Weeding the Web

Gigantomo advice - how to grow big tomatoes

Mine's bigger than yours. Is there something in our DNA that makes humans want to make things really, really big? It's a spirit that's thriving in the City of London, with proposals recently announced for a new building only 5m shorter than the Shard. And there'll be plenty of rivalry at Harrogate Autumn Flower Show 18-20th September, when a new class will be judged on Giant Vegetables.

Included in the competition are the National Gigantomo Championships. The prize at stake is pretty big itself, unlike most veggie show rewards - £1000 prize for the heaviest tomato, with £5000 added if it breaks the world record at the time of the show. That record is currently 7lb 12oz (it was a 'Delicious' tomato).

*Rapidly calculates*  That's something in the region of 3.5 bags of sugar in weight - and probably bulkier because a bag of sugar is denser than a tomato.

Blimey.

Now, I was lucky enough to receive five Gigantomo plug plants from Van Meuwen, this year. Told of their giant dimensions, I raised a sceptical eyebrow. "But do they taste any good?" I queried, with what I hoped was a suitably chummy, ho-ho-we-all-know-the-problem-with-this-sort-of-thing tone of voice. The charming young man at the Press Event in February took it on the chin (it was late afternoon. Of course he hadn't been asked this before) and assured me that, actually, they taste very good.

All five are in the Tomato Growing Position - front of house, full sun, south-facing. Growing strongly. But I'll just reassure any competitively minded Gigantomo growers out there that the chances of my getting my mitts on the £6000 (or even £1000) are vanishingly small.

The strain has already made enough of a splash to have been reported in the Mail Online. These plants, the article says, will grow to six feet. Hmm. Not in my buckets, I fear. These have proved totally adequate for tomatoes up to now, but I sense disappointment in their current residents. The plants wilt with alarming rapidity, even after a darn good soaking the evening before. A watering twice a day seems to be what they're demanding.

How to Grow Big Tomatoes

However, for anyone who is more optimistic than I, Van Meuwen have sent out helpful instructions on how to grow the biggest tomatoes. It would apply to all tomato plants, pretty much. Bob Flowerdew said on BBC Radio Four's Gardeners' Question Time recently that the weight of fruit (on an apple tree, in his instance) will remain constant, whether you thin down the fruit or not, meaning that the more ruthless you are with thinning, the larger the fruit you'll grow. It only remains to ask yourself, How big do I want my tomatoes?

The megablooms seem to come on an extra thick stalk

That aside, this is what needs doing:

1. Understand megablooms. It's a blossom that's got more flower petals than the others because it's made up of two or more blossoms. This is the tomato that will grow and grow, because it's actually two or more tomatoes fused together. (Every Gigantomo truss seems to have a megabloom. On mine, it seems to start off on a twisted stalk that gradually uncurls. You should keep only four trusses on each plant.
2. Allow only four trusses per plant.
3. Thin these down to one tomato per truss (obviously, with Gigantamo this should be the megabloom tomato, but I've noticed that this has happened naturally on a lot of the trusses. Quite a few blooms have aborted, leaving one tomato to grow.)
4. Apply a mulch of manure up to four inches deep, if grown in soil, or as much as possible around the top of the container.
5. Stake strongly. It's also suggested that you cage the plants with chicken wire. (I prefer that green-coated wire fencing that Americans call "dog-wire". It allows the tomato leaves to poke out through the large rectangular holes. Even so, one of the cages has already toppled over and I've had to tie it to the wall behind.)
6. Support individual fruit with an old stocking, or anything that creates a little hammock for it.
7. Give them constant moisture to avoid blossom end rot (oh, dear).
8. Feed weekly - and foliar feed twice weekly with seaweed solution. (Gigantomo not only drink like topers, but eat like gluttons.)

All this should give you something to attract the judges' attention at any veggie show.

Gigantomo tomato plant, caged in as an alternative to staki

As I say, unless something very surprising happens over the next few weeks, my tomatoes will be no threat to anyone. My aim is to grow larger than average tomatoes and hope they taste good. However, if your eye is glinting at the goal of riches, here's what to do if your Gigantomo looks like a winner:

Picking a Show-Winning Giant Tomato

Measure your potential prize-winner until it stops swelling and then pick it when still pinkish, unless the competition is imminent. If it ripens far too early, pick and keep in the fridge for up to three weeks at 8-10 C.

Good luck!

For a follow-up on the competition and what I thought of my crop, see my later post Gigantomo tomatoes taste update.

