Blauwschokker Peas & Cherry Bomb Chillies

A couple more seed purchases then for next year that I just couldn't resist!

Blauwschokker Peas
I love the taste of my sugar snap peas and enjoy growing them too but I'm always willing to try out an exciting new variety and I certainly found one in the Blauwschokker!

I was searching for the Cherry Bomb chillies (below) and stumbled across Sarah Raven's website (www.sarahraven.com) which was selling the seeds, a quick browse of others available and my attention was instantly drawn to this mange tout type pea.

The pods are a deep purple in colour, proceeded by the most intense blue/indigo flowers. I can't wait to give them a go and see them bloom in my garden next year.

Cherry Bomb Chillies
I was walking around Paradise Park in East Sussex but disappointly on this visit they didn't have many items that thrilled me and what they did have didn't look in the best of health but as I was leaving I spotted a pot that set my tastebuds tingling.

The plant in question was the Cherry Bomb which produces small, round, deep red peppers which I've had soaked in olive oil and stuffed with cream cheese as a treat but I'd never seen a plant before.

I didn't buy the plant there and then but I snapped a photo and took note of the name and as mentioned above, found them available on Sarah Raven's website (this was my first order there).

First Anablancas

As well as my much anticipated Pineberries, my back up option Anablancas have started to come in too.

They are equally sweet and also share the white flesh and vivid red pip asthetic of the pineberry but the two berries I've enjoyed so far have been larger and rounder than their more famous cousin.

Panic Over!

I needn't have worried so much! After tasting my first pineberry a couple of weeks ago, I've stolen half a dozen berries already and there's easily a couple of dozen across my three boxes.

As well as fruit for this year, this afternoon I've planted up around 10 more runners to pot up in large planters later on in the year.

Vampire Chillies!

I saw this today at a local garden centre and instantly added it to my wishlist!

The Vampire F1 Chili is instantly striking with its almost black stalk and leaves, deep purple flowers and black fruit. I held off buying it as even though it was 50% off, they were still asking for a fiver a plant!

I also saw a packet of seeds with were a fairer price so I may well grab some at some point before next year.

Pink Lemonades Coming In Too

Next to show promise (and 2nd on my most wanted this year) is my Pink Lemonade variety blueberry. Oddly, as mentioned before, there's really only one cluster of berries on offer this year and as shown below they've just started to show the most subtle pink hue hinting that they are starting to ripen.

First Gold Raspberry

After a snoop around my raspberry canes the other night, I found some hidden treasure I had forgotten about... A small collection of gold berries ripening up on an offshoot from last year's cane.

It was certainly juicy and tasted like a raspberry but it was still quite tart, probably down to the fact that this is an autumn fruiting variety. I am starting to find lots of buds appearing on the new canes which should be ready later in the year.

Last Seed Purchase Of The Season?

A while ago I noticed that Thompson & Morgan had teamed up with Tesco for a Clubcard Boost offer, my wife kindly permitted so I exchanged £10 of vouchers into £30 for their website.

After a lengthy browse I had collected a number of interesting varieties worthy of a spot in my garden next year. I made my purchase of seeds along with a Pinkberry variety Blueberry plant - expected Nov 2014.

They arrived a few days later:

Center:

Cucumber Long White
Instantly eye-catching, this white variety was the first thing that made my shopping basket! I'm not yet a confident cucumber grower but these have got to be worth a go!

Clockwise from Top left:

Strawberry Mignonette
This red alpine strawberry was recommended as the greatest strawberry going. I'm growing around 8 varieties this year. I need no excuse to give these ago next year!

Tomato Black Cherry
A small cherry tomato variety that ripens to a blackish-purple colour with a "complex, exceptionally sweet and juicy flavour".

Tomato Green Envy
This year I am growing Green Zebra toms because I like the idea of a ripe green tomato but even Green Zebras end up prodomently yellow. These grape-sized Green Envy end up entirely green but fully ripe and promise a sweet flavour.

