Taste of the Med Grow your own sunny delights

DAVE ALLAN

DURING the present crisis, many more of us are turning to Grow Your Own. This lets us enjoy much fresher and tastier veg than from a weekly shop, especially if that languishes in the fridge for days. And we won’t be relying on imports that could become less accessible.

If we can’t sample the gastronomic delights we’d expect on a sun-baked Mediterranean holiday this year, why not furnish the kitchen with your own baby courgettes? Like the leafy salad brigade I highlighted recently, nothing could be easier to grow.

Unlike peppers and aubergines, half-hardy courgettes can be safely planted outdoors rather than in a greenhouse. Just wait till there’s no risk of a hard frost.

Courgettes crop prolifically throughout the summer, so one plant should probably suffice. Otherwise you’ll end up with a glut. If you have only one plant, check that, like most modern varieties, it’s self-fertile. These parthenocarpic varieties don’t need to cross-pollinate with a neighbour.

The one, probably only, problem with courgettes is their deceit. They always conceal some of their delicious nutty little fruits beneath large spreading leaves and direct their energies into producing large, seed-bearing and tasteless marrows. So from bitter experience, I urge vigilance: check frequently for courgettes and cut at their tiny, sweetest best.

There are courgettes for any sunny site: in the open ground, a container, or against a frame or wall. You may manage to track down seed at a nearby garden centre.

If your usual one is still closed check out the Horticultural

Trades Association website which lists some:https:// plantsnearme.hta.org.uk

Mail order suppliers are still inundated with orders and many varieties are sold out, but some will still be available. I find ‘Parthenon F1’ performs well in the open ground, even during a cool, cloudy Scottish summer. ‘Sure Thing’, is a good alternative. Several more compact cultivars, like ‘Firenze’ and ‘Midnight’ work in containers.

You might want to train a courgette against a wall or trellis, so could opt for the likes of ‘Shooting Star’ or ‘Black Forest’.

If you want 1 or 2 plants, you need only sow 3 or 4 seeds, especially if using F1s, as they should all germinate. Sow preferably over the next week or so but certainly this month.

You don’t need any fancy equipment. Simply sow the large seed on their side 2.5cm deep, in a 7.5cm pot, using homemade or commercial peat-free compost.

Water and leave in a sunny place, a windowsill will do if you don’t have a greenhouse or conservatory. Keep seedlings well watered and the temperature 1520C and the young plants should be ready to harden off after 10-14 days. Do this by leaving pots outdoors during the day and bringing indoors at night for a week. Then plant out.

Courgettes are greedy feeders, so generously top dress open ground with compost. You can warm the ground by first scooping out a spit’s worth of soil and emptying a grassbox of clippings in the hole, then cover with soil and plant. Roots don’t come into direct contact with the fresh grass.

A courgette needs a lot of water, so when planting, sink a plant pot next to it and fill and regularly replenish with water, daily when cropping. The water is released at root level. Apply liquid comfrey or organic tomato feed fortnightly. Leave 90cm between plants.

Alternatively for container growing, use a 45cm pot and fill with good organic compost, like Dalefoot. Plant and treat as for the open ground. Bear in mind that maintaining climbing varieties is more challenging.

The stems can break easily under the weight of fruit and do need support.

Visit askorganic.co.uk. Follow Dave on Twitter @boddave