Beat supermarket shortages – grow your own
If you like Mediterranean vegetables, it’s handy to know which ones will tolerate a poor summer – here are the best courgettes in my experience for the job. Courgettes, one of the prettiest of vegetables, are not to everyone’s taste. However, they may develop added allure due to their cost after recent shortages. Even if you do like them, you can get heartily sick of them in a glut.
When I started growing them, I wanted three varieties – far too many! I now grow just two plants, quite sufficient for a family of three. As you may guess, my household members are not courgette connoisseurs.
The best courgettes – Watch out for these words
The keywords to look out for in seed catalogues are ‘parthenocarpic’ and ‘weather-resistant’. Parthenocarpic simply means plants can set fruit without pollination. I’m a fan of Cavili (pale green with creamy flesh). It manages to perform even when weather conditions are dull and chilly – more often than not in NE England. Read more about growing vegetables seasonally to save money. One of the questions I get asked about most is why courgettes are not setting fruit. Read my in-depth post – you’ll usually find that this is nothing to worry about early in the season.
However, I’ve also had success with Golden Parador and Shooting Star – they make an eye-catching pair. People are often stuck with what to do with courgettes – you can only put up with so many fritters – and life is too short to stuff them, or their flowers. Make sure you pick them young and tender, about 15cm long at the longest.
Smaller plants for limited space
If you find you don’t have the space for normal-sized courgette plants, check out my Courgettes for small gardens post. You’ll find a good selection at www.dobies.co.uk.
However, courgettes, like carrots and beetroot, make excellent, moist cakes. It’s my advice to tell no one what’s in a recipe. What they don’t know won’t hurt them. There are two courgette cake recipes in my Recipes category – spicy chocolate and citrus drizzle. They’re both really good at using up courgettes you forget to pick when you find yourself with huge, tasteless marrows. There are also unusual savoury recipes – Cheesy Muffins with Courgette, Feta and Red Pepper and Courgette Scones.
Potted guide: courgettes
- SOWING TIME: April-May under glass in a heated propagator, one seed sown sideways in a 3″ pot. Grow on under glass in cooler conditions, before hardening off after the last frosts and planting outside.
- HARVESTING TIME: July-October.
- PLANTING DISTANCE: 90cm (3ft) apart.
- ASPECT AND SOIL: Full sun, light, well-drained. Keep well watered, feed once a fortnight with tomato fertiliser.
- HARDINESS: Tender.
- DIFFICULTY: Moderate – can be badly affected by poor weather conditions and powdery mildew if damp or crowded, and Cucumber Mosaic Virus.
- RECOMMENDED VARIETIES: Cavili (pale green); Defender; Black Forest; Venus; British Summertime; Soleil; Partenon (all dark green); Sunstripe (yellow/white stripes); Eclipse (round green, striped); Zephyr (yellow, pale green ends); Parador (yellow), Tuscany, Shooting Star (yellow).
