to early for courgettes

[lfcjohn]

My courgettes are about 18 inches tall and beginning to flower, is it to early to plant them out. Also could i leave 1 in the green house for the summer.
John

[terrier]

As long as we don't get any seriously cold weather, you could plant them out and maybe cover them with fleece or newspaper at night. The main thing with courgettes is they need loads of water. If you are going to leave one in the greenhouse all summer, you'll need to be pretty diligent with the watering so as not to let it dry out.

[zazen999]

Hi
Possibly, it really depends on whether it will frost in the next week or two...I put mine out last weekend, but covered with a clear plastic storage box [upside down] as a cloche and it is fine so far. The others will be going out this weekend.

And yes, you can grow one in the greenhouse, as long as you either let the insects in or use a paintbrush to fertilise the flowers.

[Norm]

They don't normally get put outside until the very end of May to the beginning of June as they don't like being cold and a late frost will do them no favours at all.
As for the greenhouse job, you'll need a *******big greenhouse.
Do me a favour though. Send the first one you grow to Mourinho to use as a suppository

[syanide]

My colleague has given me two Courgette plants and two pumkin plants. Both of these she had started off at home in yoghurt pots and gave them to me in those. They are due to go in my allotment in the next week or so, but I starting to get a little worried about them.

At the moment, they are in my south facing conservatory (together with Toms and Aubs). However, the 2 courgette and one of the pumpkin plants is starting to look a bit yellow. Well less green anyway. I'm not sure why.

It's consistently yellow, not like spots or patches. Could it be because the pots are too small for them? I can see a few roots trying to peep out from the top of the surface of the soil.

I've potted one of the courgettes into a bigger pot and i will wait to see if thatimproves in colour.

Any advice please?

They will all go out in the allotment soon. I've just laid a massive cardboard sheet onto a patch as mulch (is that the right term?). Its' just that I'm not going to get round to digging it up and teh weeds are going to get bad. So i thought cover them up and plant through (big enough) holes.

[syanide]

ps - what's this about insects and/or paintbrush for the flowers??? it sounds like basic biology, but I'm a mathematician, so I'm going to plead ignorance/stupidity..

[Norm]

Some plants self polinate as there are male and female bits in the same flower. Other plants have male flowers and female flowers and rely on insects for polination. If a plant is in a greenhoise, there are likely to be fewer insects knocking about to do the polination so, just to be on the safe side, you do the insects job for them. I use a ladies makeup face brush thingy.

[syanide]

Is there a manual called "The Joy of Pollenation"? how do i know which are the male and the which are the female ones? It's academic as I will not keep any of them in teh conservatory, but I am curious now!

Ta

sy

[Norm]

Is there a manual called "The Joy of Pollenation"?

Not sure, but "The courgettesutra" sounds like a good title

[QUOTE ]how do i know which are the male and the which are the female ones? [/QUOTE]

The mals flowers are just on the end of the stalk and the female ones have a curvy bulge behind the flower.

I can see this thread degenerating. Wayne, you're on next!

[Mrs Dobby]

We planted out our 12 courgette plants (4 varieties) on Wednesday, watered them in, surrounded with clear plastic and topped this with fleece, in the hopes this will keep them frost free and keep the wabbits off them. So far they seem to be thriving, having grown on apace over the past few days (even tho its been quite chilly over the past few nights)! We're planning on keeping the fleece on until early June, then we'll assess the weather and see how they get on!

Last year we planted out 6 plants at this time of year without fleece, and they did well, tho with the poor summer we didnt get the glut we were told we would, hence this years 12 plants!

[momol]

I have planted out 10 squashes (summer and winter) in the raised beds a couple of days ago and 4 tomatoes after harden them off 2 weeks earlier. They seems to be doing fine and cope well. Last night we have pretty chilly cold night (4C), so I give them some cloche and this morning went to have a look, they all doing well .

Check your local weather to anticipate any last (night) frost, only plant them out when it is frost free, good luck .

[JO,JO]

planting mine out today,but before we do going up the street to the field and getting free well rotted horse manure to mulch flower borders and mix in my veg border,how lucky am i to have horse manure on tap free.

[syanide]

Thank for the help on the topic of "the Bird and the Peas".

Anyway, can someone help me with my post #5 please? I'm getting concerned. I'm hoping it's just becasue its not to moist in thre, but I'll remedy that.

[Two_Sheds]

My colleague has given me two Courgette plants ... in yoghurt pots ... starting to look a bit yellow.
They will all go out in the allotment soon. I've just laid a massive cardboard sheet onto a patch as mulch (is that the right term?). Its' just that I'm not going to get round to digging it up and teh weeds are going to get bad. So i thought cover them up and plant through (big enough) holes.

Is this the post ?
Yes, i think they're yellow because they're starving. Squash are greedy feeders. Bigger pots and a liquid feed will help. Get them in the plot after you've hardened off (7-10 days) and after your last frost.

They really appreciate mulching. Water the ground well before applying your mulch, because rain won't penetrate the cardboard easily. I upturn a pop bottle next to the courgette and water into that, direct to the roots.

[sez]

yup TS said they're hungry! they need more compost to grow into and some feed like seaweed extract.