Grow Your Own: Courgettes

Lesson 3: Caring for Courgettes

Thirsty Fruit
Courgettes are easy to grow as long as you follow a few simple rules. Above all, don't skimp on your watering routine. This becomes even more important once the flowers appear and the fruits begin to swell. By this time, warmer, drier weather has arrived and the plants will need watering more often. Most gardeners also give their courgette plants regular liquid feeds to encourage the formation of fruit. Some varieties may need staking, so be ready to prop them up if necessary.

Training Day
Trailing courgette plants need some training to maximise the harvest. Pinch out the growing tips of the plant's lateral branches once they've grown to around 60cm. This ensures that the plant puts all its subsequent effort into producing fruit.

Helping Hand
Fruit are formed once the female flowers have been pollinated. Insects should accomplish this task by themselves when the weather starts to warm up. Early in the season, or in cooler summers, you may have to pollinate the female flowers yourself. Take a male flower (the smaller flower without a swelling behind the petals) that has begun to produce pollen and push it into a newly opened female flower. Job done! You're a real gardener now…