Not sure exactly how -but one of the courgettes I planted out 3 days ago has got a flower on -its a male flower, so no courgette butI found last year I got several male flowers first and then the female ones followed! One of the other courgettes has buds on too... hope its a good sign that I willl get plenty off this year as I HAVE to make some courgette teabread loloh and as a tip for anyone who hasn't grown them before -don't panic if you get flowers on and then you go out again and it looks like someone has cut them off -its what happens to male flowers!!! When it happened to me last year (my first time of growing them) I was running round the garden in a tizzy wondering what had happened..... a call to my mum who put me straight and I calmed again lol . If they had just dropped off it would have seemed normal but these had come off with a piece of their stem and seriously looked like they had been cut ;-)
7 comments:
Thanks for that i would have ran around in a tizz too.
argh not having much luck with my courgette's or any of my plants this year. My dog escaped from her pen and Tore up all my plants a few days ago. (this is the 2nd time now)
I managed on only save 2 of my 6 courgette's so i've sown 2 more think it might be abit late now though. :( gutted !!
My courgettes where coming along great and just starting to flower too now im not even sure the 2 i have will survive or give much fruit. having taken quite a beating.
Oh another quick question, why do you have a cane for your courgettes?? it's my first year with them i thought they grew along the ground?
Hi Leiela
I have a cane in at the moment to stop the plant just lying on the ground in the wet-and to attatch the fleece to ;-)
I will take it out one the plant is bigger and stronger, mind -last year I did end up putting canes back in as with them being in tubs they sometimes grow very top heavy and lean over the edge of the tubs-so attatching then to something takes the strain of the stem ..
I have been reading your blog for a while now. Thought it was about time I introduced myself! I am trying to plant vegs in pots etc where I can keep a proper eye on them. We have a large garden but it is mostly well-established shrubs, perennials and lawn. Seeing my veg coming along in the containers is so good. We haven't got a proper greenhouse, just one of those plastic covered mini ones. I loved the tip you gave a little while ago about lining your plastic crates etc with cardboard to stop the compost coming out. I had been using old plastic sacking and cutting holes in the bottom for drainage. Never thought of cardboard! I have 8 courgettes coming along so was pleased to read today that the male flowers
are meant to drop off.
Best wishes
Wendy (Wales)
Hi Mrs M, I've spotted your blog from MSE and the live on £4000 thread. 1st of all, I must say thank you as you have been a big inspiration to me in terms of my garden this year, we have never really bothered out in the garden before and we have planted lots this year.
I have a courgette question as you say you have grown them before. I have planted 5 plants outside which i started off inside from seeds. On all of them the seed leaves have gone really white and shrivelled. At first i thought they were dehydrated but now i am not thinking this is the case. I don't know if the soil is rich enough. I'd seen in a book they need potash or tomato feed. I was wondering if you'd agree with this?
I have noticed in the past week that they have started to produce what looks like flowers - no idea if they are male or female but i am looking on it as a learning curve for this year.
Thanks,
Michelle
Hi michelle + Wendy
Nice to hear what other gardeners are up to...Its only my 2nd proper year too so Im still doing a lot of trial and error -but I guess thats the fun -(remind me I said this when things go wrong lol)
Michelle,
My seed leaves did that too ;-)
It doesn't usually matter as the seed leaves have done their job - a few of my other plants seed leaves did the same -I just pinch them off to save the plant wasting energy trying to keep them alive..
I did mix some cow dung pellets in with my compost before I planted out as courgettes are greedy plants -and because Im not sure of the quality of the compost out here as I buy the cheapest lol
once they start flowering properly I will add a bit of potash/tomato food every week or so at it encourages more flowers... so my beans, peas, tomatoes and anything else that flowers will get the same treatment.
If you look at the back of the flowers the female ones will have the starts of a courgette behind it the male ones are just normal stems behind. The good thing with courgettes is that you don't need to do anything with the flowers -they will sort themselves out...
hope that rambling makes some sense!
Thanks for that. I haven't managed to get out in the garden yet as it has rained constantly for over a week. I have some tomato feed si i'll stick some of that on over the weekend.
My strawberries have flowers on now, so I'm hoping to see some good results soon.
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