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Hi, this is the 3rd year that I am growing courgettes. In the first 2 years (Parthenon and Defender F1) the plants seemed to grow to their full size and then started producing their flowers and courgettes. This year, I notice that my 15 plants (that I started off indoors and hardened off) have started to produce flowers and embryonic courgettes when the plants are still small. The variety I am using this year is Unwins Black Beauty. The only thing it said about size is to leave 1 metre between plants. Looking on the net they say this variety is 'compact'. I hope I have not chosen a so-called patio variety, which is no good for me as this is on a plot.
Q. I was wondering what I can do about this 'bolting'? So far I have been cutting off the flowers and embryonic courgettes, careful to avoid the growing tip. Will this allow the plants to grow to their full size without damaging them/harming productivity?
N.B. The weather has been terrible this year. Cold, then really strong winds (Surrey) and following advice on the net about building up the soil around them to stop wind-rock hasn't made much of a difference. They have all been visibly pushed so that they have started to grow sideways a bit, out of the mound I built for them. Other than that they seem healthy.
Q. I was wondering what I can do about this 'bolting'? So far I have been cutting off the flowers and embryonic courgettes, careful to avoid the growing tip. Will this allow the plants to grow to their full size without damaging them/harming productivity?
N.B. The weather has been terrible this year. Cold, then really strong winds (Surrey) and following advice on the net about building up the soil around them to stop wind-rock hasn't made much of a difference. They have all been visibly pushed so that they have started to grow sideways a bit, out of the mound I built for them. Other than that they seem healthy.
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