Golden Berry Pineapple
I've taken pity on my indestructible Inca Berry plant. He's here for a 2nd season, has 8-10 little laterns already and is still putting out flowers, which is far more than it did last year! My next selection is Golden Berries (another name for the Inca Berries), I thought I'd give them a proper go next year. This variety is called Pineapple, promising a flavour that warrants the name!

Mooli Neptune
I've been interested in trying to grow moolis for a while now so this was the perfect moment to grab some seeds. This variety produces long, crisp white roots. There's still time to sow these so I may give them a go this year.

Rocket Wildfire
I'm hoping that its peppery flavour will make rocket unappealing to slugs and snails in the same way that my Mustard Bite leaves does. Again, this can been sown until September so hopefully we'll enjoy this in some salads later in the year.

Radish Amethyst
There were purple radishes in the Bright Lights mix that I enjoyed so I thought I would try this purple-only variety.

Radish Chinese Dragon
I quite like growing and eating radishes and these look like they will be a very interesting variety. With a vivid pink/red skin and full bodied flavour, they are suggested as a great addition to stir frys - yum!

Epic Popcorn Growth

Just a very quick update on the progress of my Strawberry Popcorn since it has been around a month since my last.

I still have four quality stalks growing and they've grown exceptionally well over the last 4 weeks although one has been nibbed by something.

I'm still not sure if they will work or how they will develop, this is by far my most experimental endeavour of the year.

Amethyst Dwarf French Beans

At last I have something to report on my amethyst french beans. I lost my entire first batch to slugs and snails - evidently the tiny seedlings are irrestible to the pests!

For the second lot, I started them off in the safety of my garage windowsill (which gets a good dose of the morning sun). Once they were well established, I transfered the 4 or 5 plants to a large pot and tied together 3 canes for them to climb.

For a long time they were fairly uninteresting to look at, just putting out leaves and growing in height but then last week I started to notice dark purple buds appearing. Now, finally some flowers are emerging and a delightful shade of purple they are too.

Pea - Sugar Snap Review

Fruit/Veg: Pea
Variety: Sugar Snap Delikett
Provider: Suttons
Seeds/Cost: 200 seeds, £2.75

I'm sure last year I just bought a strip of around 8-10 plants for a couple of pounds from Homebase. They were delicious and a hit with the family so this year I decided to grow some from seed and a much better value option it was too.

The only real frustration was that the young seedlings were extremely tempting to slugs and snails and I lost quite a few young plants (I will combat this next year by starting them off on my garage windowsill - as I did with a later batch).

Once germinated they grew at a fantastic rate and as I used a tall enough cane scaffold they happily climbed.

This particular variety, provided by Suttons, grew particularly well, producing an abundance of  delicate looking pale yellow flowers, which, once pollinated near immediately turned to peas. The peas were deliciously sweet as promised and, once left long enough were fat and tender and made a fantastic addition to our chicken stir fry.

This season may be over for sowing but with handfuls of seeds left, I will not need to purchase again next year (maybe even the year after).

The only downside was a slight stringiness down the front seem on a few of the pods but on the strength of the quality and quantity and value the huge number of successful seeds provides, I'm not in a hurry to move away from Suttons on this variety.

First Handful Of Blueberries

I've stolen a couple of berries every night for the last couple of nights but tonight I got enough to warrant a photo and a post.

It was mum's old plant to again ripen first (a good few weeks earlier than last year too, thanks to the milder weather). The berries are quite large and have a delicious, perfumed flavour.

After hearing it is possible, I've decided I'd like to have a go at taking some cuttings and so I've been watching a few how-to videos online and will give it a go later on.

Lots Of Little Lanterns

My indestructable Inca Berry plant from last year continues to go from strength to strength. It is still putting our flowers but already has 6 or 7 fruits growing inside their own personal laterns.

