Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 103 Entries. Tuesday, March 3 View Page Looking fwd to the new season - plans are afoot for another season of giant tomatoes!   Tuesday, March 3 View Page 5 gallon challenge - would an air pot be legal?!   Tuesday, March 3 View Page 5 gallon bucket challenge - would this be legal?. 5 US gallons = 18.927 litres in metric I was going to propose a 20 litre airpot, but not fill to the top (some kind of volume calculation based on diameter & height). Airpots have lots of holes in the side - it’s supposed encourage rooting to make max use of the available compost If max weight per x volume of compost is an aim, airpots could be a fun avenue to go down. (I have never grown in them before). I can of course find a bucket tho for standardisation... Happy either way but flagging now before anything starts!   Saturday, March 28 View Page It's not pretty yet, but container for giant (tall) sunflowers is made, filled, and prepped ready for sowing on the south facing part of the house. Some bright days had, but still cold (both day and night, so protection is going to be needed to keep things cozy.   Saturday, March 28 View Page Not exactly super snug & warm out without a bit of help.   Saturday, March 28 View Page Thanks very much to John Butler for the seed!! Just awesome, thanks again.   Wednesday, April 8 View Page The tomato line up - some for the little greenhouse, some for 5 gallon challenge and some to play with breeding crosses.   Wednesday, April 8 View Page Giant sunflowers (Butler) are up. Started early as an experiment. Be interested to see if they flower x days after pollination or at particular time of year (shortening days)   Friday, April 10 View Page Amazing how fast giant sunflowers grow. 8 days difference - and these are the rejects (2 of 6) that didn't make it in what is a gradual cull!   Tuesday, April 14 View Page Universal beer can measuring scale provided for the giant sunflower. Germinated 13 days ago...This is post the thinning to just the one plant. It was tallest, and most heliotropic. Wonder if that is related? Additionally, I’m going to need to give him a name (4 year old boy has told me it’s a boy sunflower). Is Sunny McSunface too obvious?   Wednesday, April 22 View Page 17 inches of giant sunflower on day 20. No idea if that’s good, bad or indifferent - but I’m impressed. I can’t seem to find any growth rates or what heights people are at on day x, y, z so noting for my future reference   Wednesday, April 22 View Page Tomatoes are up; those successfully germinated amongst other seeds are 4/4 WR 9.65 and 3/3 Lambchop. They won’t all make in the ground due to space, but good to know there are choices to be had. Other seeds include my 6.11 Delicious, 5.57 Domingo, 8.07 Daho, 7.66 Hill.   Thursday, April 23 View Page I really wanted airpots for the 5 gallon challenge, but I had to go over or a long way under in volume as everything sold in litres here in UK. So 20 litres (over the limit) or 15 litres (a long way under). Settled and on fabric bags that aught to also root prune but these are 5 gallons on the dot. Let’s try this!   Monday, May 18 View Page Tomatoes transplanted; those on the left suffer from a bit of shade due to a fence and some overgrown neighbor bushes so I’ve co-opted the propagation lights in the short term. 2 x 9.65 Porkchop, 1 x 5.71 Lambchop, 1 x 5.57 Smith Those in pots are for the 5 gallon challenge, but also for some breeding crosses - 6.11 Smith, 8.07 Daho, 7.66 Hill.   Monday, June 8 View Page The 26 Butler is around 13.5 feet now. Wrapped up as we've had a sudden switch to a cold spell and cold winds, from relative warmth in recent months.   Monday, June 8 View Page Very earliest of flower buds forming, so switch from vegetative to reproductive stage but hope there's a few feet more to come.   Sunday, June 14 View Page Plants making headway. The black bags are 5 gallon fabric pots. I’m torn now, as ever, given they are doing so well and I can see mega blooms - between letting them go for size, vs doing the crosses I’m supposed to!!   