My Fuchsia Experience so far – by Lucas Hatch

fuchsia festivalLast 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.

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This summer I had great success with my tomato plants!

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.

This summer I had great success with my tomato plants!

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.

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