These will appear to dry out and will eventually fall off the plant when the fruit inside is ripe. An interesting looking plant at this stage.

Pretty Toscana Tubs

The plants I bought from Suttons Seeds have finally caught up with the Mr Fothergills seeds I planted myself. I have already planted two lots of four plants in planters and will have enough to make up at least one more planter.

They look quite attractive now they've all come into flower and so are something nice to look at for the garden.

Windowsill Herbs

My windowsill herbs are growing incredibly quickly and I expect to be able to use some in meals in no time at all. We've already enjoyed the Sweet Basil this year but I am very much looking forward to trying this purple variety and my first attempt at homegrown thyme.

Cucamelons

I planted 4 cucamelon seeds a couple of weeks ago, right at the end of their sowing season. One failed to germinate but the other 3 have been developing well.

Today I repotted all three in a larger pot and tied together 3 tall canes for them to climb. I expect to harvest the tiny watermelon clones later in the year.

Third type of Spectrum Peppers

I'm sure I have identified a third variety of my spectrum peppers now there are fruits appearing everywhere.

Standard green peppers grow downwards with the stem at the top but these ones pictured are a very deep green, with the stem at the base and the fruit pointing upwards. I will have to wait to see what colour these take on as they ripen.

Purple Gusto Chillies

My purple gusto chillies are performing very well and true to their name have taken on a very deep purple colour.

They are still small but long for their size and will eventually ripen to a more usual red but I will to harvest a few before that to sample and compare their different flavours.

Surviving Pineberry

After a couple of frustrating weeks with relentless attacks from slugs/snails and catapillars, the latter decimating most of my largest, most promising berries and a number of the leaves, I uncovered this little beauty.

After spraying some Bug Clear (for catapillars) on my pineberry plants a week ago, the attacks seem to have calmed so I'm hoping this survives another couple of days to finish ripening.

I've already tried one berry, it wasn't fully ripe but it was soft in places and it did taste somewhat like a strawberry and I could detect a hint of pineapple.

It has been very frustrating to lose some many of my fruits especially when the pineberry was my silver tuna of the year but it's made me more determined to make them work next year and I've already planted up 6 healthy runners from existing plants.

Tomato Flowers

They took their time but finally a lot of my tomato plants have now started to flower. They are already in my polythene greenhouse which I leave open all day and close up at night. They are all the standard vivid yellow.

I've seen a couple of tiny toms so far but will watch out for more in the coming weeks.

Lambs Lettuce

We ate our first portion of Lambs Lettuce tonight along with some homegrown red spring onions. It doesn't have a particularly strong flavour of its own but it has a nice crisp texture and worked well with balsamic vinegar.

One of the best features of this salad leaf is that it seems to be of no interest whatsoever to slugs. I learnt this last year when I planted 6 varieties of salad leaves in a long planter. Slug decimated all of the other 5 varieties but completed avoided the Lambs Lettuce.

Blue Blueberries

My main Blueberry bush, a gift from my mum (variety unknown) has been loaded with fruit for a while now. The small green berries have been getting fatter and fatter and I have now discovered the first to start to change colour.

If last year was typical, it should be a fairly rapid process now for them all to ripen and I should be enjoying my first handfuls of the season very shortly.

Not Long Until My First Pineberry!

I'm so excited! The 'Pineberry' has been my main inspiration for growing my own (mainly strange varieties) for this year and last.

I've been aware of them ever since their April Fool's Day release a few years ago that looked so much like a traditional Fool's Day Hoax.

I wasn't buying it and then I walked passed a hanging basket of them in a nursery last year. I was genuinely taken aback - so sure was I that they weren't real.

Unfortuately the three plants in the basket had already flowered but had failed to be pollinated so I didn't get a single fruit. But I collected 10-15 plants from runners, filling two additional square planters and patiently overwintered the lot.

For the winter months, I added a thick straw mulch and watered them a little every 3 days or so, hoping to keep the plants alive in my garage.

