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Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Original poster

Courgette seedlings taking over

15 replies

Tedisateddybear · 09/04/2021 11:26

I've sown seeds indoors for the first time this year and I've got them in propagators all round the house. Most of them seem to be coming on okay, but the courgette ones are growing like triffids.

I've just read the instructions (again, lol) and it says to take the cover off them once they start to grow but they are in the same propagator as tomatoes, aubergines and other things.

Will the courgettes survive if I take them out of the propagator and transplant them into bigger pots and leave them open to the air?

OP posts:
Lovemusic33 · 09/04/2021 11:35

You have planted them a bit too early, I put them in the same category as runner beans as they both germinate really quickly, best to plant them a couple weeks before your last predicted frost, so end of April or even early May. I have planted a couple this week but they will be kept in huge pots in the greenhouse until mid May.

Lovemusic33 · 09/04/2021 11:35

I would move them to bigger pots (the bigger the better).

BewareTheBeardedDragon · 09/04/2021 13:51

Yes - they'll be fine to come out and be potted up. I planted mine early last year and have not this year because they are very space consuming, but equally don't discard any at this stage because mine always get eaten by slugs when I plant them put initially so having back up pants in case the slugs completely destroy some before they grow their hairs is useful.

MaryIsA · 09/04/2021 13:54

back up pants Grin

Pot them up as everyone else says...but leave indoors for now. I'm holding off sowing mine this year till May as it's frigid outside and the long range forecast isn't improving any time soon. I've also run out of window ledges.

CompleteBarstool · 09/04/2021 13:55

I went off a bit early this year too with my courgettes and runner beans.

What's the earliest I could plant them out do you think?

Runner beans are already about a foot tall!!

Original poster
Tedisateddybear · 09/04/2021 14:04

Thanks everyone. The info on the packet said April so I just went along with that. When I do pot them on do you think I should keep them in the house or put them in my greenhouse (which hopefully I will be putting up this weekend).

OP posts:
giletrouge · 09/04/2021 14:09

Honestly you won't need a lot of courgette plants - courgettes are extremely prolific buggers, you'll be drowning in courgettes for a good while if you have more than about three plants - I remember having so many I was giving them away and begging for new recipes for courgettes at one and the same time. I'm sure it's why courgette cake was even thought of, some poor person had so many they were willing to try anything!

giletrouge · 09/04/2021 14:10

And they'll be fine in the greehouse from now until you put them out. Assuming you're not somewhere like Scotland, that is.

gingercat02 · 09/04/2021 14:12

I just put my courgette seeds straight in the ground and they do fine. Same with peas and potatoes. The delicate stuff- tomatoes lettuce peppers gets started indoors

Original poster
Tedisateddybear · 09/04/2021 15:01

Thanks again. I'm in north Wales so our last frosts are probably a bit earlier than in Scotland, but later than the south coast of England I would imagine.

@gingercat02, do you plant the seeds outside now, or later in the month or in May?

This whole seed thing is a new venture for me and it's proving to be a bit of a minefield Confused

OP posts:
deplorabelle · 09/04/2021 15:46

When I lived in NE England I started courgettes outside in the last week of may and they were fine.

I feel your pain. I stupidly planted some supermarket butternut squash seeds to see what would happen and now have thuggish triffids I'm too sentimental to kill and no guarantee the fruit will be edible if I do manage to grow them to maturity.

gingercat02 · 09/04/2021 17:56

@Tedisateddybear yes usually about the end of April (NE England) so just depends on the weather. It was snowing today so might be a few weeks yet 😂 I currently have windowsills full of lettuce and tomato seedlings so need the weather to improve soon!

BewareTheBeardedDragon · 09/04/2021 18:23

That's interesting @gingercat02 - do you protect them when they first emerge, since that will be before the last possible frost date? I have noticed that direct sown seeds tend to stand up better to slug attacks if they make it past the tiny seedling stage. Wondering if I should try to sow direct this year...

gingercat02 · 09/04/2021 18:27

My gardening style is a die or survive choice. If you can't handle the weather then you don't deserve your place in my 2 small raised beds. They are fairly sheltered and we are coastal so not overly frosty. I'm pretty hands off apart from netting the strawbs and rasps as even 3 cats can't keep the birds off them

BewareTheBeardedDragon · 09/04/2021 18:44

Ah - one of the advantages of being near the sea Grin

I like your style - sounds very laid back!

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