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(Best months for planting Zucchini in New Zealand - cool/mountain regions)

• Harvest in 44-63 days
• Grow in seed trays, and plant out in 4-6 weeks. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed.
• Best planted at soil temperatures between 21°C and 35°C.
• Space plants: 50-90cm

Plant into a slightly raised, well composted bed and mulch. Frost tender, and needs regular plentiful water. Produces large leaves with a spread of about 1.5m x 1.5m. Some varieties trail a bit but don't climb. The yellow (or gold) variety is more resistant to mould damage in humid areas and remains productive even when the leaves have mildew on them. The yellow varieties sometimes have yellow patches on their leaves but it is just colour not disease.

Blackjack is the most popular green variety. At the start, the plants produce mainly male flowers. The female ones start as the weather warms up and the plants grow. A spray with a 5gm/teasp Bicarbonate of Soda in 600ml/pint of water will help slow powdery mildew when it appears.

Culinary hints - cooking and eating Zucchini

Zucchini are best picked or cut off the stem at about 15cm / 6 inches.
Pick frequently to keep the plant producing new flowers.

Your comments and tips

08 Dec 10 klara (New Zealand - temperate climate)

hi! last year, 2hrs down south from here we had a glut of healthy firm yellow and green courgettes. we moved one hour south of auckland and my courgettes are rotting off after reaching about 10 cm. some made it into a cca 25 cm marrow but are watery inside? any ideas? am i watering too much? i have laid polystyren bits on the ground, which stopped the same initial problem in my last garden.... thank you

29 Jan 11 Tim (New Zealand - temperate climate)

I live in Hamilton and i never water mine, i let the rain do that even if no rain i still never water and my plants go crazy each year, i dont feed them with anything also. Maybe this will help.

08 Feb 11 Annette (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate)

In the past I have found courgettes easy to grow and the main problem has been picking them before they become marrows. However this year the courgettes starts growing and then the end of the courgettes starts to rot. Do you know what may be causing this? I have only had two courgettes of my two plants this year - although lots that I have had to break of as they have rotted from the tip.

08 Feb 11 Liz (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate)

Courgettes dying off or rotting when small is probably from lack of pollination. There don't seem to be many bees around this year to pollinate, so hand pollination with a soft artist's brush might help.

22 Feb 11 Daniel Burgess (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate)

I had the worst case of powdery mildew on my courgette leaves. I followed the advice of putting some water and dishwash liquid in a spray bottle, and spraying the new leaves. This prevented the mildew from spreading and now the plants look great.

23 Mar 11 Lesley (New Zealand - temperate climate)

My kids and I are new to gardening - we dont know anything ... and dont have anyone to teach us so are trying to wing it, with varied sucess. This morning I went out to see my courgette plant and was upset to see it has, well collapsed ... It was producing courgettes well up until this week. The leaves look a bit off but I dont know what to do to help the plant which has now lost all viguer and has wilted. There are actually tiny courgettes growing on it but I suspect they wont last. Is it just very late in the season? Or is there something more sinister. Some, not all of our beetroot are looking the same this morning but my daughter did pull some up the other day and I imagine she might have caused the problem with beetroot plants by being rather keen. I wish I had someone to ask and to help us learn to garden as the kids LOVE it but after the initial thrill of things growing we are all feeling a bit dispondent ..

24 Mar 11 Liz (New Zealand - temperate climate)

Lesley, your courgettes have probably reached the end of their productive life. They usually start to get powdery mildew on their leaves late in summer then the plant will collapse. The beetroot are probably a bit dry. Give them plenty of water and wait a few days before deciding they are finished.

06 Oct 11 Wendy Timbs (New Zealand - temperate climate)

On the subject of courgettes, I was wondering if anyone new where to get climbing courgettes like Black Forest or Tromboncino. I have only a small garden and thought this would be a goood idea. Wendy of Christchurch

09 Nov 11 Ruth (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate)

I have planted three courgette plants and something is devouring them completely in my vege garden. I put ground coffee around the plants to deter the slugs and snails and keep a cup of beer to drown them. Is there something else that loves to eat courgette plants? I have a cucumber and lettuce plant right next to it and they have not been touched. I have never had this happen before! Any suggestions does anybody know what insect it could be?

19 Jan 12 Sheryl (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate)

Tromboncini are also known as rampicante