Countryside Mumsie Planting Series - Growing Courgettes

Hey Guys,

Here is the second blog in our Planting Series.  It is all about growing courgettes. Courgettes are really easy to grow.. two courgette plants will produce ample courgettes for most families.  Courgettes are not frost hardy so they need to be planted out in June when the risk of frost has passed. I prefer to sow my Courgettes inside, I think it is safer.Sow seeds in small pots or seed trays using fine compost.   Place each seed about1/2 inch deep in each pot.  Gently water and leave indoors by a south facing windowsill.  Keep the compost moist but dont over water while the seed is germinating.

Here is my first courgette plant raising its head!  The excitment out of the girls was something else!

Potting On
After about 3 weeks the courgette plant will have used up all the compost nutrients. Repot it into a larger pot with fresh compost, this will give it more room to grow its roots.

Hardening Off
Plants that have been raised indoors will need to get used to outdoor tempetures before they can be planted outside in the raisaed bed.  This can take about 10 days.  When you know the frost has passed move the plants out for longer periods each day.

Planting out Courgette Seedlings
Courgette plants are not hardy.  So pick a sheltered sunny spot which is protected from strong winds.  Courgette plants take up huge amount of space.  The leaves are huge and will shade out anything else growing nearby, take this into account when planting them into your raised bed. Planting distance between palnts is 1 metre apart.  It looks like a huge gap, but they will soon fill the gap! Courgette plants need rich soil, I add horse manure each year to my rasied beds. Water around the plants heavily not on them.Watch out for slugs.

One of many courgette and carrot harvest we had last summer;

Harvesting
Pick the courgettes as soon as they get to the aquired size.  The courgettes get very big very quickly. Better to harvest when small, they will taste better.  It also encoursages more fruit to grow if picked smaller. To harvest cut the fruit at the base with a sharp knife taking care not to damage the plant.  Continue to pick fruit to encourage the plant to produce.  The courgette flowers can also be eaten and are a lovely garnish for salads.

Here is one of my courgette plants from last year;

I hope our planting series is inspiring you in some way to take to the garden! ;-)

 

Don't forget you can keep up to date with Countryside Mumsie on our social media accounts facebook and instagram.

 

Thanks for reading,

Orla & Kerri X

Great Christmas Present for Young Readers, Check it out!!

Recently http://www.lostmy.name/ sent Seán, Farrah and Georgia fabulous personalised books.  This book is a personal, beautiful and magical book. The adventure in the book is based on the letters of the child's name.

This book is different to any book on the bookshelf at home or that I've seen before.  Your child's name is not only in the book but the whole story revolves around the name.  The child's name is the story!!

Farrah and Georgia met a girl at the start, Seán met a boy who wakes up to find their name is missing.  They then go on an adventure, collecting letters , meeting amazing and educational characters and at the end realise that they have actually collected all the letters to their very own name.  Great excitement!! An added bonus, it has sparked a great interest in my 3 year old in learning how to spell her name! This is great, it's promoting letter recognition also. Seán, who met a rock angle that gave the letter 'A' now has a new found interest in rock and roll!! How fabulous that this book ignites the mind of our little children.

Creating the book is very simple for the user.  You enter your child's name, state if you are purchasing for a boy or girl.  Choose hair colour of the main character to personalise it further.  Then you can preview your book.  If you are happy with the book you can purchase it.  Delivery was very quick, it arrived within 10 days.  It is also free worldwide delivery. 

The book is beautiful.  It is A4 landscaped sized.  The illustrations are just fabulous.  You need to see it to believe it;

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgdZzt6gEd0&feature=player_embedded


I would highly recommend it for Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles purchasing for the small people in your life this Christmas.  It suits 2 to 6 year olds and will be cherished for life. It is a great gift for infants too as they will soon grow into it and learn their name from being read this story.

Disclosure: Kerri and Orla were provided with three complimentary copies of Lostmy.name books for the purpose of this review.  All opinions are our own and are totally honest.

Do you have this book at home?  What do you think of it?  Let us know  Xx


Don't forget you can keep up to date with Countryside Mumsie on our social media accounts facebook and instagram.


Thanks for reading,

Orla & Kerri