Courgette, also known as Zucchini categorized in the summer squash family, is a close relative of the cucumber, with origins traced back to North America. They can be sliced or diced and boiled in lightly salted water for 5 to 8 minutes. Hold the fruit with your hand while removing it and do not tug at the plant. Alternatively slice and lightly pan-fry in butter or olive oil until tender. Pollination. To keep plants productive you need to harvest courgettes about three times a week at the height of the season. Quick info on growing courgettes yourself: Courgette seeds are large and easy to work with. Courgettes should be sown in April indoors in 3 inch (7cm) pots of good compost. Courgettes are one of the easiest and most productive crops you can grow yourself. It's also easy to remove the fruit simply by twisting it; the stem usually breaks right off, but sometimes it doesn't, and you end up breaking the fruit. Harvest courgettes when they are 15-20cm long. Production does slow once you leave the plant to produce a marrow. Harvest regularly when the courgettes are about pencil length. You can if you wish let the courgettes grow on to marrow size but this will take a lot of energy from the plant thus stopping the growth of new fruits. Harvested before it fully matures, courgettes are used in spiced or salted dishes since they do not have much flavour by their own. They are extremely fast – from sowing you can be eating your own within six weeks – and just two or three plants should be enough to keep you going right through the summer. Others even tell of accidentally poisoning dinner party guests by feeding them courgettes from the garden. Thoroughly check over each plant at least three times a week and cut off the courgettes using a sharp knife. Feb 8, 2016 - Tips and advice on growing courgettes. Growing courgettes problems. Always with courgettes, of course I’m sure you know, you don’t just eat one of the parts of the plant, so you definitely want to harvest the flowers as well as the actual courgettes themselves, and I just want to explain the difference between the male and the female flower, I’m sure it’s really obvious to lots of you but I get asked this a lot. Courgettes and mini squash should be washed and trimmed before cooking. Courgette fruits are at their best when they are around 10cm (4"). Usually I just plant tomatoes and maybe some potatoes but this year I decided to try planting lots and hope that some would grow. Once a courgette has reached a good size for eating, cut it off the plant with a knife. long. Even though courgettes are quite easy to plant and grow, chances are high that you will have some problems in the growing process. New Zealand is heading into peak harvest season and there aren't enough workers to get fruit off trees or vegetables from the ground. Sowing. Courgettes are very tender plants and will be badly affected if they get hit by frost, to prevent this sow in a cool greenhouse or windowsill and cover with a fleece if exceptionally cold weather is expected. I love my little veg patch. Harvest all summer long. And, if you have a polytunnel, the harvest can begin as much as a month earlier than outside and keep going well into November. It is best to pick the courgettes when they are still a bit small, the taste will be much better and the plant will have enough energy to grow new courgettes. Once you harvest the first courgettes keep picking them, as this will ensure the plants continue producing fruits. So growing this veg is a must, no matter how small the garden. Once they get beyond this they become a marrow. The Courgette. They are prolific croppers and are suitable for growing in containers. It’s only 3m long x 50cm deep but most years it does produce a lot. Courgette plants have male and female flowers on the same plant and insects will generally carry pollen from one to the other at which point the female flower starts to become a fruit. When to harvest courgettes. More growing how-tos: How to grow cucumbers That’s the easy bit. So you’re not overcome with courgette at once, we recommend stagger planting so that you have a continuous harvest. We teach you how to grow courgettes and enjoy this summer crop in pasta, salads, or as a delicious vegetable side . June 2017 . Plants sown early in April could be ready to harvest from as early as June depending on weather and growing conditions, but late July and August provide the best picking opportunities. Growing Courgettes. Dovefromabove Central Norfolk UK Posts: 64,774. You can harvest courgettes as soon as they have the right size. 0. Make sure you cut the courgettes off the plant rather than snapping them off as this can rip the main trunk of the plant. UK data on courgette-related poisonings is sparse. If the plants are grown under cover, you may have to pollinate them by hand. The most important thing to do is make sure you pick the fruits regularly. Aim to harvest several times a week through the season to prevent developing fruits from growing too large. How and When to Harvest Zucchini. Courgettes bear male and female flowers, however only the female flowers produce fruit. Harvest courgettes when they are 10-12.5cm (4-5in) long. Courgettes are one of the cucurbits which also include: marrows, squash and cucumbers and are grown in the same way. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad. Courgette plants grow quite large and take over the space they’ve got available to them. Growing courgettes at home. Research shows that the more varied Britons' diet, the greater the health benefits, as your body needs a wide range of different food groups, vitamins and minerals to function optimally. 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