Planting out my courgette seedlings

[Jules]

About a month ago I planted some Courgette seeds and put them in the greenhouse and they are now looking healthy and about one and half inches (sorry old money!!) high. I potted them on into small pots but just wondered when I should be looking to put them outside? June sometime?? Should I add some homegrown compost to the soil when I do?? Any tips would be gratefully received!! Thanks.

[macmac]

Hi Jules,
mine are bigger than yours and i've just started hardening them off.they will probably go out in a couple of weeks but we plant them in our muck bin on the allotment so they gain some shelter from the wooden sides .given what we plant them in and the crop we get i'd say they would benefit from lots of well rotted muck or good compost. We grow six two of which are yellow(easier to spot when harvesting)and come the end of the season we and our neighbours are sick of the sight of them,though i do have a lovely recipe for roasted garlic and courgette soup which i think originally came from K.G. magazine it was given to me by a neighbour before i was a subscriber and has been passed on to so many people who've all enjoyed it. if anyone's interested i'll post it in recipes

[Geoff]

Jules - please update your profile to show us where you are. My Courgettes, Squashes, Pumpkins and Gourds were sown last weekend in a propagator because I am 600' up on the edge of the Pennines. Macmac in W-s-M is sub-tropical by comparison so where are you?

[glallotments]

Any courgette recipes would be most welcome! We are in West Yorks and plant our courgettes out in late May beginning of June when hopefully the risk of frost is low!

[John]

I always pot my courgettes up into 6" pots and grow them on with some protection until their roots fill the pot then plant them out usually end May/start of June. I've found that small courgette, squash plants etc never thrive when plant out early even here in the sub-tropical Severn valley.
As others have said use lots and lots of organic matter when planting and harden them off well before planting.

John

PS Courgettes seem to give their best fruits when they are youngish plants so I make a later sowing around June time and eventually discard the earlier plants as the second sowing comes into cropping.
Much as we love courgettes they are very productive when they get going and there is a limit to the amount of them you can eat so a few plants is all you'll ever need!

[Jules]

Thank you all for your response....Boasting again Macmac!!
I have updated my profile but I am in Berkshire so usually a little milder than your locations (maybe not the Severn Valley??)....anyway will harden the little critters off in the next couple of weeks and then plant them out in lots of muck in June!
Thanks again to you all............and yes MacMac please post the recipe....sounds lovely and I have so much garlic as well!!!!!

[macmac]

have posted the courgette soup recipe and one for fritters.
any recipe that starts ...take 5 courgettes... has got to be a winner

[Primrose]

Two of mine were planted out last week under large indivdual cloches as they'd already been repotted twice. My other two, which still only have their two seed leaves were growing rather tall so I planted them out today - again under individual cloches. It will probably be early June before I feel confident enough to take their covering off, especially with the current wind which could really whip them around.