Cucurbita pepo
Round courgette, Nice round-fruited courgette, golden apple: its spherical shape is more than just a curiosity — it is the ultimate courgette for stuffing. While a long courgette needs to be hollowed out into a boat shape, this one comes off like a little hat and can be filled completely.
Characteristics:
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Spherical shape: ideal for stuffing, it is harvested when it is about the size of a tennis ball.
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Heirloom variety: traditional to southern France and suitable for seed saving.
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Very productive: easy to grow, suitable for beginners and experienced gardeners alike.
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Edible flowers: delicious when made into fritters.
Precautions:
- As with all cucurbits, a fruit with a very bitter taste may contain cucurbitacins, which can irritate the digestive system. Always taste a small piece raw: if the bitterness is pronounced, discard the entire fruit.
Sowing advice:
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Exposure: warm and in full sun.
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Soil: light, well drained and very rich in humus. A generous addition of well-rotted compost is essential: this is an extremely hungry plant. It is sensitive to stagnant water around the crown.
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Method: sow in pots under cover from April at 20 °C, or sow directly after the last frosts, 2–3 cm deep, with the seed placed on its edge. See how to sow seeds.
Planting advice:
- Transplant after the frosts, spacing plants 1 metre apart. Apply a thick mulch to retain moisture and keep the fruits clean.
Care advice:
- Water generously at the base, without wetting the foliage — this is how powdery mildew spreads.
- Mulch generously: courgettes need just as much water as they do compost.
Harvesting advice:
- Harvest when the fruit is about the size of a tennis ball, approximately 10 cm in diameter. If left to grow larger, it fills with seeds and the flesh becomes cottony — the classic drawback of this shape.
- Pick very regularly: every fruit left on the plant slows the production of subsequent fruits.
Beneficial companions:
Benefits for biodiversity:
- Its large yellow flowers provide an abundant source of pollen and nectar for bees and bumblebees, especially early in the morning.
- Its spreading foliage covers the soil, limits weeds and provides shelter for beneficial microfauna.
Uses:
- Stuffed and baked, this is its primary purpose. It is also delicious in gratins, sautéed or raw in salads when very young. The flowers can be made into fritters.
Saving your own seeds:
Allow one fruit to grow until the skin has fully hardened, then remove the seeds, rinse them and dry them flat. Warning: Cucurbita pepo varieties cross very easily with one another — isolate your seed plant from other courgettes and ornamental squash. See how to save your seeds.
Commitment to Quality: at SemiSauvage - Permaculture, we grow and select our seeds with respect for all living things as our guiding principle. Based near the Auvergne Volcanoes, we choose open-pollinated, non-hybrid varieties, test them for germination rates, and carefully sort and package them without any chemical treatment. Our belief: to give gardeners back the ability to resow, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.
The courgette made for stuffing.
