It's all getting a bit seedy

It's seed swaps I am talking about there are lots taking place this month up and down the country. The home of seed swaps is in Brighton over 14 years ago and has now grown into a massive event. Thousands of keen gardeners, growers, and food lovers come together to swap seeds share hints and tips and make new friends. This Saturday was the first one to take place in Northampton it was held in The Looking Glass Theatre in the centre of Northampton.

The event was run in conjunction with Fruitful Abundance which is a Northampton based group which was set up to prevent food waste, encourage more people to grow there own food and generally live a more healthier life style.

The event opened it's doors to the public at 11am there was a steady flow of public all day all where heading straight to the seed swap tables with hands full of there own seeds eager to swap. The way it works is you hand over the seeds you want to swap to one of the lady's they then put them in the different category's Cabbage, Beans etc. Then just help your self to the new seeds you want to grow this year and if you haven't any seeds to swap you just give a donation for what you take. 

There was lots of seeds available to swap thanks to the generosity of Thompson and Morgan, Suttons Seeds, Unwin's Seeds and Marshalls Seeds. Also some local growers donated lots of heritage variety's so there was a good choice of variety's on offer something for every one.

There was lots of talks taking place through out the day on seed saving, urban gardening, bees and eating weeds

Seedy Saturday also saw the first opening of Elsie's Café which is a pay as you feel Real Junk Food Café. There was lots of cakes, biscuits and light lunches all made from food that would have other wise ended up in land fill. So why feed the tip when you can feed belly's come the end of the day there was just a few crumbs left so the food must have been good.

It was a great day and I'm looking forward to next year's already.



Pumpkins Just Keep Getting Bigger

The Weekend saw the UK Pumpkin record be smashed by the Paton twins at the UK Annual Pumpkin Festival in Southampton.

There winning Pumpkin weighed a staggering 1,884lbs it was only 218lbs short of breaking the world record. It measured 17ft round and was putting on 35lbs a day at its peak and watered it with 100 gallons of water a day to get it to swell. There hard work payed off when they received a cheque for £1000 off the sponsors Thompson and Morgan.

Stuart Patern commented  “ We’ve always been confident of getting the world title eventually and it’s brilliant to be installing  a new greenhouse for 2015 on better soil with better drainage and twice the amount of growing space. We should be all set to take on the Americans and the Swiss.”

Thompson and Morgan have committed to sponsoring the even again in 2015 and should the world record be broken on British soil have offered to pay out £10.000 to the winner.

T&M Horticultural Director, Paul Hansord said: “It used to be said that the world record would never leave the US, but if the Swiss can do it, we can do it. Our seed quality just keeps getting better thanks to the Patons’ selective pollination, and UK growers are upping the game every year. I’ve every confidence the Paton boys can bring the title to UK shores in the near future.”

 T&M will be selling seeds from the Paton twins Pumpkin under the variety name Pumpkin ‘Paton Twins Giant’.  It’s a popular line with amateur growers at just £9.99 for two huge seeds with the genetics to become a record breaker.

If you are wanting to grow a big one next year then this is the seed you need to get your hands on.