THE MODERN MINT BLOG
The Ten Best Tomatoes To Sow Right Now
This list will give you a chance to get away from the rightly popular, but very ubiquitous, Gardeners Delight variety of tomatoes and try something different – as well as tasty!
All of the seeds can be bought from the wonderful wonderful wonderful Real Seeds – do support them in their work…!
- Grushovska – big pink tomatoes, very tasty
- Aurora – from Siberia (yes, really!) Makes great sauces and germinates well at low temperatures.
- Tangerine – as the name suggests, it is a brilliant orange.
- Farenheit – this tomato must be seen to be believed! The fruit starts off as blue, then turns red, then black. Harvest at the purple-cherry-red stage. The purveyors of this tomato seed, Real Seeds, describe the taste as boring – “like a supermarket tomato.” Worth growing for the colour though.
- Chadwick Cherry – developed by Shakespearian actor turned Biodynamic market gardener, Alan Chadwick. Eccentric fellow, great tasting tomato.
- Millefleur – a bit different, as the tomatoes grow in grape-like clusters on a single truss two feet wide. Guaranteed to get the neighbours asking where you got it from…
- Orange Banana – a tomato salad needs lots of colour, and this plum tomato will look great with a little chopped up basil.
- Feo de Rio Gordo – a BIG TOMATO. From Seville, this translates as ugly, fat river. But then names aren’t everything.
- Green Zebra – it really is ripe when green and striped! Created in 1983 by Tom Wagner, who has been breeding tomatoes and potatoes for decades. Another yummy variety of tomato for your greenhouse.
- Tomatillo – related to the tomato, used to make chutneys, salsas and pasta sauces. From Central America.
There you have it – get sowing these wonderful varieties of tomato for something a little different to try on your plate at the end of summer.
All tomatoes featured are from the brilliant seed company Real Seeds.
Monty Don British Gardens Episode 4
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Topiary Art In Hong Kong, The Henderson
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EBTS Boxwood Growers Forum
Through the European Boxwood and Topiary Society I worked with Chris Poole and Sue Mesher, members of the EBTS board, and we set up a Boxwood Growers Forum. This was to discuss how to make sure this wonderful topiary plant stays in the public conscioussness – we know many growers, suppliers and distributors have stopped selling it as the cost of replacing boxwood that has blight, or is nibbled by the boxwood caterpillar, makes it unviable to offer to clients and gardeners. But Boxwood is a phoenix plant, and there are ways to deal with the problems associated with Buxus. …