What's changed? A visit to Scotland's public gardens (1903)

Little seems to lend itself better to the pleasure of reading vintage magazines than gardening. And, if you share the same enthusiasm, I suspect you too are most captivated by the small ads - strange potions, long banned; tools from long-lost British companies; cunning methods of pest control. "I wonder why they don't make the Ooja-watsit Slug Enticer anymore," you muse as you turn the pages.

The American magazine, Horticulture, is celebrating its 110th birthday with a free download on its website of its 1904 (yes, I know) editions.

They're great fun to browse. It's a time when you could order 2x2x4 crates of holly for Christmas ($5 a case) and when, tantalisingly unexplained, an ongoing strike in glass factories in Belgium, threatened the supply of greenhouse glass, giving rise to the recommendation to obtain only the "best Pennsylvania makes". (Please tell me you find this sort of thing fascinating too...)

And then, what do you find in the December 10th pages? Random Thoughts from Abroad - a trip in August 1903 to the exotic shores of Britain. After nine days across the Atlantic, landing in Liverpool, the writer rushed headlong for the public gardens of Scotland.

First, Kelvin Grove Park, within the city limits of Glasgow:

I was much struck on entering the grounds to observe the stunted and stumpy growth; also the sparse foliage of trees and shrubs within the park.

Oh, dear. Neglect, perhaps? Lack of expertise?

On closer inspection the cause was clear, the foliage being thickly covered with soot vomited from an endless number of tall manufacturing chimnies (sic) that surround Glasgow...: to these can be added numberless dwelling-house chimnies belching forth the same sooty deposit resulting from the combustion of soft coal.

It's not something we often manage to factor into our imaginations, is it, the overwhelming pollution that industrial areas were subject to?  I know that asphidistras were useful for their resistance to the fumes in gaslit houses, but the all-pervading sootiness of life in some cities is not something I've really contemplated in relation to plants.

Journeying on to Edinburgh, the writer, K Finlayson, finds the gardens looking much better, contributing no doubt to the ever-present competition that exists between Glasgow and Auld Reeky. He describes a display of violas the size of pansies in Princes Street Gardens:

Three rows of different colours, white, yellow and blue, extending the whole length of the garden. They were planted in rows in their respective colours  in front of a large serpentine, so-called, shrubbery border banked up against the railway bed for the purpose of screening the locomotives from view as they traverse the garden. The length of this border being nearly, if not fully, a quarter of a mile, was again instrumental in helping to make the scene impressive and beautiful.

So, while much has improved, some things have been lost. It's rare to find this sort of display today and, given that I took no photos of a long and magnificent border but rather concentrated on the grass when visiting Edinburgh in 2010, I think I'm on safe ground in suggesting that nothing like this is laid out there these days. (Do comment below if you think I'm wrong.)

 However, there were displays that brightened the dour stone of the Scott Memorial:

 

And the Floral Clock at the station end of Princes Street Gardens is always worth checking out, the design each year based on a topical anniversary or theme:

In fact, it's slightly surprising that Mr Finlayson didn't comment, as it began ticking in June 1903, would have been brand-new when he visited and was the first of its kind in the world. Perhaps our guide disapproved of such fripperies, or perhaps the planting - a geometrical pattern each year until 1928 - wasn't to his taste. I suspect, however, that he missed it, leaving by a different exit, still dazzled by that quarter-mile border.

 

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: Acanthus mollis, columnar splendour

It's hard not to love something that is named for ursine trousers. Well, for me, anyway. It's a shame that the reason that Acanthus Mollis is also known as bear's breeches is lost in the mists of time,

Anyway, mine offers another minor triumph for the garden this year. Back in May, my peony gave a single bloom after four years of waiting.  The bear's breeches has been kinder. A friend gave me the plant three years ago. It merely offered leaves last year (and the year before). This year we have...

...a single flower spike.

Some people hate acanthus, and it can strike a funereal note. It tones rather well with the Rosa glauca in front of it, but together they are a bit gloomy, so I'm glad to have the rambling rose as part of the view from the house to lift it with a stronger pink.

It's so architectural, it seems perfectly natural that the plant should have inspired the decoration for Corinthian columns.The flower (more correctly, bracts), let's face it, could hardly be more columnar.

Actually it's not been much hardship not to have a flower until now as the glossy leaves make a lovely contrast, especially with the montbretia leaves at its side.

According to the Missouri Botanical Garden, plants can spread aggressively, especially in loose soils. I'm fairly confident that my rock-hard clay will keep it in check.

