Page 24 - Simply Vegetables Winter 2021/22

I do enjoy eating microgreens and Johnsons have introduced 8 new microgreens for the 2022 season. Most of them are ready to harvest in 16 to 21 days from sowing, making successional sowing every 7-10 days an easy task. Probably the greatest advantage is that they can be grown indoors on a sunny orientated windowsill all year round to be cut as an when required.
Moving in to the poly tunnels, there were over 70 different tomato cultivars all growing in 10 litre pots set into growbags. These are in addition to
the over 50 tomato cultivars growing outdoors and in hanging baskets, and all those in the polytunnel looked
to be in excellent health. Alongside the tomatoes on the benching could be found a large selection of hot and sweet peppers plus 10 cultivars of extremely hot peppers, including Armageddon F1, Habanero, Carolina Reaper and Trinidad Scorpion Yellow thought to be the second hottest pepper after the Carolina Reaper.
The second polytunnel is where we found the trials of cucumbers and chili peppers. Cucumber Silor F1 was a new cultivar in the 2019 trials and released onto the market in 2020. This may not be a contender
to challenge Carmen but it does look like a good contender for the table. Among the chillies was my personal favourite Basket of Fire as I find
it has good flavour with a modicum of heat. Not being an F1, I tend to save the seed each year and so far it has not let me down.
The third polytunnel
was located out on the main field
trial area close to the Sweet Peas and had a small collection of melons
and aubergines where the inevitable Cucamelon could be found growing up a large mesh structure.
The call to lunch was made around 12:30 where we gathered for hors d’oeuvres before taking our seats at the tables. Commercial Director Tim Jefferies gave an interesting pre-lunch talk describing how Mr Fothergill’s coped with the pandemic and how they managed the huge demand for seeds when gardening was on the
up and up. 2.5 million additional orders were received during the pandemic meaning that most of the staff were being employed on-site. To accommodate the additional storage
Bell Peppers
required they have now moved retail sales to a new site. After a most
delicious lunch we were introduced to Paolo Arrigo of Franchi Sementi who have teamed up with Mr Fothergill’s to sell their seeds as part of
bag containing packets of seed for all 8 new micro greens plus Johnsons new pea Ruselago and seeds for both Johnsons and Mr Fothergill’s Nerac F1 carrot together with a selection
of flower seeds from Johnsons and Mr Fothergill’s
24 Simply Vegetables
2.5 million additional orders were received during the pandemic
the Mr Fothergill’s range.
Franchi Sementi is one
of Italy’s oldest family-
owned seed companies,
founded in 1783 and is
probably the oldest seed
company in the world.
Paolo gave a captivating
talk on the history of
Franchi and the ethos
behind the company, including the sale of heritage seeds in order to keep these varieties going.
After lunch we were free to roam the site once again and before we left all delegates were given a “goodies”
new range for 2022. Also included was Mr Fothergill’s Tough Lawn grass seed containing
a proven blend of
dog patch resistant perennial ryegrasses (I shall be interested to see if it works where my bulldog urinates),
some D.T.Browns Plant invigorator, D.T.Browns Tomato Fertiliser & Biostimulant and finally a nice pair of pruning snips.
before we left all delegates were given a “goodies” bag