Summer must be here, despite the rotten weather, because the courgettes have started growing like crazy and producing lots of courgettes. I wish I could say the same for the winter squash but hey, there is still time. I have grown four types this year: two long green and one yellow round and one yellow long type. Interestingly the yellow long is not cropping as well as the others but it is a lovely foliage plant with golden foliage (above). The front of the beds are lined with a red, frilly lettuce and edged with haloragis ‘Wellington Bronze’. There were some mimulus too but the hot, dry weather a month or so ago was too much for them to bear and they either died or were swamped by the haloragis. The green plats dotted around are self-sown wonderberries – I won’t bother with those again for a few years.

I like yellow courgettes and I think they have a finer texture though these round ones need picking before they get too big. Keeping up with courgettes is always a problem! It is really important to pick them when they are small so you do not end up with some big ones. Then you end up having a massive crop of ‘almost marrows’ that are not as tasty as small courgettes and make eating courgettes a bit of a trial.

I really wanted to get a decent crop of peas this year and the mangetout at the back of the bed, in three colours, have done a decent job this year, with some colour from antirrhinums.

growing courgettes, yellow courgettes