Next year, perhaps there'll be two flowers!

This post is my contribution to Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. Pop over to May Dreams Gardens to see what else is flowering around the world.

Cards for Gardeners by Eric Ravilious from Postscript Books

Regulars will know that I'm always looking for cards and presents with gardeners in mind. Postscript has the sort of catalogue that I take to bed with me - interesting books on all sorts of subjects and extremely competitively priced (yes, that includes Amazon). New to their range is stationery and, among their cards, Gardener and Deckchair by Ravilious.

I've got a real soft spot for Eric Ravilious (1903-42), now finally regarded as one of the finest British artists of the twentieth century. His style surely influenced the dust-wrappers on books that peopled the shelves of my childhood, which were printed in a pale, limited palette with simple illustration. Back then I wasn't too impressed - they seemed dull and I wasn't a child that enjoyed stylised representations - but now I love the pared-back illustrations and restrained colours that conjure a dreamy quality, seeming to speak of a constant, rather than a passing moment.

These designs were originally created for Wedgwood in the 1930s. There were more in the series and I hope they'll make it into print too. Eight notecards cost £4.99. And, book-wise, iIf you search Postscript for "gardening", you'll find lots of tempting tomes to choose from.

Incidentally, the Dulwich Picture Gallery has a super exhibition of Ravilious' watercolours, which runs till the end of August.

For more cards, see: Greetings Cards for Gardeners and another post (imaginatively described again!) Greetings Cards for Gardeners.

Hampton Court Flower Show 2015: going round in circles

This year's Hampton Court Flower Show has been, as I said in the last post, all arcs and anniversaries. The circle has arrived with a vengeance. Straight lines are still in evidence, but I fear they'll soon be as scarce as curves once were. Here are the arcs:

I don't think you could have got more circles into Living Landscapes City Twitchers by Sarah Keyser of Coucou Designs. It also had willow, Egyptian Limestone, sedum turf, a chamomile lawn and a Prunus Tai Haku - because its spreading branches are easy to hang (round) bird feeders in. (Won Silver Gilt.)

Round planters, curved seat (in bleached oak to match the bleached wood behind) and...(we're not finished)...

...a different round planter and balls in Rae Wilkinson's blue-toned Living Landscapes HUG (Healing Urban Garden). (Won Silver Gilt.)

Two circles joined by a line, with a small round pond - Ready...Aim...Flower! (Won Silver)

Excuse me while I digress a moment:

Designer Simon Webster, I was told by another designer, had a lot of stick for including a gun. "No, I haven't," he said. "People have been able to look past that." Anyway...

...look at the fun you could have with it. Concept? The journey from being under a destructive influence to gaining recovery. Moral of garden? Don't put too much black ink in your pond - it leaks into the render above.

 

SABO: THe Circle of Life, designed by Stefano Passerotti. It's all in the name, really. The cork oak was lovely.The Travertine paving was gorgeous. The sound of water was soothing. The planting was delicate. I thought it less than the sum of its parts. (Won Silver Gilt.)

 

Squire's Garden Centres: Urban Oasis. A curve leading to a round, with another round table.

Another digression:

 

Remember Squire's garden last year? It was the first time they'd done a garden designed by people within the firm. This year's designer Ian Hammond said it wasn't naturalistic enough, it didn't flow and colours clashed (which judges don't like, apparently).

 

Ian said they'd learned a lot. "Give yourself plenty of time. You don't appreciate how many plants are needed. Be patient with it. The sooner you get your plants in, the better, so they can fill out."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought they'd created a charming, relaxed garden, even if it still only got Silver Gilt.

 Back to the arc (as Noah said when the first raindrop fell):

Anne-Marie Powell balanced curved paths and these curved steps and round seats with plank paving of various sizes.

One of only two of the main show gardens to gain Gold.

The Wellbeing of Women designed by Wendy van Buren, Claire Moreno and Amy Robertson. A curved path to a round patio. Incidentally, inked water was very much in this year - I guess designers like it 'cos you can't see the debris collecting in the bottom. (Won Silver Gilt.)

 

A polite courtyard - Great Gardens of the USA, Charleston by Sadie May Stowell for Brand USA (Won Silver)

I'd show you the Vestra Wealth Garden - curved path, round amphitheatre, but I think we've just had too many circles. Anyway, someone got in the way when I was trying to photograph it.

