Defender F1
The safe choice. Early, heavy and virus resistant, which matters more here than flavour ever will.
If you are growing courgettes for the first time, or you lost a plant to cucumber mosaic virus last year, this is the one to buy. Defender F1 is an early, compact, open-centred bush that carries a heavy crop of straight mid green fruit and keeps going later into the autumn than most. It is not the most interesting courgette in the catalogue, but very little goes wrong with it.
Quick facts
- Botanical name
- Cucurbita pepo
- Type
- F1 hybrid
- Category
- Green, bush
- Difficulty
- Easy, good first crop
- Hardiness
- Tender, no frost tolerance
- In Ireland
- Cloche or fleece helps
- Germination
- 5 to 10 days at 18 to 25C
- Sowing depth
- 2cm
- Spacing
- 90cm apart, 120cm between rows
- Height
- 60cm
- Position
- Full sun
- Containers
- Grows well in pots
- Sowing to harvest
- 10 to 14 weeks
- Harvest
- July to September
- Award
- RHS Award of Garden Merit
Sowing and harvest calendar for Defender F1
Months shaded below are the reliable windows for Irish conditions.
Where to buy Defender F1 courgette seeds in Ireland
Irish suppliers that stock this, so postage stays domestic and seed arrives in time to sow. These are plain links, not paid placements.
Garden centres and mixed retailers
- Mr Middleton Irish Posted from Dublin, usually stocked from January Mail order arm of a long established Mary Street shop, carries the familiar named varieties the organic specialists skip. Visit Mr Middleton , Co. Dublin
- Johnstown Garden Centre Irish Widest branded range, best ordered in spring before it sells out Third generation family business near Naas with the widest branded range, though popular varieties sell out by midsummer. Visit Johnstown Garden Centre , Co. Kildare
- Woodie's Cheapest packet, click and collect nationwide Dublin headquartered chain, part of Grafton Group. Cheapest per packet and the only nationwide click and collect option. Visit Woodie's
Why it suits Ireland
Defender crops early, and in a country where the reliable growing window runs from June to September, earliness is worth more than almost any other trait. It sets fruit willingly in the cool unsettled weather of a normal Irish June instead of waiting for a heatwave that may not arrive.
The resistance to cucumber mosaic virus is the other reason it turns up in so many Irish recommendations. The virus is spread by aphids, aphid numbers here are high, and a mild wet summer suits them. A resistant plant simply carries on.
The habit helps too. It is an upright open bush rather than a sprawler, so air moves through the middle of the plant, which delays powdery mildew by a useful couple of weeks, and you can see the fruit without lifting armfuls of prickly leaves.
Growing notes
Sow one seed on edge in a 9cm pot in late April, grow it on to four or five true leaves, and plant out at the end of May or in early June with 90cm of space around it.
It is a bush type, so it needs no support, but the leaf stalks are long and stiff and the plant rocks in wind. Give it shelter and it repays you.
Water at the base rather than over the leaves and feed weekly with a high potash feed once the first fruit sets. Pick at 10 to 15cm every second or third day and it will keep producing until the mildew and the cold nights finish it in late September.
Common questions
Is Defender F1 really virus resistant?
It is bred for resistance to cucumber mosaic virus, which is the one that mottles and puckers the leaves and leaves you with stunted bumpy fruit. That is worth having in a garden where the virus has appeared before, since there is no treatment once a plant is infected. Resistance is not immunity and it says nothing about powdery mildew, which will still arrive in late summer like it does on everything else.
Can I save seed from Defender F1?
No. It is an F1 hybrid, so seed saved from it will not come true and you will get a random mix of the parent types, some of which produce very poor fruit. Buy fresh seed each year, or grow an open pollinated variety like Black Beauty if seed saving matters to you. Courgette seed does stay viable for four or five years stored cool and dry, so one packet usually covers several seasons.
How many courgettes will one Defender plant give me?
Somewhere between twenty and thirty fruit over a season if you keep picking, which is why two plants is plenty for most households. It starts cropping earlier than most and holds on into late September, so the total is at the high end for a courgette.
More courgettes to consider
Soleil F1
F1 hybrid / Yellow, bush
Grow one yellow alongside a green one. Easy to spot among the leaves, which means fewer accidental marrows.
Growing notes and stockistsBlack Beauty
Heirloom / Green, bush
Cheap, widely sold and open pollinated, so you can save your own seed. Slightly later than the hybrids.
Growing notes and stockistsTromboncino
Heirloom / Climbing, pale green
For growers with a tunnel or a warm sheltered wall. Climbs out of slug reach and shrugs off mildew, but it needs a long season.
Growing notes and stockists