Squashes and courgettes are a real joy in the vegetable garden: easy to sow, almost maintenance-free, fast-growing and, above all, very productive.
Sowing squashes and courgettes: child’s play, virtually foolproof
Sowing can be done directly in the ground or in pots — for this, follow the instructions in our advice sheet. In our rural garden, a bona fide “place to be” (that is: the place to be for partying, especially if there’s beer) for gastropods and other little nibblers, we play it safe. Squash and courgette plants are raised out of reach of their appetites. In April/May I’m a bit overwhelmed, so my eight-year-old daughter takes care of it, and I’m not worried because getting it wrong is impossible — unless you do it on purpose!
For squashes, pumpkins and potimarrons, which are greedy, laziest gardeners can simply throw a few seeds on the compost heap — that works very well too; but only if field mice don’t eat them all before they have a chance to germinate. I don’t recommend keeping self-sown seedlings: squashes cross with one another — we’re talking natural hybridization — with astonishing ease. You’ll end up with what I call the “Surprise” variety.
And true to the spirit of surprise, it might turn out well:
Yay, ten free squashes with no effort at all!
or badly:
Grrr, ten marauding squashes that took over the patch all summer and are completely inedible…
As for timing, try, where possible, to schedule your sowing around your holiday dates (if you’re away in July, sow later…) or hand harvesting over to a neighbour while you’re away: once the novelty wears off, nothing is more annoying than finding giant, seed-filled squashes dominating the garden instead of the fine, tender courgettes you were hoping for.
Growing courgettes, squashes, pumpkins and potimarrons? Easy: sun, air and rich soil
Courgettes and squashes grow in full sun on all soils, provided they are rich and fairly moist. If you didn’t add plenty of compost in autumn, it’s not too late: at planting time dig large holes and mix in compost — even if not fully mature — with garden soil.
Courgettes and squashes don’t have many pests (apart from slugs at the seedling stage) but, like good cucurbits, are often affected by powdery mildew. This cryptogamic disease, caused by a fungus, develops in warm (27 °C is its favourite temperature) and humid weather. It appears as white, powdery patches. Infected by the “white” and left untreated, leaves eventually dry out, yield collapses and the plant dies.
This disease is not inevitable; as prevention you can:
- space plants well at planting: 80 cm for non-vining varieties and at least one metre for others, as they need good air flow to dry quickly after rain,
- avoid nitrogen-rich fertilisers — they boost leaf growth but make foliage more fragile,
- use recent varieties, F1 hybrids, which are often more resistant.
Cucurbits: a multitude of varieties
If there is one group offering huge variety, it’s the cucurbits.
Every year I have to use reason to limit myself, especially on number of courgette plants. It’s hard, because I want them all: green, yellow, long, round… They produce so abundantly that, by mid-summer, neighbours barely open their doors when they see me arrive with a full basket, determined to distribute my surplus!
I particularly like:
- Précoce Maraîchère, because it produces early in the season and so prematurely satisfies our cravings for summer veg,
- Ronde de Nice and Tondo di Toscana, two round varieties ideal for stuffing,
- Gold Rush, for its flavour and its yellow skin (children are less put off by yellow than by green…),
- Belor F1, such a productive variety that I have no qualms about picking its flowers to make tasty fritters,
On the other hand, there are no restrictions for squashes, apart from available space, because they store superbly and are eaten well into early spring.
In our top 5 you’ll find:
- the Pumpkin Jack O'lantern — I donate the biggest specimens to the nursery school for their traditional Halloween lanterns and annual cookery workshop,
- the Pumpkin Bleu de Hongrie and its superb, very distinctive colour,
- the Pumpkin Giraumon Turban, as decorative as it is tasty,
- the Potimarron Uchiki Kuri — partly for its name, which sounds like “the archduchess’s socks…”, but mainly for its small size, which avoids waste: one fruit = one pot of soup,
- the Butternut Butternut for its characteristic, delicate flavour.
This year there will also be bottle gourds. They are not edible but that doesn’t matter, as I plan to use them for ornamental purposes. First, I’d like them to climb a frame made from rebar. Yes, squashes can be grown vertically! Next spring, once dried and perhaps painted (I can picture them bright red), they will be strung like beads on a large stake and decorate the garden. Apparently you can also carve them, cut them to make bowls and all sorts of objects… Plenty to keep us busy all winter!
Further reading :
- our full guide: "Courgette: sow, plant and grow in the vegetable garden"
- Sophie’s article: "Giant pumpkins: get sowing!"
- our tutorial: How to trellis squashes?
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