Finally, an accolade to Sarah Harris of the DialaFlight Synaesthesia Garden. No arcs and, to be honest, while the idea was interesting, the tent itself wasn't that exciting - white flowers lit by colours cycling on a loop.

But on the first day of the build, Sarah's 34-year-old partner had a stroke and was hospitalised in Leeds. She spent a week up there and only had a week to build the garden. You have to hand it to her that she managed a garden at all. She must have felt as if she was rushing aound in circles.

 

Hampton Court Flower Show 2015: arcs and anniversaries

I began to think this year's Hampton Court Flower Show was going round in circles. Literally. The curve that wriggled its way into Chelsea this year has felt peckish and bitten its tail. Circles are all over the place. (But more of that later.)

Anniversaries are equally abundant. Most prominent, of course, Hampton Court Flower Show, apparently amazed to find itself 25 years old:

RHS Anniversary Maze celebrating 25 years of the show, Hampton Court 2015

Though, you'd have been hard put to get lost inside...

...there was an unexpected encounter:

Nearby, Rolawn had commissioned Tony Smith to create a massive turf sculpture to celebrate 40 years as turf growers and promote their Keep on the Grass campaign. Rolawn's Emily Kirkland said, "I can't see into the bottom. Anything might be there." (It wasn't.)

They also provided my one and only glass of bubbly for the day. Thank you, Rolawn!

More greenery at Agrumi's We're All Mad Here!, where they were celebrating 150 years of continuous publication of Alice in Wonderland:

 

Agrumi - they specialise in topiary, in case you were wondering

Alice also inspired The Tea Party, designed by Charlie Bloom (she in the dress below).

 

It was full of lovely little touches...

...and was the sort of formal small garden that Charlie, who carries out restoration on private historic gardens, would like to see more of.

The judges didn't feel the same and only awarded Bronze, though she had wondered if they'd approve of the "madness" of the shaggy box hedges. (I guess not.)

Who else had an anniversary? Oh, yes!

Next door to The Tea Party was Botanica World of Discoveries Winnie the Pooh Begins his Journey, referring to the 90th anniversary of the Bear's first appearance in 1925.

It was cute:

And I liked the exuberant wildflower turf roof:

It didn't quite have enough magic for me (and when on earth did Piglet look like that?) - a problem, I guess, when you're conjuring up people's childhood reading.  Still, once again Helen finds herself staring blankly at the judging - it won Gold and Best Historic Garden.

Also in this strange little section - an orphan row which, IMHO, should be marched firmly over to the other side of the water with the rest of the gardens - was Amnesty International Magna Carta 800 garden.

Cool, inviting...

...and very yellow. (The colour was paler at the back, getting stronger towards the front, referring to the progress of human rights. In the picture below I think it makes the garden look bigger - sneaky!)

One of the "new" Flower Boxes got on that particular bandwagon. DCCC by Stuart Meeson - go to his website for a fascinating intimation of why he might have chosen this shape - subconsciously, of course.)

If you still haven't spotted its anniversary, go to the back of the class.

In comparison, Scotty's Little Soldier garden was almost still in nappies, celebrating a mere five years in the charity's existence.

 

Not easy to photograph, but I like the way the shadows break up the wide path - necessary as Graeme Thirde designed it as a walk-through garden (of which there should be more). The ribbons?

 

Printed with messages from children who have lost their father.

You wouldn't think there could be many anniversaries left, but no...

The Queen Elizabeth Foundation is celebrating its 80th anniversary and the garden represents the life-changing work it undertakes.  It won Gold and Best Summer Garden. Again, I was a bit bemused by the Best award, as it looked a bit like the sort of corner you find at the end of a garden where its been nicely finished but nothing happens. The mirrors were cleverly placed - it took me a moment to realise they were there.

Back to history: Waterloo (200 years) made a reappearance (after Chelsea this year) with the Hougoumont Farms Kitchen Garden (annoyingly I missed it) and Vestra Wealth: Encore - A Music Lover's Garden combined inspiration from its being 500 years since building began on Hampton Court Palace and from the fact that Handel's Water Music was played on the Thames (which runs past etc) - although that debuted in 1717 (another near miss).

What you couldn't miss, though, was the huge cake Vertigarten Celebration Cake - 3456 plants in Vertigarten modules.

I thought I recognised it. I first saw it last year when I visited Ball Colegrave:

Preferred the planting last year, but you have to admit the surroundings don't have the same power to...

(Yes, it's a scarecrow in a rowing boat. No, I'm not sure, either.)