Squash and courgettes disaster

[Pineberry]

I had lots of squash and courgettes plants, but disaster after disaster with them. first the slugs, and now the chickens killed them all. Have I still got time to start new or its next year now. I am really disheartened with this, hoped for a lottie full of squashes and now its 0.

[Raybon]

I have lots of 'survivor' courgette seedlings coming up right now, growing rapidly having chosen their moment.
I would say go for it, pref. in single pots indoors to speed things up a bit and keep out of slug reach - nothing to lose! Hopefully a late summer........
Suggest a barrier of, yes, chicken wire to keep them off!

[kathyd]

Never too late to have another go . Most of my seed packets say sow until the end of May, and the dates are usually a bit flexible depending on the weather - I'm certainly still selling seeds over here to people who are only just sowing, so don't panic . xx

[Chippy Minton]

My understanding is that if you're direct sowing you should wait until about now anyway so I'd go for it. Courgettes will be OK, hopefully squashes will have time to ripen.

[MrsCordial]

Definitely keep chickens well away from anything that matters - they are feathered destruction units. I'd certaiinly give it a go sowing a few courgette seeds now. It's astonishing how fast they grow once the sun comes out.

[veggiechicken]

I sowed 48 squash and courgette seeds earlier this week. Plenty of time (fingers crossed)!

[Tadpole123]

I always sow a few courgette seeds 1st week in June, in addition to ones sown 4-6 weeks ago. Towards the end of the season the 1st sowing are running out of energy but the 2nd one isn't and keeps going on till autumn. They are great to dehydrate so have plenty to last the winter.

[MrsCordial]

That's a really good idea Tadpole.

[Alison]

I always sow a few courgette seeds 1st week in June, in addition to ones sown 4-6 weeks ago. Towards the end of the season the 1st sowing are running out of energy but the 2nd one isn't and keeps going on till autumn. They are great to dehydrate so have plenty to last the winter.

I'm always kind of pleased when they do run out of energy as there's only so many of them you can eat and by then people tend to be avoiding me in case I try to palm off any spares on them


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[Tadpole123]

I'm always kind of pleased when they do run out of energy as there's only so many of them you can eat and by then people tend to be avoiding me in case I try to palm off any spares on them

Having a garden only 10' wide and, although its south facing, it's shaded on and off by neighbour's sycamore trees so I don't get the same size crop as one in full sun. I used to many moons ago before the trees self seeded or grew taller. So I get a manageable size crop instead.