Could someone help me with my courgette plant

[Deux]

Have never grown courgettes before, but so far so good and so satisfying. The plant has about 12 courgettes on it in various stages of growth. I have some questions.

There are lots of leaves on the plant, should I be trimming some of them off?

Some of the courgettes are yellowing at the ends, what does this indicate and should I be picking these?

When do I pick the courgettes? The largest ones currently are about 5 inches long.

Thanks.

I did start them late, it was only a few weeks ago that I planted them.
Maybe I will try and get some plastic sheeting as meltedmarsbars suggests to heat them up a bit.

Earthymama,stick a few of your courgettes on a table with an honesty box,and you'll soon get rid of them.I did this a few years ago and have a nice little sideline selling excess veg now.People come for miles to buy it.

I had 8 courgettes off my four plants last week and made this. It was delicious, even DD who is a fussy nearly-two-year-old lapped it up and wanted more.

We started off with mostly male flowers on our plants but lots of female ones now that seem to be getting pollinated without any interference from me. We do have lots of flowers that bees like nearby to encourage them to visit the garden so I think that helps.

Joining in as I am a first time courgette grower too! We've had lots of flowers and we made flower fritters one day - easy and delicious! Had batter left so DS made banana fritters too.

Not many actual courgettes yet but a few small ones are emerging. WE've got mildew so I am removing the worst affected leaves. We have had a lot of rain recently so the idea of putting a tile underneath is a good tip - will do this!

Daddywillbehomesoon - my DS is on a flight to South Africa right now - on a very exciting 3 week lonf school trip! He's been preparing for it for a year so its wonderful he and his group are really en route now! I hope weather will be good.

Oh, and we had our first crop of home grown French beans yesterday - delicious!

Courgette soup and also fritters are good too. Italian soup recipe is excellent - involves beating in some egg and cheese at the end.