Sunflower competition result and latest sale

[above]
A 'Brandywine' beefsteak tomato, claimed to be the world's tastiest! An old Amish heirloom tomato dating back to 1885 and passed down from generation to generation.

We had eighteen entries into the sunflower competition, most of which have survived and prospered. They were replanted into pots of roughly the same size.
The winner of the first prize of £5.00 is Joseph Lewis (RL) with the runner up prize of £3.00 to George C (RT). Also commended were Aiden O (RB), Jake Horring (Yr 3) & Oliver GB (1c) who each won one pound.

The latest produce sale went really well. I thought there might have been too much harvested, but once again I was delighted by the response from the parents. We actually had to limit people to only one bag of any type of produce, and we still had quite a few people turn up to find everything sold out.

The mixed salad leaves with wild rocket was the one thing I managed to sample (at Peter and Judith BBQ).
Being sold straight out of the ground it needed a good wash and a minute in the salad spinner, but assisted by Judith's salad dressing it was excellent.
Rocket and salad (left); first tomato to turn red, a 'Marmande' (below) ;
wild garlic, not seen in the shops very often! (below left); shallots, small but perfectly formed (below right). Oh, and results of the poll show a preference for growing shallots next year, probably with onions as well. We've dug up lots of onions so far and have left the most recent batch to dry on the fence (bottom pic) in time for the next produce sale which is on Monday 21st July at pick-up.

First produce sale and french bean news

Check out the poll to the right of this column. If you highlight the results you can see where the votes have gone so far. The vote is for whether you'd like us to grow onions, shallots, or both next year.
We had our first sale of produce on Wednesday 2nd July and everything sold out in a flash. I think we sold about twenty five bags of potatoes, Swiss chard, lettuce, onions and shallots. And two courgettes. Some ended up on my plate (see photo above). We would have had a few beans to sell but someone (me) forgot to pick them. I think it was because Year One children came to inspect the progress of their onions, which they seemed to enjoy for some reason, and I was distracted. I grew the shallots elsewhere in case you were wondering.

If you bought a tomato plant and the leaves are starting to go yellow then it either needs putting in a bigger pot with some compost, or else it needs fertilizer. Even better than re-potting, is putting it in the ground as that's where they really like to be. I've just bought some Miracle-Grow Organic fertilizer which smells much like chicken manure pellets, but comes in a more manageable form.
The race is on to get the first ripe tomato, and so far it's RB class in the lead. Their Tornado F1 plant is obviously getting plenty of sunshine. I just repotted it (see pix) as the leaves were yellowing. May have left it too late, we'll see. Coming second are the Marmande tomatoes in the individual square raised bed in the vegetable garden (see photo in previous blog if you're really sad).
Remember not to overwater the tomatoes. Let them dry out before watering. This improves the flavour and makes the roots work harder. If it's all going very well you could consider pruning off some of the leaves, the idea being that the plants energy will then be diverted into the tomatoes rather than the leaves.

It's interesting to see the difference between the tomatoes in the raised beds and those in pots like these Tornado plants. The ones in the raised beds are massive in comparison!
One tip for anyone watering the raised beds: apparently parsnips like dryish conditions so maybe only water if they look like they are wilting, or if you know for sure that they haven't been watered for ages.

Below: The dwarf and climbing french beans have really gone crazy. The other day they were tiny and next time I looked there were tons to pick. And the more you pick, the more are produce! We'll be selling these in the playground on Monday 7th July at drop off - and there should still be plenty more for Fridays produce sale.

Latest crops

Cream sausage tomato (above) Onions on the fence and the potato digging children.
Potatoes just dug up. First of the beans.



Marmande tomatoes just beginning to ripen. Rocket (below). Butternut squash (below left)

The Belleville Summer fair was blessed with fine weather today and a big crowd turned up to enjoy the many attractions on offer. The plant stall was really well supported and we sold most of the tomatoes, peppers and courgettes, some of the Italian pumpkins and aubergines and a fair few marigolds, busy lizzies, violas, begonias and geraniums. Half of the of the flowers were donated by Homebase - we just had to pot them up, so many thanks to them.
Many thanks to Peter Holland who proved an excellent, and almost knowledgeable, salesman.
If you have any photos of the fete please email them to jd@motionrecords.com

Carnival - and excercise amongst the tomatoes...

Belleville School carnival brightened up the streets of Battersea this afternoon as it paraded up Northcote Rd. The vegetable growing department managed to sell twenty four bags of swiss chard, little gem lettuce, spinach and salad to a captive audience of parents during the fine festival of dance and music that was put on afterwards in the school playground.
(Right: Italian Ridged Pumpkin - just starting to grow)
(Below: Marmande. Below that: Courgette - a few days from being ready to eat)
The mass harvesting of salads resulted in a major thinning out, leaving the year three and four beds looking a little bare; but they'll regrow soon enough, with a bit of luck.
There was also a major pruning of tomato plants (cordon varieties often having forked into two main stems when I wasn't looking, you know the sort of thing!) which has allowed more light to get to the tomatoes, and also revealed a couple of ladbirds trying to play leapfrog amongst the leaves, I think ( click on the image above right).


Above from left to right: Carrots with parsnips in the background, the flower of a french climbing bean, and and onion.

The vegetable growers union would like to congratulate headmaster John Grove, the teachers and the assistants, all of whom put in so much work to make the carnival such a success!

And the winners are....

The first tomatoes have appeared already and, for those interested in this sort of thing, the varieties that have fruited well ahead of their rivals are 'Marmande' followed by Tornado F1. 'Marmande' is an heirloom beefsteak variety which produces large, ribbed tomatoes of a very deep red colour.
They taste great and have few seeds.'Tornado F1' were specially bred for British summer conditions. They are very early and produce a compact bushy plant that carries a heavy crop of round fruits showing up well through sparse foliage. An RHS 'Award of Garden Merit' winner.
(Above: Marmande)
(Below: Tornado F1)
You won't see either of these varieties in the supermarkets because they are thin skinned and don't travel well (i.e. sit in lorries and storerooms for weeks being exposed to ripening gasses). These are very sweet flavoured and perfectly illustrate the advantages of growing your own!
The others varieties have plenty of flowers but no tomatoes as yet.


The strawberries are also doing well. We need some straw though, as this photo reminded me.

It's all gone bananas

Wow, the recent rain and sprinkling of sunshine has resulted in massive growth of many of the crops, the salads in particular. Unfortunately this co-incided with half term, so haven't been able to sell produce to the parents. Hopefully will arrange this for Tuesday......also have loads of cougette and pumpkin plants - and the tomatoes are massive, with flowers - all ready for some serious tomato action in other words! A couple of videos follow:








Tried the swiss chard yesterday and it was delicious. Treat it like spinach - my mother-in-law, who knows about these things, steamed it with a little nutmeg. Start with the stems and add the leaves for the last couple of minutes. Yum.