Saturday, June 20 View Page   Sunday, June 21 View Page Soil grown plant: Lambchop 5.71, candelabra style (grown to multiple stems). Currently a leading light.   Sunday, June 21 View Page Smith 5.57 (grown off 5.27 Smith - a descendant off the 5.95 line) - again, candelabra style. Both this and lambchop have had some supplemental lighting due to neighbours overgrown bushes / trees to one side of me.   Sunday, June 21 View Page A 9.65 Porkchop - a little smaller than the others, but it’s not about leaves at the end of the day   Sunday, June 21 View Page And another 9.65 Porkchop - so far the stronger of the two.   Sunday, June 21 View Page A 8.07 Daho MegaMarv for crossing on left - it’s a tank; and 5 gallon container plants that are doubling as crossing material - 7.66 Hill (BZ), 6.11 Smith (Delicious). Intention is also to cross the Porkchop Domingos onto the MegaMarv, so it’ll be loaded with crosses. Sure hope I don’t loose the labels....   Sunday, June 21 View Page Mega on the 5 gallon 7.66 Hill   Sunday, June 21 View Page Mega on the 6.11 Delicious. Neither are blooms I’d necessarily have picked for soil grown plants, but I think speed is of the essence - I want compact plants that haven’t fully extinguished all soil nutrients in a limited pot, so I don’t think I have time for the ‘perfect’ bloom. I’ll take what I can get and run with it   Sunday, June 21 View Page Sunflower is doing well too   Monday, June 22 View Page It’s going to be a hot week - I’ve removed some glass panels from the GH and will put up some shade on the hottest days.   Tuesday, June 23 View Page I’ve decided to rebrand, whilst executing on the ‘candelabra’ style on the Lampchop 5.71. Forthwith, it’s the “x-wing” starfighter formation, as, well... frankly, star wars Rebel Alliance starfighters are cooler than light fittings. Targeting 4 trained & staked secondaries, one main, aiming for good air and light distribution within the available space - and multiple chances of megablooms   Thursday, June 25 View Page Have managed a few tomato crosses in the last few days, fingers crossed they take:. 8.07 Daho (MegaMarv) x 7.66 Hill (Big Zac) 8.07 Daho (MegaMarv) x 9.65 Porkchop (Domingo) 8.07 Daho (MegaMarv) x 6.11 Smith (Delicious, 7.33 Hunt strain)   Saturday, June 27 View Page This is a pic from last year - but this is why I’ve been crossing the Daho 8.07 with a variety of plants (including the 9.65 Porkchop Domingo) - sheer vigour, as well as potential to go large. Vines are from the 4.22 Daho, mummy to the Daho 8.07.   Sunday, June 28 View Page Dang it. The triple megabloom on Delicious for the 5 gallon has revealed on petal drop that it’s not fully fused. Picking off the single would leave a double at most. Nothing else promising on that plant   Friday, July 3 View Page Giant sunflower about 19ft now..   Friday, July 3 View Page Looks like we have a set for a modest double on the 7.66 Hill for the 5 gallon challenge   Monday, July 13 View Page First signs of yellow in the sunflower. Remind me not to take pics with wet hands tho (after a foliar spray) at the top of the ladder next time..   Monday, July 13 View Page Peekaboo!   Monday, July 13 View Page About 20ft now, rigged some support for the head. It could be more solid, surprisingly how wobbly things being in 23 ft plus lengths! But better than unsupported. I’d like to save the seeds off this one. :)   Wednesday, July 15 View Page Another of the pot challenge megas pollinated. On the 7.66 Hill. The before:   Wednesday, July 15 View Page and the after:   Saturday, July 25 View Page 5 gallon challenge: 7.66 Hill (BZ)   Saturday, July 25 View Page 5 gallon challenge: 7.66 Hill (BZ)   Saturday, July 25 View Page 5 gallon challenge: 6.11 Smith (Delicious)   Saturday, July 25 View Page A set on soil grown 9.65 Porkchop (Domingo). It’s not one of the super large mega’s I’ve been seeing on the forums, but my window of pollination is closing as I’m now looking at best blooms plants have and aiming to roll with them over next few weeks.   