They're fine. It's still fairly cool for courgettes and they do sulk. They'll get away when it warms up a bit.

They look anemic to me. Maybe too much water?

For early planted, slightly weedy specimens they look par for the course to me. The premature flowerbuds and pale leaves show they were kept too long in their pots. It's still a bit too cool here for courgettes to be growing vigorously. I'm confident they'll be fine now they're in the ground. Mine look worse.

Thank you everyone! I am fairly inexperienced so I can't quite understand if I am doing something wrong. Last year I have been lazy and didn't refresh the soil properly, and plants failed to grow normally, just stayed small and looked ill, despite having a wonderful summer :(

raised beds, I revived the soil with horse manure and 6X fertiliser:

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you mention you are new to all this also ...

i AGREE WITH EVERYTHING above .... SO NO NEED TO REPEAT IT ...

but i fear you might be a bit heavy on early season fert .. depending on how well rotted the manure is ...

im not sure.. especially if your crop was weak last season.. that there was a need for manure PLUS 6x fert ... all in one dose ... [and i dont really know what 6x is] ... imo... the soil just doesnt deplete all that fast .. presuming you are not doing professional high density farming ...

im not saying there is any problem.. im just bringing up something that might need to be worked on ... perhaps your proclivity to over feed your children.... lol ...

ken

Hmm mine never look like that even in cold wet weather, unless I transplant. Even with NY's cold summers, they grow great straight from seed and I have had no issues with germination even in somewhat cool soil. So I also suspect if they are transplants, they were probably just in the pots too long.

Over here transplanting is the normal method! If we waited for the ground to be warm enough to sow directly we'd be hanging on till nearly July or slightly earlier if sown under glass. They're not the greatest looking but they're ok. We have long cool springs and if your seedlings are a bit weedy and you put them out a bit early this is exactly what they look like. I only planted (planted, not sowed) mine out yesterday and they're under fleece. I wouldn't worry about them. I guarantee they'll recover and get away in due course. I'd stop with the feeding though. 6x is chicken manure and you also added other manure. Double portions.

@floral - We have long cold springs here too (with much colder winters and issues with cold soil in the spring ), and I have had no issues with it with my cucurbits. I have planted them and they soldiered on through cold and wet weather in the 40s. JME. Have you tried direct sowing them recently?

I've grown courgettes in the U.K. for forty years. Most people transplant. In situ sowing is a gamble and only works in mild areas in a sheltered sunny spot. And, yes, I have tried it several times when transplants got eaten. It was a failure. There's no point in trying it before early summer and the crop will begin much later than with transplanting. I don't know what counts as a 'cold' summer in NY but here 80f is a rare event.

@floral - I am not talking about the summers. We do eventually turn on the heat here for sure, usually in early June. That probably accounts for our different experiences.

I was referring to your statement 'even with NY's cold summers, they grow great straight from seed.' Was that a typo?

@floral- sorry, yes! I meant to say springs.

Aha. Well we have cool springs and not very warm summers either. So zucchini from seed tend to languish for ages compared with transplants.

I usually have no problem starting summer squash from seed here in early May but this year I sure did. All 3 of my yellow squash rotted in cool and constantly wet soil and only one out of 3 of my Costata Romanesco sprouted after 11 days. I only got 50% germination on my cucumbers sown on the same date. I resowed the yellow squash and a few more cucumbers last weekend and also started a few Cocozelle and yellow squash indoors under lights to transplant after my broccoli and lettuce have finished up in a couple weeks.

Thank you for all the input! yes, these have been in tiny pots in a greenhouse for way too long, and just recently planted outside. Today they are looking much better, and also got the first flower! I think the warmer weather is helping and they are settling. Next time I'll maybe move them to mid size pots in the greenhouse before planting outside too early? I was afraid that moving them from pot to pot would bother them...