Page 14 - Simply Veg Issue 1 2016

Aubergine Cima Viola Chilli Katie
Fleece to prevent cross pollination Tomato Black Cherry
Cherry Tomato Mon Cherry Pepper Alma Paparika Tomato Trials
Simpsons Seeds
Kelvin Mason
At the end of August I visited Simpson’s seeds near Warminster in Wiltshire to look at their nursery and greenhouses which are located in the old walled garden of Longleat House, part of the Longleat Estate. Longleat is more famous for its safari park and Center Parcs
than a seed company. When Simpson’s took over the walled garden it was very overgrown and covered in rubbish; they
are now slowly clearing the area and use the greenhouses for growing the plug plants they sell through their catalogue and website in the spring and then for trialling
some of the seeds they sell and new
different for a salad bowl or to add a bit of colour in a trug display or collection it should be worth a go.
Moving onto the peppers the staff highly recommended Alma Paparika and as can be seen from the photograph shows a good crop of nice coloured fruit. Considering they have been grown in a growbag they are a very good crop.
Two aubergines that caught my eye and should be in the 2016 catalogue are Kaberi which produces egg sized fruit and a good crop. The other one called Cima Viola which the staff said was a very heavy cropper produces larger and longer fruit as can be seen on the photograph.
I occasionally grow the chilli peppers but nd I often don’t always use them especially if they are hot, but for
cultivars. In the greenhouse they had a number of tomatoes, chilli and sweet pepper plants some of which were being grown for seed and others that were being trailed ready for their 2016 catalogue.
Longleat is more famous for its safari park and Center Parcs than a seed company
those of you who “like it hot” Simpson’s grow and supply a cultivar called Katie which is reputed to be the hottest in the U.K. and as the photograph shows it is a reasonable cropper.
Where plants are grown for seed production they are surrounded by eece to prevent cross pollination by insects to ensure the seed collected is true to type.
The rst plant to catch my eye was a
tomato plant with a heavy crop of cherry
tomatoes called Mon Cherry which the staff
told me also had a very good taste; so for those of you who like cherry tomatoes this could be worth a try. Nearby was a purple coloured cultivar called Black Cherry which if you want something
The last photograph shows part of the tomato trial and shows the plants growing in growbags which are watered by a trickle irrigation system and fed through the same system.
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