Last year was my first experience of growing courgette, I raised just a few plants and got a decent yield from them. This year I intend to grow more, dedicating one of my large vegetable beds just for courgette. They do need quite a bit of room, cramming them in too close will make it difficult to harvest them.
When sowing large seed vegetables such as courgette, squash or pumpkin it is best to sow the seed on its side (as above) to prevent the seed from rotting off, sowing the seed this way increases the chance of germination. I have just starting sowing mine in small individual pots and have placed them on a warm sunny window. Once the risk of frost has passed I will plant the seedlings out into their final position.
I might try squash this year seeing as I received a freebie packet of seeds!