Novice gardener; courgette question.....

[katkouta]

Im a first time grower of courgettes and have been looking forward to eating the flowers which Ive been told are delicious. They are now flowering but Im reluctant to take them off , correct me if Im wrong but, isnt that where the courgettes themselves will start to grow from?

Also, while I'm here was just going to ask about aphids on my runner beans but saw on another thread that they could be baby ladybirds :s how do you tell the difference? (I have spotted a couple of ladybirds hanging around....)

Ladybird larvae are black with yellow markings plymouthenvironmentcentre.org.uk/images/ladybird_larvae.jpg they look totally different to blackfly which are small, erm black flies.

ahh, thank you. Definitely black fly.

You can take off all but one of the male courgette flowers on each plant - it's just the female courgette flowers that have baby courgettes!

This has a photo of male and female flowers, but they're incredbily easy to distinguish.

completegarden.wordpress.com/2008/08/21/how-to-hand-pollinate-courgette-flowe rs/

The flowers are really delicious stuffed with a mixture of ricotta, mint, chili and lemon zest and then deep fried. Yum yum yum yum num. They aren't actually tasty on their own, just as a vehicle for delicious stuffings and batter!

Thanks Grendelsmum! very interesting, I never knew that. I think I have a good mix of both! yummy