Saturday, July 25 View Page I think that’s about as far as it’s likely to go for the sunflower? The 4 year old said he wanted a giant one.. 21ft 3 if you measure over the curve and include longest sepal at the moment. Just shy of 20ft in absolute terms. First season trying to grow one of these.   Saturday, July 25 View Page She’s flowered !   Monday, July 27 View Page So... this isn’t ideal! The 6 blossom on the 5 gallon tub (7.66 Hill) has grown to the extent that it’s got a thru & thru...very gangsta.. Basically, thru a split stem, I can all the way thru the growing tomato to the floor of my greenhouse. Says danger all over for an early flash, but all still green so far.   Thursday, July 30 View Page Sunflower is making the national UK press - print & online at https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12260858/stellan-dad-20ft-sunflower-taller-house/ A few minor inconsistencies (project manager?, having a pic measuring from the ground vs the actual stem!, free seeds not bought!?) - oh well, never let the truth get in the way of a good story. A few radio gigs and mooting of TV next week. I tell you, I don’t get this kind of attention when I grow lettuce & tomatoes! A nice ray of #Lockdown sunshine.   Sunday, August 2 View Page Tough cull on the 5.71 Lampchop - a triple, nice placement but close inspection one of the three not joined... argh!   Thursday, August 6 View Page 5 gallon challenge - 23.5 inches, but will be light to chart given centre hollow. Gangster tomato with a thru & thru. 7.66 Hill. BZ   Thursday, August 6 View Page 5 gallon challenge: 6.11 Smith (Delicious) .   Thursday, August 6 View Page 5 gallon challenge: 7.66 Hill (2nd)   Thursday, August 6 View Page Porkchop 9.65 set on 1   Thursday, August 6 View Page Porkchop 9.65 mega (last chance saloon for a set here)   Thursday, August 6 View Page Two sets on 5.71 Lampchop. Slight temporary darkening on one where I removed sepals too see where it was joined (or not). Yet to cull to one, but would like to do so over next few days. The right slightly older of the two. Pics from a few dats ago   Thursday, August 6 View Page Another shot of the 7.66 Hill thru & thru   Saturday, August 8 View Page Maybe you can grow a big tomato in a small pot? More strapping added to the 5 gallon challenge tomato. 7.66 Hill, BZ   Monday, August 10 View Page My first ‘big’ mega on the soil grown Domingos (9.65 Porkchop); a great looking bloom. It is now however that the UK chooses to have a 10 day period of 90f plus days and blistering sunshine. I’m trying to increase humidity to take the stress out of the plants. God, I really hope this pollinates successfully in this heat. Any tips - shoot an email. It’s last chance saloon time for latest weigh offs.   Monday, August 10 View Page Being pot grown, two of my 8.07 Daho (MegaMarv) crosses ended up with BER - the 6.11 Smith (Delicious) and the 7.66 Hill (BZ) - arg! But I kept on the plant and I *think* at least I have viable seed having harvest today. That would be a bit of a lifeline on the breeding cross any, albeit reduced seed count. The 9.65 Porkchop cross and controlled self on the same plant don’t have BER and are still green.   Wednesday, August 12 View Page We are still in an unseasonably hot spell here in the UK. And today is a bit BER gate. This on the soil grown Lambchop 5.71, one of my best looking plants. Some light scabbing - but a soft spot that will be it’s death knell I’m sure. Shame, as this plant is awesome, but it’s too late for any more pollinations   Wednesday, August 12 View Page Also showing BER on the pot grown 6.11 Smith Delicious. In retrospect, perhaps I should moved it to shade to get it thru unscarred, even if it stalled growth. For a man who doesn’t grow many plants - my margin for error on remaining plants is evaporating to bring tomatoes to the scale for the team competition.   