FRUIT > COURGETTE > harvest
IN THIS GUIDE
COURGETTE GUIDES
DisposalFeedingHarvesting
zucchini can be a wonderful crop to grow at domicile in your garden .
They are relatively gentle to develop and , as you will presently obtain out if you rise them where you live , they can supply a bountiful harvest .
Here is the canonic entropy that you need to hump about harvesting courgettes from your garden :
Homegrown zucchini can be delicious , but there is one note of caution to beware of .
On rare occasions , seeds can be produced from cross - pollenation with nearby plants from the same family of Cucurbits such as squash or pumpkins and fruits grown from this cum can be toxic.1Dowling , T. ( 2021 , July 24).Tim Dowling : which zucchini is the evil poisoner , yellowish or green?The Guardian . retrieve March 14 , 2023 , fromhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/jul/24/tim-dowling-which-courgette-is-the-evil-poisoner-yellow-or-green
So only ever harvest and eat courgette if you have grown them from licence seeded player , or your own seed if you are sure that crossing - pollenation has not go on .
If courgettes have any note of bitterness at all – do n’t eat them .
When To Harvest Courgettes
Courgettes can be ready to harvest from as early on as previous June , and can proceed to bring on fruits until the autumn , often the right way up until the first Robert Frost .
Typically , you will be able-bodied to reap the first fruits around 6 - 8 week after plant .
Courgette fruit form on distaff flower , after these are pollinated and pollen transferred from the manlike flowers .
manful flowers typically form first and you may well see several virile blossom before the first female flowers appear .
The first harvest that you might obtain from a zucchini plant will not of necessity be an actual zucchini .
Once the female flowers have begun to form yield , you might decide to harvest excess manly flowers , since these are a secondary eatable fruit from the plant .
These are often stuffed and eaten , although it is best to remove the stamen carrying the pollen from inside the flower first .
You will typically harvest the first yield when these grow to around 10 - 12 centimetre long .
While the fruits will continue to produce after this , the gustation of these younger , smaller yield is typically much good , and the zucchini will seem watery and often lack flavour when they get too much enceinte .
“ It ’s incredibly leisurely to miss courgettes when harvest and permit them to become oversize as they grow so quickly , ” says Roy Nicol , a Horticultural Consultant .
“ These are known as marrows but they can still be used to make bread or muffin , so it ’s never too late to cut them off . ”
You should attempt to keep on top of the harvesting , and make indisputable you pick fruits when they reach around this size of it , because doing so will help check that that the plant preserve proceed , and further fruits are produced .
Another affair to note is that throughout the growing time of year , it can be beneficial to remove the unpaired leaf here or there to open up the plant and let sun into the fruits to help them senesce .
remove the odd leaf can also aid check good flow of air around the plants and reduce the chances of a problem like powdery mildew taking hold .
The good news is that these leave are another extra harvest .
While leaves can get too tough and a spot too bitter when they are more mature , smaller and more tender zucchini leaves can be useful as a fudge green veg .
Take the odd male efflorescence and the funny leaf here and there , and keep picking the yield while they are quite untested , and your courgette plant should keep bring about for several months .
How To Harvest Courgettes
To glean zucchini , simply reach down into the plant , pull the leaves gently aside so you’re able to see what you are doing and find the yield .
Then just cut these through the stem to sever them from the plant life with a clean , sharp-worded pair of secateurs or a gardening knife .
If you’re able to , it is best to reap early in the day when the water content is in high spirits and the fruits are at their juiciest .
Though courgettes wo n’t keep very foresightful , so attempt to check that that you will be quick to use or process them as shortly as potential after you have reap .
Courgette flowers will certainly want to be used on the day you harvest them .
Storing & Using Courgettes
zucchini that are young , tender and tasty wo n’t last long once harvested .
You should keep them for up to an out-and-out maximum of 1 calendar week at 10 ° C . and a eminent humidness of 90 - 95 % .
However you should commonly direct to use them on the same solar day , or within a few days at most .
It is best not to keep courgettes in the fridge as they are sensitive to cold and can go mushy .
Instead , if you may not use your courgette properly away , it is best to freeze them – either raw or fake .
Another option is to dry courgettes , though this can be crafty if you do n’t have an electric dehydrator .
you’re able to also pickle your courgettes , or use them in a wide range of other preserve which can be canned for storage .
When canned using a trusted recipe , courgettes can be keep on for much longer periods – month and even a class or so .
Even if working out what to do with a oversupply of courgettes can sometimes be a challenge , by looking into preserving , you could make trusted that none of your harvest goes to waste .
