by Lucas Hatch | Jan 29, 2015 | Fuchsia Festival, Gardening Posts, Your Stories
Last year I bought the Thompson & Morgan Fuchsia ‘Giant Collection’. It included some of the biggest fuchsia flowers I had ever seen, Bella Rosella, Bicentennial, Quasar, Seventh Heaven and voodoo. It amazed me how quickly they grew and how well they flowered.
Why I love fuchsias
I like how fuchsias look very exotic especially the ones with variegated blooms. The standard fuchsias look great and give added height to flower beds. I like fuchsias because they are not too difficult to take cuttings from, but they need good attention daily. I would recommend you buy the garden ready plants.
Top tips on growing your fuchsias
You will need to use good compost like the standard multipurpose compost, with plenty of grit to improve drainage, or John Innes No.1.
When you come to potting your fuchsias up, I recommend that you add some of Thompson & Morgan’s Incredibloom®. I had great success with this product when I was preparing petunias for my show garden last year – masses of blooms!
To encourage the development of bushy side shoots and to be covered in summer flowers, it is essential to pinch out the soft growing tips of the fuchsia plant. I had read somewhere if you pinch out the tips a couple of times, it will stop the plants becoming too leggy and continue an abundance of flowers through into autumn. This really needs to be done April-June. It just takes a few minutes per plant.
If you want to grow in a greenhouse or a conservatory, make sure you don’t crowd them to allow ventilation. Make sure your greenhouse or conservatory is well ventilated in warm weather, and make sure you don’t over-water them. If they are grown in a greenhouse or conservatory, check regularly for fungal and insect attack and treat as appropriately. Remember always to dead head your fuchsias to prolong the flowering period.
In the future I am keen to try some other varieties. I will let you know how I get on.
Lucas started gardening when he was 6 years old and after becoming the RHS Young Gardener of the Year 2012, his interest in gardening continues to grow. He is the youngest member of Thompson & Morgan’s customer trial panel. His latest accolade is to have taken part in the Suffolk Show’s Model Garden Competition where he won Best in Show receiving the Otley College Perpetual Challenge Trophy.
by Lucas Hatch | Nov 5, 2013 | Customer Trial Panel
In previous years I have grown my tomato plants in grow bags in my mum and dad’s conservatory. I have grown various varieties including; Gardener’s Delight, Golden Sunrise, Beef Steak, Mr Stripey Tigerella, Money Maker, Alicante and tumbling tomatoes.
This year my mum and dad bought a new greenhouse for the family, and my brother and I helped to build it. We decided to cast a concrete slab as a base, but with an added open trough so we could plant directly into the ground. We improved the soil in the trough by digging out the first 6 inches of topsoil and replaced it with general multi-purpose compost. In this, I planted my Thompson & Morgan Gardener’s Delight (3 plants), and Mr Stripey (3 plants) during the third week of June. This was after I potted the seeds in early May. I used special tomato halos to promote even watering of the liquid feed to the plant roots, as well as a drip feed hose for general watering times.
Building the greenhouse with my brother
During the hot summer months I made sure the plants weren’t drying out, and I think the trough helped this, as although the greenhouse was hot the soil in the ground was able to retain its moisture longer than in previous years when I have used grow bags.
I watered my tomatoes in the morning and at night, and side shooted as necessary. I fed with Tomorite twice a week, and Phosphagen once a fortnight, and homemade liquid comphrey (that was very smelly) once a month. Something else I did was to spray mist the flowers around midday to help them set. The end result of this year’s approach and the warm summer weather produced an abundance of fruit like I’ve never had before.
Now for the taste test
The Gardener’s Delight were firm skinned with a juicy sweet flavour that were ideal for salads or just to eat on their own during a sneaky visit to the greenhouse! The Mr Stripeys were fleshier and not quite as sweet as the Gardener’s Delight, but nevertheless they were very delicious. I will definitely grow these varieties next year.
Lucas started gardening when he was 6 years old and after becoming the RHS Young Gardener of the Year 2012, his interest in gardening continues to grow. He is the youngest member of Thompson & Morgan’s customer trial panel. His latest accolade is to have taken part in the Suffolk Show’s Model Garden Competition where he won Best in Show receiving the Otley College Perpetual Challenge Trophy.
Recent Comments