My courgette and pumpkin plants just aren’t growing

[HermioneWeasley]

I bought some plants online - I’m no good so no chance of growing from seed.

Smallish plants planted over a month ago in raised bed full of manure. They just haven’t grown - they’re not dead, but they’re not growing or thriving. I kept them covered up during the worst of the rain as they were turning yellow.

Any hope for them?

Are you feeding them? The weather has been rotten lately so growth is pretty slow. My peppers aren't doing much at the moment

Our courgettes didn't grow for ages, then they suddenly went bonkers. Are they getting lots of food and water?

They were certainly getting plenty of water - I thought they didn’t like too much?

I hadn’t been feeding them as I assumed I would do that once flowers start? See, I told you I don’t know anything! I do have some plant food so will try them on that.

Thanks for your advice

If any leaves apart form those at the bottom are turning yellow it can be an indication that they've run out food.

I'm not an experienced gardener by any means (this is only my second year of growing veg) but my courgette plants have gone bonkers despite having no special treatment whatsoever. I grew them from seed too and have given away lots of plants and had several courgettes already from the 3 I kept.

My cucumber plants OTOH are a different matter .
I was assured by a friend that "cucumbers are so easy to grow, you can't go wrong, you'll end up with more cucumbers than you'll know hat to do with". After planting about 12 seeds months ago I'm left with one plant that is currently about the size of a fist. .

I think there must be a degree of luck/fluke

My cucumbers, courgettes and squash are all failing - no idea why . Plus a fabulous crop of aphids but no beans!

They sound like they haven’t had enough water. Courgettes like you be watered well. You can dig a pit around them so the water is retained a bit more.

They’re looking a bit less leaky today so who knows?!

Peaky, not leaky!

Mine are a bit mixed, courgettes are doing well but not quite took off yet but the pumpkin plants are small and slow. In previous years what I've found helped was adding compost from the compost bin as a mulch, they love rich organic matter, this has made a big difference. I also use Strulch, a straw mulch, to keep slugs off and retain water, and you can buy dried manure/chicken waste pellets that can also give them a boost or well rotted manure.