Wednesday, August 12 View Page Separately, I continue to try and find a UK store with a scale calibration within the last 12 months for the GPC listings that’s less than a 3 hour round trip driving. We have a different class of trade scale here - and in the UK there is no legal requirement to recalibrate this type of scale annually (so no stickers to satisfy the GPC). Millions of £ of goods trade off these scales, but I can’t get a tomato listing off them.The search continues. Fingers crossed.   Sunday, August 16 View Page A small double (7.66 Hill, BZ) for the 5 gallon challenge hitting first blush. I’ve been hoping this would be the ‘test case’ for GPC listing on UK, but still no joy on a local scale with calibration certificate (we have a different class trade scale here in the UK, they don’t require annual testing). Hopefully 3 lb plus   Sunday, August 16 View Page This has appeared. A period of weeks with hot weather, keeping humidity up, and now thunderstorms for a week with rain   Sunday, August 16 View Page I’ve started removing impacted leaves, in the hope of reducing spreading in the small greenhouse - forecast is for yet more warm weather and rain however, I need humidity down not up!!   Sunday, August 16 View Page Pic of underside of patch   Sunday, August 16 View Page This tho looking exciting (7.66 Hill, BZ). A big cavity tho in a ring of tomato means you can take at least an inch off - maybe more, for the 5 gallon pot challenge. (From Doug ‘I hate pots’ Smith). It will weigh much lighter than it tapes then..but the question is...just by how much?   Sunday, August 16 View Page An older pic of the cavity, but you get the idea. Greenhouse floor below it   Monday, August 17 View Page Pot challenge 6.11 Smith (Delicious). Has I surface BER I think, May scab over. Keeping running as an experiment   Monday, August 17 View Page Soil grown 5.71 Lambchop. Best looking plant. BER, Cut rot out, applied sulfur. Again, experimental - I’ll pull this later I’m sure I can’t see it going the distance. But that’s what experimenting is about   Monday, August 17 View Page Soil grown Domingo 9.65 Porkchop   Monday, August 17 View Page Hopefully a successful mega pollination on the 9.65 Porkchop. Plant tho, isn’t as good a condition vs second Porkchop or the stonking Lampchop. Leaves curled from previous heat stress last month. A pollination on this date means it’s last chance GPC listing is the Southampton weigh off on 10th Oct. It will likely still be green tho - and perhaps not full growth given longer days to harvest on shoulder seasons. Depends tho, on what the weather has in store for us over next few months   Monday, August 17 View Page Opted to pick the double at blush stage on the 5 gallon pot - 2.81lb (1.275kg). Didn’t quite hit the 3lb mark.   Monday, August 17 View Page and the bottom   Monday, August 17 View Page Created a new outdoor greenhouse for the 6.11 Delicious 5 gallon pot. It means the giant sunflower (saving seed) has an interloper at it’s feet - but it’ll keep the rain off   Friday, August 21 View Page After spotting some soft rot on the BER of the 6.11 Smith (delicious), I’ve called time and binned. I took the opportunity tho of checking out the root structure from the fabric pot by slicing it down the middle and giving a quick blast with the hose. I have to say, it’s good.   Tuesday, August 25 View Page 5 US gallon bucket slammer time..   Tuesday, August 25 View Page and: *cue drumroll*. 3.106kg / 6.848lb. A new PB and - fantastically - a new UK record. From a 5 gallon, 18.9 litre fabric pot! What the!!! Big Zac, off the 7.66 Hill. Thanks go out to Curtis UK for hooking me up with scales at such short notice (last min delays with the planned for local scales), Seb & Cindy representing the GPC on zoom. Seb especially - you were a rock in efforts to try and organise the logistics in preceding weeks. Top man!   Wednesday, August 26 View Page My awesome mega on the 9.65, didn’t pan out - we had a bad patch weather wise when it needed pollinating   Wednesday, August 26 View Page I’m letting it run with a double for seeds and team weights. Weighing at Southampton I think mid Oct   Wednesday, August 26 View Page It’s was very windy here as a storm passed thru. Brackets have been ripped off the wall but it’s still standing (ish?!). One to fix when the wind dies down. Tied to the ladder in the short term.   