Well it paid off, the plants came back to life in the spring and have now flowered, been pollinated and my largest berries' pips are beginning to take on their trademark red hue. It should only be a couple of weeks or so until I get to sample their flavour for myself!

All Golds Growing Tall

My first attempt at growing raspberries is still going well. The new canes grow taller by the day.

I have inserted my tallest canes for extra support and have counted 7 or 8 separate new canes from my original 5. Flowers continue to appear sporadically at this stage and some small fruits are already developing.

Spectrum Peppers Update

A quick glance round my garden and you can quickly start to spot my pepper plants standing tall. I'm growing some exciting varieties including Orange Baby and Gusto Purple Chillies.

I've also been waiting to see how my Spectrum Peppers would develop and which plants would take on which coloured fruits. I know that usually peppers start green then turn to and orange (or yellow) and finally red but the image on the packet also promised white, purple and black.

Until very recently there was nothing to tell the plants apart as they were all pretty much identical in appearance but now they've flowered and are beginning to develop fruit there's two distinct types - the usual deep green peppers and also an unfamiliar pale yellow.

My best guess at this stage is that the latter will develop to the white peppers, ripen to a purple and end up as a black. I am looking forward to being proved right/wrong!

New Supplier Found New Produce To Try!

After an internet search for some white cherry tomatoes (that had caught my eye), I stumbled across a new supplier Victoriana Nursery that had some very interesting produce on offer, I filled my 'trug' and gave them a shot. I was pleased to see that they were also based in south-east England.

I was like a child in a sweet shop scrolling through their tomato section which featured many varieties I hadn't previously come across. Obviously the seeds will have to wait until next year and the plants may not see much action til then either.

My final selection included:

Top row (l-r)

Tomato Gold Medal
These just looked extraordinary! A lovely golden orange/yellow and a unique, almost scrunched up shape that kind of gives them the appearance of a pepper. They are said to have thick walls and perfect for stuffing so will be great for meal times.

Cucumber La Diva
I tried to grow some Marketmore last year - supposedly a grower's favourite but suffered poor results that put me off growing cucumbers - but not for long. This looks like a solid variety producing attractive, more compact cues.

Cucumber Crystal Apple
Another fantastically different looking variety that is round and about the size of an apple but closer to a lemon in appearance. The info promises a mild, sweet flavour that is crisp and suitable for pickling.

Middle row (l-r)

Kiwi Issai
This was one of the main reasons for my order. A few years ago now, we stumbled across a unique punnet of Kiwi Berries in Asda that were only on sale for a couple of weeks. I had never heard of them before and having grown up with their larger, hairier cousins, I was excited to try them so I swiftly bought them and headed home. The berries were smooth skinned, deep green in colour, grape-sized but amazingly when I sliced it in half, it was identical to a Kiwi albeit in miniture form! But it was the taste that was most impressive; ridiculously flavoursome with the signature kiwi sweet but tart taste, like a regular kiwi compressed to berry size. I've never seen them in the shops again and after learning they're suitable for growing here, I've wanted one ever since.

Courgette One Ball
This variety produces round, compact, pool ball sized veg that is a golden yellow in colour when ripe. I've just planted some round courgettes so it will be good to compare them with the One Ball next year.

Bottom row (l-r)

Tomato Giant Delicious
I'm growing possibly 8 or 9 tomato varieties this year but the majority are cherry sized (not including my much anticipated Green Zebra and Tigerella). I fancied attempting something a bit bigger next year and this looked the biggest! Fist-sized deep red fruit that can fill a sandwich with one slice - I fancy getting a quality steak and frying up one of these to accompany it!

Tomato Snow White
These caught my eye on a random image search on Google and led me to Victoriana. Impossibly pale, these cherry toms have an ivory white appeance which makes them leap out immediately. I can't imagine what their flavour offers but I will happily wait until next year to find out!

