Tag Archives: Seed Trials

Another page in your (gardening) diary

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This afternoon we put in another couple of rows of onions and garlic which we got from Shannon’s the other week so they can happily overwinter (or they’ll only sit in our seed tin until next spring). In the bed (above) where once stood a greenhouse many moons ago and where now the Thompson & Morgan trial sunflower and tomatoes are still hanging on, we put in one row each of Autumn Champion (white) and Electric Red onions.

And near to the house we put in an extra row of Marco garlic that’ll get a good bit of the sun because of the position of the bed. To the left of the picture can just be seen the newly bit of lawn we sowed around the August Bank Holiday. A few weeks previously we took up all of the 1970’s crazy paving that was doing nothing but attracting weeds in between its cracks. With all this late gardening action we can’t wait to see the results next year. Roll on next spring!

The trials of tomatoes (and squash and lettuce)

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The Thompson and Morgan seed trials are sadly coming near the end, I mean look at the beefsteak tomatoes (above) that are now ripening on the plant and the few we took off today next to an AA battery to give some idea of scale. Whoppers they are and we’ll certainly be wanting to grow them again.

The lettuce that was growing in the shade of the broad bean ring around the birch tree has survived and is looking great. It’s either one or a collection of a few!

And the spaghetti squash has stayed this colour and size for a few weeks now. We have now idea of what they’re supposed to look like when they ripen or when they’re ready but we suspect the time is very close!

Thanks again to Thompson and Morgan for getting us in on the trials and we reckon they’ve been a success our end. We’d had a lot of suprises (the sunflowers and nasturtiums) so we can’t complain! It’s been fun!

What a difference a few days make

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We know it’s only been a few days since the last pics of the Thompson & Morgan seed trials have been posted, but look what’s happened in that short time. The tomatoes have moved on a bit and all of the plants are doing well. We keep them regularly watered and feed comfrey liquid to them on a weekly basis and those fruits are now starting to swell!

And yes we’ve had problems with cheeky daytime slugs and the spaghetti squash (see post here) but for some reason they’ve missed this one!

And as for the sunflower, there’s more buds forming! It’s a value for money plant if you’re going to be buying some when they are released next year. Our specimens may be a bit on the small side but we’re not complaining! More power to the (vertically challenged) sunflower!

And thanks to whosampled:

And as we stand in the front of the jury today…

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We’ve been suprised a few times by the results of this year’s Thompson & Morgan seed trials, by the red/pink/purple nasturtiums (below) and what we think may be beefsteak tomatoes but we haven’t been half as surprised as when this sunflower (above) appeared the other day. How good is that? We’re not sure if it’s supposed to be a mini-sunflower or a full-sized one as our plant is quite short, but it could be where we planted it, but what a flower!

And the tomatoes are doing well! We gave them a good watering all week and also a good lot of comfrey liquid this morning. Fingers crossed for some nice beefsteak ones (if they’re not, no bother but it would be nice to have a tomato as big as your hand!)

The spaghetti squash is now romping away (below) but it looks like the slugs are getting to the fruits before they set, damn! We do love this seed trial!