CourgetteCucurbita pepo

The courgette demands full sun and space: a mature plant covers a circle one metre to one metre twenty across. Choose an open corner, sheltered from the prevailing westerly winds that break the large leaves, and where the soil warms up quickly. Avoid areas where water lingers after a storm; the roots rot there. The edges of the compost heap or the former site of a manure pile suit it perfectly, as it finds the richness it requires. Two or three plants are enough for a family; place them in different spots rather than side by side, which slows the spread of powdery mildew.

A fortnight before planting, dig a hole forty centimetres wide and deep for each plant. Mix the excavated soil with two or three shovelfuls of mature compost or well-rotted manure, then fill it back in to form a slight mound: the soil warms faster there and water does not sit around the neck of the plant. In heavy soil, add a shovelful of sand or leaf mould. A handful of ash provides the potash the fruit needs. This rich hole is worth any amount of surface feeding: the courgette sends its roots down into it and feeds all summer long.

The calendar is simple but unforgiving: sow in pots from 20 April, plant out after 15 May. A plant sown in early April grows too big, yellows in its pot and establishes poorly. Keep the pot at 20 °C, near a bright window, and put it out on the sill as soon as it germinates in fine weather. A direct sowing in place around 20 May, under a cut-off plastic bottle as a cloche, catches up within three weeks. To extend the harvest until the frosts, plan a second sowing around 20 June: these young plants replace the first ones, exhausted or diseased by September.

Plant out at three or four true leaves, without waiting for the plant to outgrow its pot. Remove it from the pot without breaking the root ball; cucurbit roots do not like being disturbed. Set it on top of the prepared mound, with the neck slightly above soil level to avoid rot, and water with three or four litres of water at ambient temperature. Immediately surround the young plant with protection against slugs, which can raze it in a single night: a ring of eggshells or ash, a cut-off bottle. A fleece cover for the first ten nights speeds up establishment if May stays cool.

On a terrace, the courgette produces respectably in a container of at least forty litres, such as a half-barrel or a large grow bag, filled with potting compost enriched with a third of garden compost. Choose a bush variety, compact, or even a selection bred for pots. The container must get at least six hours of sun and stand sheltered from wind, which tears the leaves. In summer, water every day, sometimes morning and evening, as the foliage transpires enormously; a deep saucer or a reservoir helps a lot. A liquid feed every ten days from the first flowers makes up for the limited volume of soil.

Planting five or six plants in the first year and no longer knowing what to do with the fruit. Sowing in March and ending up with drawn, leggy plants that never recover. Spacing at fifty centimetres: the leaves overlap, air no longer circulates and powdery mildew arrives as early as July. Burying the neck, which then rots. Watering the foliage in the evening, which encourages disease. Forgetting slug protection on planting day. And worrying when the first flowers, all male, produce nothing: that is normal; the female flowers, recognisable by the little fruit beneath the petals, follow one to two weeks later.

The courgette is 95 % water and its large leaves lose a great deal of it. Allow ten litres per plant, twice a week in dry weather, three times in a heatwave, poured at the base in one go so the water soaks down deep. A basin of soil formed around the plant or a buried pot prevents run-off. Water in the morning, never on the leaves. Foliage that wilts in mid-afternoon is not necessarily thirsty: it perks up again in the evening. If it is still limp in the morning, water without delay. A lack of water also shows in the fruit, which stays small and pointed at the tip.

As soon as the soil is warm, in June, mulch generously to ten centimetres with straw, hay or dried grass clippings: the soil stays cool, the fruit does not touch the earth and slugs move about less. The courgette is one of the hungriest plants in the vegetable garden. On top of the rich planting hole, give nettle liquid diluted to 10 % every two weeks until the first flowers, then switch to comfrey liquid, richer in potash, during fruiting. A shovelful of compost laid in a ring around the plant in mid-July revives a plant that is starting to slow down.

The courgette is not really pruned, but it does need tending. Cut off the oldest leaves, yellowed or covered in mildew, flush with the stem as you go, to open up the centre of the plant and expose the flowers to insects. A plant whose stem is creeping can be gently steered in the direction you want. If the female flowers abort in cool or wet weather, hand-pollinate early in the morning: pick a male flower, strip off its petals and rub its stamens into the heart of the female flower. Five minutes that guarantee the harvest during a gloomy June.

Powdery mildew, that white felting, almost always arrives in late summer. Delay it by spacing the plants, watering the soil and removing affected leaves. At the first spots, spray milk diluted to 10 % or bicarbonate at 5 g per litre, every eight days, on and under the leaves. Slugs mainly threaten young plants: collect them in the evening with a head torch and keep the area around the plant clear. Fruit that yellows and rots at the tip is the result of failed pollination, not disease. Grey mould on faded flowers is kept in check by removing them as soon as they wilt.

Late April: sowing in pots in warmth. Mid-May: planting on mounds, slug protection, fleece if the nights are cool. June: mulching, nettle liquid, first male then female flowers, hand pollination if the weather is dull. Late June: second sowing for the relay. July: harvest every two days, generous watering, comfrey liquid, removal of old leaves. August: watching for powdery mildew, milk sprays, planting out the relay plants. September: the first plants run out of steam, the second ones take over. October: last harvest before the frosts, pulling up and composting the healthy plants.

Harvest every two days, with a knife, fruit of fifteen to twenty centimetres: it is regular picking that keeps production going, and a fruit allowed to grow enormous tells the plant its season is over. Male flowers can be picked in the morning without any worry for the harvest. To carry on until the frosts, rely on the late-June relay sowing and on a fleece laid over the plants during the first cold nights of October. If you want courgettes for storing, let two or three fruits swell in September until the skin hardens; they keep for weeks in a cool room.