Friday, August 28 View Page A couple more pics of the bucket record breaker...   Friday, August 28 View Page Hold it... hold it...smile dang it!   Friday, August 28 View Page It’s...it’s...a record breaker! Haha! Really not sure what’s going on at this point   Saturday, August 29 View Page More wind and the sunflower poles have snapped under the sheer weight before I had time to fully reattach.   Saturday, August 29 View Page Sunflower head is 14 inches across, and 18 inches if you include sepals.   Saturday, August 29 View Page This tho, I hadn’t banked on. A solid ‘cone’ behind the sunflower head and it’s heavy!   Saturday, August 29 View Page For those hoping to do 20ft sunflowers in 20 gallons (mine also in a pot of about that size - 2ft x 3ft and 20 inches deep) - my advice - if you are hoping to save seed, be warned - there’s potential for a 10lb (4.7kg) plus weight at the top with a fully formed sunflower head! Stake well. Sheesh.   Saturday, August 29 View Page Got a little press love today. The journo seems to have thought I said fused plants vs fused flowers tho, and it’s been replicated across multiple outlets. Doh! Maybe that’s the next step!   Saturday, August 29 View Page And another.   Saturday, August 29 View Page Men and their tights eh?   Wednesday, September 2 View Page On the 9.65 Porkchop 1   Wednesday, September 2 View Page Also on another 9.65 Porkchop, rolling with a double as out of time and the monster mega didn’t pan out. Likely one for Soton weigh off.   Friday, September 4 View Page Seeds from the UK record 6.85 lb - okay, but not a huge seed count   Friday, September 4 View Page Seeds from the sunflower drying off as well.   Wednesday, September 9 View Page 3.22 lb off Porkchop 9.65. Was an okay bloom (from what was on offer at the time) but growth a little stalled. I won’t go as far as GPC listing for this, but hopefully for team competition it’s a fraction higher than my previous listing   Wednesday, September 9 View Page And the top. I’ve not had much luck on the soil grown Domingos - but it’s a symptom of tiny plant numbers, late pollinations and limited megas. Plants looked awesome, especially Lampchop. of 4 plants, two megas had ber - had to go with a later double on one, left one ber tomato to grow (soft spot will mean dmg, but hopefully seeds), this is the 3rd. - no megas on the fourth plant in timeframe mean it’s a large single that will have to be weighted green at the last GPC. So, 2 more to weigh - but likely coming in green to hit GPC dates   Wednesday, September 30 View Page Trying to coax the last bit of growth from last tomatoes - but, not my best plant, bloom or now - weather. Tough gig   Tuesday, October 13 View Page As folks asked on the forum in relation to last tomato’s for the team competition - she’s a blushing. Off the 9.65 Porkchop.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page Blushing / ripening further tho - could take forever with this weather, so I’m not adverse to calling time around 17th Further gains are not going to be huge, and hanging around too long in a cold greenhouse with high humidity for too long in my view is asking for trouble.   Sunday, October 18 View Page Blushing progress at these temps is slooowwwwww. Tues vs today (Sat) - 5 days   Friday, October 23 View Page Another 5 day update for ya all. Looks redder in the pic than in real life. It gave me a shock yesterday, as it slipped from the hammock but all good as the stem was held. Phew! No monster, but hopefully a little extra for the team competition   Sunday, October 25 View Page She’s been measured.. that’s the hollow bottom...   Sunday, October 25 View Page Tapes...just shy of 24 inches...   Sunday, October 25 View Page And a view on the scales.. *cue drumroll* My final results just sent to Zeke. For the moment I’m leaving in Zeke’s court for last suspense on results that are still creeping in...