Whitecurrant White Pearl
I have thought about getting a little currant bush for a while now and the one I've had my eye on the most is a pale pink Rosa variety, so far I have only seen one on Suttons' website and it was fairly expensive. 2nd on my list was a more humble white and at around £4 this one was a must! They promise to be heavy fruiters and having only ever sampled black and redcurrants, I'm intrigued to see what these will taste like.

Pineberry Progress

My very first pineberry is making great progress, growing fatter by the day with its proud lime-green pips. I am excited to see it slowly adopt its trademark white flesh and vivid red pips.

Sugar Snap Peas Take Form

After a good solid growth of my pea shoots they unleashed a shower of their pale yellow flowers and just a few day the first few immature peas have emerged.

They were a last mintue thought when I grew them last year but we very much enjoyed their flavour and crunch and I look forward to using them this year in salads and stirfrys!

Toscana First Flower

Just the very briefest of updates to show off my very first Toscana flower! It had been opening for a couple of days but this morning it was well and truly there.

I was particularly excited to see this flower as the description promised a vivid pink when I ordered the seeds and as you will see from my photo, the plant does not disappoint!

As all my other strawberry varieties have run-of-the-mill white, this will add more than a splash of colour to my garden and as this variety is an everbearer, I can expect the flowers to continue to show as the fruit is developing later on in the season.

Carrot - Atlas Review

Fruit/Veg: Carrot
Variety: Paris Market 5 - Atlas
Provider: Mr. Fothergill's
Seeds/Cost: 1000 seeds, £2.05

I planted some of these up in my vegetable planter a little ealier in the year and tonight harvested 5 mini carrots.

I lost a few for reasons unknown and mine appear less round than the uniform examples pictured on the front of the packet but they have a nice orange colour and good flavour, tasting like a traditional carrot.

They are a bit of fun and I imagine great to grow with small children (my daughter is just too young this year) but to consider them as a serious dinner ingredient is a little unrealistic as you would need a good 12-15 to make up a portion and to grow enough to produce that demand would take up far too much of my space (going by the recommended spacing).

I will happily grow the rest of the packet and it's nice to have successfully grown any type of carrot but I may only purchase them again if they are a future favourite of the kids.

Failed Duo Grafted Cherry

Sadly the duo grafted cherry tree that my mum purchased from Suttons Seeds back in March (for my birthday) failed to show any kind of growth despite me taking all the steps to ensure it was planted correctly.

On the upside - after a 2nd email - Suttons have agreed that it should have shown some signs of life by now. They have agreed to send me a replacement tree but not until they are back in stock in November.

I am glad I've got another tree coming as I was looking forward to seeing both black and red cherries growing on one plant. In the meantime I've got plenty going on in my garden to keep me entertained.

The First Of Many

At last! I finally got to sample my very first homegrown strawberry of the season. As suspected, it was my Honeoye (from Homebase) that were the first to turn.

This was a very deep red and extremely glossy berry with a very rich and sweet flavour, I look forward to more in the coming days!

Cocktail Gherkins

I gave this variety a go last year, they grew reasonably well but I suffered a lot of variation between plants with some strange looking vegetation! Despite that I had some success and even gave pickling a go, that was less successful as I improvised and used the wrong vinegar!

I want to give it another go, this time with a decent recipe! I've planted up four for now (as I'm low on space) and left them in the garage on a windowsill in the sun.

Courgettes & Squashes

I suddenly had an urge to grow some courgettes so I ordered this variety pack of 4 courgettes & 2 summer squashes that range from a dark skinned traditional looking courgette (Black Beauty), to a vibrant yellow (Golden Zucchini) and even a small green globe variety (Di Nizza) and lastly a pale green (Grisette de Provence).

The squashes feature one green variety (Patty Pan) and one yellow (Yellow Scallop). I have planted two seeds of each and left on the windowsill for now.

Windowsill Herbs

As I've moved most of my strawberry plants from the kitchen windowsill to outside, it's freed up some room so I thought I'd plant up some herbs.

