Cucurbita pepo 'Midnight' - Courgette [British Grown]
Sprouts of BristolThis vegetable plant will grow you courgettes ready for harvest in summer; flowers in summer are star-shaped and yellow in colour. Half hardy in the UK, it cannot stand temperatures below freezing.
Grow your own courgettes to keep your table full of greens this summer with the 'Midnight' courgette plant. Remember to harvest once the courgettes have reached the desired size; if you forget they will keep growing into marrows which, while still edible, are more watery, less tasty and much bigger! This variety is compact, so is well suited to small gardens or containers, and is nearly spineless, making harvest time more comfortable! Courgette plants can be very prolific, and harvesting them encourages more veg to grow! At the height of summer you could be getting up to a courgette a day- they will keep for 1-2 weeks in the fridge, but if you want to keep them any longer, chop them up and freeze them. This will save you money in winter, as well as reducing your food miles when courgettes are no longer in season in the UK!
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Annual |
Vegetable: large, climbing or trailing |
Foliage spring to autumn, flowers in summer, fruit summer to autumn |
Scientific Name
Cucurbita pepo var. cylindrica (gourd pumpkin, cylindrical variety) 'Midnight'
Common Name
Courgette, Zucchini, Marrow, Summer Squash
Origin
Native to Central and South America
Pruning Tips
Pruning is not required, though of course it's a good idea to harvest the fruit when ripe throughout summer! The first fruits will usually be small; pick these and you'll encourage more, larger courgettes to grow! If you have limited space, you can prune any stems that grow too long; training up a sturdy structure will also help in this case.
Wildlife Value
This plant is not native to the UK; the solitary bees that specifically pollinate it are native to the US. However, honey bees and bumblebees can be attracted to courgette flowers. Growing companion flowers will help attract pollinators to your courgette flowers.
Positioning
Position in full sun with shelter from the wind. The fruit will need plenty of sun to ripen!
Water
Courgettes need lots of moisture to grow, but won't do well if the leaves, flowers or fruit is sat on top of soggy soil. make sure when you water, it sinks into the ground and reaches the root; one way of doing this is sinking a small plant pot into the ground next to the plant and watering into that.
Soil
Ensure your soil is moist but well-draining so the vines and fruit won't be sat in any puddles. Acidic to neutral soil works best.
Food
When the first fruits start to swell, feed regularly with a high-potassium fertiliser to help them grow! It's also a good idea to add fresh compost or fertiliser to the ground before planting them out, and/or adding mulch around the plant once it's in the ground; keep moist mulch slightly away from the stem.
Pet-safe
Yes; this plant is edible, but don't eat if your crop tastes bitter. Can have negative effects on pets and humans in this case, especially if eaten in large amounts.
Sprouts Top Tips
When deciding when and where to plant your pumpkin, think carefully! It will need lots of sun to ripen, but shelter from wind and bad weather; it appreciates moist soil but cannot sit in soggy ground; and, of course, it will need plenty of space to grow! Additionally, this plant is not frost hardy, so it will thrive best somewhere indoors in the sun until the risk of frost has passed (here in Bristol, this is around the end of May).
Extras
Courgettes are actually botanically fruits, as they grow from the flowers and have seeds inside!
Important Information
If you have any questions, please check out the below or get in touch via our contact formWe're devoted to sending our customers quality plants with the best service around. Every plant is backed by our 7-day guarantee, so they arrive in good health.
Our team takes extra steps when prepping plants for transportation, but they're still sensitive to changes, so there may be minor cosmetic issues. We always aim to photograph and disclose any flaws before shipping, but a living creature travelling across the country in a box can take a hot minute to adjust to its new life.
If you have any issues within 7 days of receiving your order, holler at our customer support team on our contact form with your order details and some pics of the issue. After the guarantee has expired, though, we can't refund as we can't guarantee care and environmental factors. If you repot the plant during the 7 days, the guarantee is void.
We have been sending plants up and down the country for many year now and we like to think we have our way down to an art.
We protect the plant from falling out of the soil with tissue paper and tape if needed, then we wrap the plant in corrugated cardboard, and sometimes we protect the leaves with extra tissue paper if required. This is then placed into a box and if there is any empty space, we fill this with void fill to stop the plants moving around inside the box. Sometimes we will write a note on your packing slip to water the plant on arrival, so please look out for this. This is due a freshly watered plant going in a box will not only be soggy, but as the plant is in darkness this can sometimes make the plant unhappy when just freshly watered.
If your plant arrives to you unhappy, please send us a photo of the plant and packaging if relevant straight away, so we can advise you.
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Link to your shipping policy
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You can return or exchange in our Bristol shop for free.
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