Is There A Secret To Growing Courgettes?
When I first heard about growing courgettes, I wasn't terribly interested, figuring it was an exotic plant that might be more trouble than it's worth do deal with. Upon further examination, I learned that courgettes are a very popular vegetable, and one easy to grow. A popular vegetable that is easy to grow sounded like something I should know more about. In fact I began to wander why I had never before heard of the courgette, much less anything about growing courgettes.
Pollinate And Die - First I found that courgettes are members of the squash, gourd, and pumpkin family. Then I read about courgette flowers, and how some gardeners were concerned that so many of the flowers of this plant would simply wither and drop off without setting fruit. I've had plants in my vegetable garden that do exactly that, and maybe I should have become a little suspicious at that point. Some plants, like the zucchini for example, have a number of their flowers simply drop off. These happen to be the male flowers. Like so many males in the plant and animal kingdom, they exist only to help in propagating the species. In other words, they pollinate, and their work finished, they die. The female blossom takes over. It's the female blossom that produces the fruit.
Guess What? - So, I found the courgette and the zucchini had that in common. Exploring further, I found that growing courgettes was no different than growing zucchini, and the two plants behaved exactly the same, including growing so profusely that one usually had plenty left over for the neighbors once harvesting was complete. Maybe I'm a slow learner, but suddenly the light bulb came on. The courgette and the zucchini are one and the same. As it turns out, the plant we refer to as the zucchini in the United States, is called the courgette in many other parts of the world, especially in the United Kingdom. Possibly in France as well, as courgette sounds, suspiciously, very French indeed.
A Rapid Grower - The secret to growing courgettes is the same as the secret to growing zucchini, which isn't much of a secret. You put some seeds in the ground and stand back, Come harvest time, having a wheelbarrow, and some understanding neighbors will be a help. Courgettes, or zucchini, are fun plants to grow. They grow rapidly and set lots of fruit. The fruit is best picked when young and the skin is still tender. Courgettes can be used in salads, sliced and fried in butter, or used as the primary ingredient of what the English might call courgette bread, but what we call zucchini bread.
Growing Courgettes - A warm weather loving plant, the courgette is usually either started indoors, or purchased from a plant store, ready to transplant once the weather has warmed up. When a courgette first sprouts and begins to form leaves, it looks very much like any other squash plant, and will continue to do so as it grows. A major difference is, when growing courgettes, the plant does not send out vines as do many varieties of squash and pumpkin, but assumes more of a bushy shape. Its thick foliage tends to discourage weeds, so weeding won't usually be a problem once the plant is established. Well worked and well drained soil, kept moist, with a dressing of fertilizer a couple of times during the growing season is about all the maintenance the plant requires. It probably goes without saying, the courgette, or zucchini if you insist, requires full sun to thrive. Unless you're a courgette fanatic, two or at most three plants may be all you'll need. This is a great plant for a youngster's first garden - you can almost watch it grow.