I've already grown one batch of sweet basil, which grew well and had a very rich and sweet flavour that we very much enjoyed so I planted another pot, a pot of thyme and to join them (and keep in with my unusual theme) some red 'Summer Suprise' basil, which is exciting from the get go with tiny (and very unusual) purple shoots poking through the soil!

Cucamelons

Now these are very interesting looking berries! About the size of a grape and with a resemblence of a tiny watermelon, these are actually mini-mouthfuls of fresh cucumber with the hint of citrus about them.

I got a plant free last year with James Wong's amazing book Homegrown Revolution. It grew reasonably well but I only got around half a dozen berries. They were more impressive in look than flavour but I thought I would give them another go, this time from seed so I've just planted four up and will see how they fair. I'd like to have a go at pickling them as per James Wong's recipe.

Anablanca Strawbs

I purchased 12 bareroot anablanca strawberry plants from Suttons Seeds. It was a backup plan to my Pineberries because they didn't successfully fruit last year I wasn't sure if they would work out.

Anablancas are a similar variety producing a white fleshed strawberry, with a more pink blushed hue than the Pineberry.

Because they have not been pushed as hard commercially, they are a lot cheaper than their more famous cousins. The 12 plants I bought cost £12.99... you can only get 3 Pineberries for that price!

Anyway, they've been doing very well and are also now flowering and are more than welcome in my collection!

Moving The Peppers Outside

I have kept my Spectrum Peppers, Orange Baby Peppers and Gusto Purple Chilies inside on windowsills for as long a possible for maximum growth but have finally started moving them outside this week after most have started to flower.

The majority are a great height and very healthy looking plants with plenty of buds queuing up to open. The chilies are ridiculous though, almost dwarfing the peppers and covered in buds, spread throughout the plants.

The peppers are the first to be successfully pollinated with the first fruits appearing.

Inca Berries

I got three unusual plants free with James Wong's Homegrown Revolution book. One is these was an Electric Daisy that didn't produce an edible crop, another was a Cucamelon (Mexican cucumber) which I harvested only 3 or 4 fruits from (I've just ordered a packet of seeds and will try to grow them from scratch this/next year).

The third was an Inca Berry plant, otherwise known as a Cape Gooseberry. After flowering, the fruits grow in their own little paper lanters until ripe.

I only harvested around three berries last year but left the plant in the garage (along with my strawberries), expecting it to perish but it remained healthy looking and active and by the spring it had growth to a ridiculous height with a brand new off-shoot. So much so that the original plant snapped under its own weight. I thought it was definitely a goner!

For convenience I tied what was left of the old plant to the new and a long cane and pretty much ignored it whilst I concentrated on my much more prized vegetation.

I had spotted one flower again making an appearance but it was only whilst walking around my garden this evening that I saw that it has another 6 or 7 buds about to flower!

This is one resilient plant!

Chilean Guava Update

When my 6 plants arrived from Suttons Seeds they looked extremely healthy but their progress has been slow since. I have noticed some round growths which have been getting larger and larger.

At first I thought these may have been the berries themselves but after re-checking images on the internet, I'm fairly sure that these are actually the flowers emerging.

The flowers when they are fully revealed are very attractive and have an almost fuscia-like look to them. The berries themselves look a little like a blueberry in shape but a deep red in colour and apparently have a taste of wild strawberry.

First Up, Honeoye

It looks like my first strawberry harvest of the year will come from the Honeoye strawberries that I bought from Homebase a little earlier in the year (6 plants, £5).

I have a number of large berries, a couple have started turning already but stolen/gnawed by an unseen pest!

Toscana Strawbs

My six or so Toscana strawbs I grew from seeds are doing rather well, rather better than the 6 plants I ordered from Suttons Seeds, which are still looking fairly puny.

