Advice on growing Courgettes

Yviestevie · February 2023

Haven't, grown them before and could do with a bit of advice. I have a small greenhouse, a small raised bed and a few pots.
a) which variety should I grow
b) should I grow in greenhouse or outside
c) how many should I plant, have seen lots of posts on here regarding over planting and gluts.

All help gratefully received.

Topbird · February 2023

Sorry Yvie, can't help with variety.

I've grown courgettes very successfully outside (just the regular long green ones) in the ground. Each plant needed just under 1 square metre of space and I really had to keep on top of watering them. You're in a wetter part of the country so that won't be quite as much of a chore for you.

They can be a bit slow to start fruiting but once they start they're away!

As to how many plants... depends how much you like them, what you want to do with them and how many you're catering for.

Two plants provided enough courgettes for the 2 of us to have them regularly as a cooked vegetable / salad ingredient plus enough to make a really big bag of courgette fritters for the freezer (they're like onion bhajis but made with courgette) plus several jars of sweet pickled courgettes.

Does that help at all?

philippasmith2 · February 2023

They are greedy plants and need quite a lot of space. In a reasonable summer, they should do well outside but if you have space in your GH, you could do them in there - border or decent sized container.
A decent yellow one is Easy Pick Gold but there are numerous varieties available. The weather will determine how well each does whether inside or out. As to how many - will depend on what you intend to use them for and how many you are catering for. If you only want to eat them fresh, I would have thought 2 plants . If you intend to use them over the winter to add to various dishes eg, then another couple should give you both fresh and preserved.

steephill · February 2023

The yellow varieties are useful because you can more easily see the fruit you want to harvest. The taste is the same as the regular green ones. Green ones are easy to miss when harvesting and it only takes a few days before you end up with marrows. 2 plants is more than enough for 2 people. There are also more interesting shapes like the spherical ones if you fancy something different.

Yviestevie · February 2023

thanks or all your advice I'll take a look at some seeds.

Allotment Boy · February 2023

For a green one I go for Tuscany they tend not to shoot off to marrow size as quickly as some others. I would grow 2 as if one fails for any reason you have backup. Maybe one green one yellow. If you are getting too many you can always grub one out. They need full sun lots of food and water.

Obelixx · February 2023

If it's your first tilme @Yviestevie, I would go for just one or two plants bought as plugs or in small pots. Get a green one and a yellow one.

You can grow them in large pots of rich compost or in a square metre of enriched garden soil. Either way, you'll need to feed them thru the season and water them regularly, especially if in pots.

Assuming they're a success and you like growing them (and eating them), you could try seeds next year.

Yviestevie · February 2023

Thanks for all the advice folks.

Nanny Beach · February 2023

I grow them in bucket size pots,any MPC, they get powdery mildew on the leaves, but that doesn't affect the yeald.no fancy variety, whatever I find in wilco or Lidl

Slow-worm · February 2023

I grew two plants a few years ago, and two of us couldn't get through them fast enough! I just bunged them in a flowerbed, lol!
I left one as it had got too big, we called it Elvis, it got marrow massive and I ran out of ways to cook it after a few days. 😄

McRazz · March 2023

I wouldn't recommend courgettes in pots unless its the only option, you'll get fruit, and probably enough for your needs, but they'll stop growing after a short while and many of the fruits start to die off before ripening around mid summer.

I'm always jealous of my family and friends' plants that are grown in raised beds and mother earth, they probably get 10x the crop i do, and mine are in large 1m instant hedging troughs!

My assumption is they're too greedy for pots and don't like constricted and hot roots in the summer. In fact we're actually giving them a miss this year until i build some proper beds for them.

Advice on growing Courgettes

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