Choko, Cucumber, Melons, Marrow, Zucchinis, Squash, Gourds and Pumpkins.

There are climbing and bush varieties of cucurbits. Which variety or type you grow will depend on the amount of room you have in your garden. If you are pushing for room, why not grow your vine crops on a trellis or in a wire cage, as I do.

They Like lots of Sun, compost, mulch, animal manures and liquid fertilizer, either made up from animal manures or my favourite - Comfrey.

Best Time to Sow Seed is September to November for Zucchinis, Squash and Mini Pumpkins October to December for Cucumbers and for the large varieties of Pumpkins and Gourds. Plant/sow Melons September to October, so you will have them for the summer holidays.

Being too Hot in December to January to grow most vegies, why not give your garden a good mulching and a rest and let the pumpkin vines take over your garden, giving your garden protection from the summer heat.

There are a wide variety of pumpkins on the market, the larger variety such as Jap and Queensland Blue seem to grow best in South East Queensland. I also have had good success with the mini pumpkin Golden Nuggets, which are also good keepers.
Cucumbers sow Green Gem, Crystal Apple and Gherkins for pickling or have a bit of fun and show off, grow Giant Russian Cucumbers.
Zucchinis - I find Black Beauty, Fordhook the best for South East and Golden Zucchinis for a bit of colour in the garden and on the plate, they all taste the same to me.
Squash you can either sow Button Squash Green Tint or Yellow Button Squash.
Rockmelon try Honeydew, Rockmelon does not like as much manure.
Gourds I don't grow gourds, but you can have lots of fun growing and drying them out.

When Planting - either seedlings or seeds; lightly dig in a bucket of well broken down compost with a hand full of either chicken manure pellets or not so fresh animal manure. Hill-up and sow plants and/or seeds in lots of three (100mm apart), giving them a good watering then lots of mulch (not hot mulch). The hills should be at least a metre apart.

Watering - water your plant thoroughly every two to three days, don't water in the middle of the day when your plants are wilting, don't worry they will recover at night. By not watering every day, you will encourage deeper root growth and healthy plants.

Dislikes Being water logged (wet damp conditions), it pays to hill them up if you have a water problem and - the dreaded Fruit Fly. With Fruit Fly you could cover the fruit either with rags, paper bags or get your self a couple of good fruit fly traps.

Do's and Don'ts Avoid watering overhead late in the day especially on hot days as this will cause powdery mildew and could also wash off pollen from a pollinated female flower.
To avoid powdery mildew it is best to water by hand around the roots only, if you are going to overhead water, water early, early on in the day.
If your plants have mildew it pays to cut the affected leaves off, place them in a plastic bag then into the rubbish bin, try to avoid dropping powder on a clean leaf as this will spread the mildew.
You could also try an organic spray made up of 50% milk 50% water and a dash of liquid soap (soap allows the milk to stick to the leaves). This works better if you catch the mildew before it gets out of control; you can use the same recipe for peas.

You may have to hand pollinate the female flowers if the local bees are not doing their job.
The easiest way to do this is to pluck a male flower (the one with no fruit bulb at the end) tear off the petals, then swish the pollen-laden stem inside the female flower (the one that has a bulb on the end). This way you will have a 99% chance of setting fruit.
Don't forget if it rains or you overhead water after you have pollinated, the pollen could wash off. You can prevent this by loosely tying the top of the female flower with a rubber band.

If you are growing different varieties of cucurbits in your garden they will cross pollinate so definitely don't save the seed for next years crop as they will not be true to that particular species. Buy fresh seed.

Main Pest are Cotton Aphid, Cucumber Fly, Cutworms, Pumpkin Beetle (spotted and plain), Spider Mites and Twentyeightspotted Ladybird. You could try an organic spray, but I recommend just giving the plant a strong hosing as soon as a problem arises.

With Organic Gardening the trick is to grow the right vegetables at the right time of the year, which will vary in most areas, and to keep your plants healthy by using lots of compost, liquid fertiliser and mulch.