My homegrown plants are already quite large, two have sent out runners with very well developed mini plantlets (which I couldn't stop myself from planting up) and another is just starting to sending out a couple of flower stems.

I cannot wait to see the flowers in full bloom as they supposedly put out unique and vivid fuscia-pink petals to lure hungry pollinators.

Leo Alba Strawbs

My original Leo Alba was a tiny little plant when I bought it from Homebase last year but I was drawn to it by the picture of small white strawberries on the front.

I had a good harvest of berries, getting handfuls later on in the season. From that tiny £2 plant, it grew to fill a large square box which I overwintered, I also harvested some seeds which I planted in late January in a windowsill propagator. From those I grew around 15 plants which have filled a large long and two round planters.

Now they're all coming into flower and my original has even got a few berries on the way.

Strawberry Popcorn

I'd forgotten about my corn really but it seems to be growing well. It's a bit of an experiment really, I'd never thought of growing corn before but after seeing a picture of the bright red ears of corn that look like large strawberries that can be popped in the microwave after harvesting, it was worth a go.

The literature said unsuitable for pots but I put seeds in the deepest pots I had at the time and I will keep a close eye on them from now on.

New Batch Of Mustard Bite

This is my 2nd batch of Mr Fothergill's Mustard Colour & Bite salad leaves of the year. I grew it last year too and it's one that the wife and I love.

It has a very tasty, sweet, almost mustard and honey flavour that grows very quickly and doesn't seem to be of interest to slugs and other pests and at under £2 a pack, it's one I'd recommend to all.

Dozens And Dozens Of Blueberries

My two main Blueberry bushes are literally covered in berries. There's a few buds here and there that didn't get pollinated but I should have a good supply this summer.

There's even a few berries on one of my brand new small plants. That plant and my other two new plants will no doubt come into their own next year, providing even more.

Next Up: Sugar Snap Peas

I grew a few sugar snap pea plants last year to a successful and tasty result!

So I grew plenty more this year along with some beans and they've really taken off, grown huge and just started flowering.

Healthy Raspberry Growth!

The 5 canes that I bought at the beginning of the year continue to grow well with masses of healthy, green leaves that should hopefully yield plenty of golden berries in the autumn.

There even 3 or 4 cheeky, early berry threatening to emerge. As an autumn-bearer, I'm not sure how these will fair but it will be fun finding out!

Very First Pineberry On The Way

When I bought my original hanging basket that contained 3 Pineberry plants, they appeared to have already flowered and had small buds ready to become the unusual white strawberried that the big, bright label promised.

For some reason they never progressed passed this stage, rather like pollination had been unsuccessful. They were prolific at.sending out runners though and I was able to breed enough plantlets to fill a couple of large square planters.

I overwintered the lot and they recovered well in Spring and have recently sent out flowers. I spotted that the petals have fallen from a few so I had everything crossed and I'm over the moon to see that the first had started to swell and is on its way to becoming a Pineberry!

Too Many Toms update

Unfortuately due to some random gusty storms, my polythene greenhouse came down and took with it all my Toms. Luckily my wife was on hand and rescued them all.

They lived indoors and in the garage until this weekend when I finally had the time to resurrect said greenhouse.

I fixed it back in place, now in the corner of my garden and tied 3 of its 4 corners to the garden fences. I then loaded it up with all my tomato plants (and my small vine). This gave me the first proper chance to count them up. I was shocked to learn that I have 39 healthy plants!!

Peas 'n' Beans

I had previously planted some amethyst dwarf beans along with some sugar snap peas in a specific 6 cane planter. A lot of the peas have survived the onslaught of slugs and are fairing well but all the bean seedlings have been destroyed.

My wife suggested starting them in pots first, away from danger which was a brilliant idea so I planted some a couple of weeks ago along with a few more sugar snap peas and the very interesting looking Firetongue bean variety.

I checked on them a couple of days ago and most were just poking through the soil so I was rather amazed when I checked on them again and found how much they'd grown since!