid – a compact grower, ideal where space is limited. Smooth, spine free stems. Prolific cropper.

Home Grown Vs Supermarket

Much better to harvest courgettes immediately before eating as they do not store that well so will always be freshest just harvested from the garden.

Best Sites and Soils

All Cucurbits require moisture retentive but well-drained soil. Add plenty of well rotted manure or garden compost when planting.

When to sow

Sow seed in seed trays in the greenhouse in March/April or sow outside late May-June once risk of frosts has passed.
When to plant:     Harden off and plant out when the seedlings have 2/3 leaves.
Distance between rows - Space about 1 metre (3 ft) apart.
Distance between plants - Space about 1 metre (3 ft) apart.

When to harvest

Between 10-14 weeks depending on variety – harvest regularly when courgettes are still young and tender.

Problems to look out for:

Slugs love to tuck into your courgette crop.  Apply nemaslug to the soil at six weekly intervalls throughout the growing season to keep them in check.