Courgette/Zucchini Solar Flare

Why I grow it

Solar Flare is a courgette for when ordinary green simply isn't enough. The fruit is gloriously bright yellow with contrasting markings, so it's beautiful both growing in the potager and coming into the kitchen.

It's productive and delicious, but there's one important trick I've learned from growing it: pick it young. Leave Solar Flare too long and the skin toughens surprisingly quickly, so this is not the courgette to discover lurking under a leaf three days after you last looked.

At a glance

Type: Courgette / zucchini
Fruit: Bright yellow, patterned fruit
Growth: Bush
Position: Full sun
Harvest: Pick young for the most tender skin and flesh
Best for: Fresh eating, grilling, roasting and colourful summer dishes

In the kitchen

This is one to use while the fruit is young and tender. Slice it into salads, grill or barbecue it, roast it, sauté it with olive oil and garlic, or combine it with green courgettes where the contrasting colours look gorgeous on the plate.

It's another hugely versatile courgette, so rather than inventing a recipe simply to fill the space, I'll add one here if a particular Solar Flare favourite earns the position.

In the garden

Solar Flare forms a bushy courgette plant and produces brightly coloured fruit that is considerably easier to spot beneath the foliage than its dark-green relatives.

Don't wait for enormous fruit. In my experience the skin becomes tough relatively quickly as Solar Flare matures, so check the plant regularly and harvest the courgettes while they're still young.

That's not a flaw so much as useful information about how to get the best from it — and regular picking encourages more fruit anyway.

Care

Plant into rich, fertile, well-drained soil in full sun. Keep moisture consistent through flowering and fruiting and feed regularly during the growing season.

Give the plant plenty of organic matter and reasonable airflow, and check beneath the leaves frequently once it starts producing.

What you'll receive

One healthy, established plant grown here at A Garden Between. Plants naturally vary in size and shape and may be supplied in reused nursery pots or growing bags — perfectly useful plastic doesn't need replacing simply because it doesn't match.