Courgette 'Atena Polka' F1 — The Big Veg

The courgette that shows up in gold.

Most courgettes are green and get on with it. This one turns up bright, glossy yellow — same easy plant, same great flavour, twice the swagger on the plate. 'Atena Polka' is a reliable, prolific golden courgette that grows as a bush (not a sprawling vine), so it's a tidy, willing thing to grow and a brilliant one to start with.

Give it sun, food and water and it'll keep the kitchen busy from midsummer onwards — courgettes are famously generous once they get going. Pick them small and often and they just keep coming.

Here's the honest bit: a courgette is not a windowsill plant. It's a big, hungry, thirsty thing that wants a large container (proper bucket-sized, with drainage holes) or a spot in the ground, in full sun and sheltered from strong wind. No garden? A sunny balcony or doorstep with a big pot will do the job. But cramming it onto a shelf indoors won't — and we'd rather tell you that now than sell you a disappointment.

What's in your kit

• Golden courgette seeds — 'Atena Polka' F1
• Seaweed meal — a gentle all-rounder that feeds the soil and hands your plant a spread of trace nutrients
• Wool pellets — hold moisture in the compost (courgettes drink a lot)
• Comfrey pellets — slow-release potassium, exactly the nutrient a fruiting courgette wants. It's a greedy plant, though, so top up with a tomato-type (high-potassium) feed every couple of weeks once it's cropping
• A plain-English grow guide card — no jargon, no gatekeeping

What's not in the box (on purpose)
No plastic planter and no bag of compost. You supply a big upcycled container (a drilled bucket, a crate, a builder's tub) and your own peat-free compost. It keeps the kit light, cheap to post, and genuinely low-waste — not just low-waste on the label.

The grower's bit

• Sow: late March into April, indoors or undercover — one seed per small (8cm / 3in) pot, placed on its edge about 1cm (½in) deep. Standing the seed on edge is an old courgette-grower's trick to help it shed water and rot less
• The make-or-break bit — warmth: the seed needs steady soil warmth of at least 18°C (65°F) to germinate, ideally a bit more. A cold windowsill won't cut it — a heated propagator, warm airing cupboard or the warmest room in the house does the trick
• Germinates in: 3–10 days
• Container: as big as you can — at least 30–35cm (12–14in) across and deep, and honestly bigger is better. A drilled builder's bucket or a 30–40 litre tub suits one plant nicely. One plant per container
• Plant outside: only after the last frost — for most of Scotland that's late May (it's a half-hardy annual, meaning frost kills it)
• First courgettes: roughly 50–60 days from sowing, so expect picking from around July into October
• Pick at: around 10–15cm (4–6in) long — small and often keeps the plant cropping
• Position: full sun, sheltered from strong wind; well-drained soil, as rich as you can make it
• Water: copiously, and around the base of the plant rather than over the leaves
• Season note: Scotland runs 2–3 weeks behind the usual timings — build that into the plant-out especially, and don't rush it outdoors

Every kit you buy funds living wage jobs and horticultural training in Ayrshire. That's the whole point of us.

Shipped plastic-free to mainland GB.

Gardening, minus the gatekeeping.