[deepinthewoods]

i tried last year to little success, this year have devoted more time and space and am about to plant out my best plantling. my daughters school is going to grow one of the plantlings too, with the aim of a guess the weight competition to raise funds for the schools gardening club.
 now moral dillemma, do i keep the best plantling for my effort, or give it to the school... im not normally competitive but have been known to shout 'get in' if i score a goal when playing footy with the toddlers down the park.....
 any tips on growing a giant would be good. tho im not planning on 800 leaves b4 i set a fruit as reccommended on certain sites

[ellisr]

Plant them on the manure heap, I accidentally spilt some courgette and pumkin seeds and they ended up on the manure heap and germinated and gave me the best fruits ever.

[Floyd]

Do you take the first fruit that appears and keep taking off the other?

[deepinthewoods]

no you need a couple to absorb the shock when watering.and you need a big plant b4 u set one. so ive read. we shall see!

[Fleecewife]

Planting in the manure heap if it isn't hen territory is a good idea, or dig a deep hole, a metre cubed (maybe not SO deep  ) and fill it with manure.  Plant the chosen seedling into a small island of soil, so it doesn't have too much strong manure straight off, but its roots will get down there soon enough.  Don't forget some organically acceptable slug pellets or they will have your plant before it knows it's there  .  Once you have a suitable fruit properly set, pinch out the other female flowers - you will need other plants for pollination as it's unlikely your one will have both male and female flowers out at the same time.  Then keep watering it.

How to make the choice of whether to give the school your best plant - well, they only want it for guess the weight, not to grow a mammoth..............

[ballingall]

Plant them on the manure heap, I accidentally spilt some courgette and pumkin seeds and they ended up on the manure heap and germinated and gave me the best fruits ever.

Cougettes do really well on the manure heap- have done that a few times. Has the added bonus that all the manure holds a lot of moisture so they don't dry out as much.

Beth