#ricinuschallenge2017 Competion 2 packets of T&M seeds to win!

 #ricinuschallenge2017

Some of my efforts at growing Ricinus communis

It started out as a conversation on Twitter, id logged on to see it already in midflow between 3 Tweeps id known for a while. They were comparing their success at growing Ricinus communis, I came in at the point where "Thecynicalgardener" @joon123  said to "Alison levey"@papaver & "Garden warrior" @ToBoldlyGrow  she felt a challenge coming on!

Wild Ricinus in Rhodes

Ricinus at Oxford Botanical Gardens

Ricinus in the red border at Hidcote

I'm always up for a challenge and I love growing Ricinus but it can be notoriously tricky to get it to perform, suddenly an idea exploded in my head!

What if we could get this to be a nationwide challenge?

What if we could get gardeners growing Ricinus all over the country and recording their results?

What growing conditions, sowing times, feeds, planting out times etc give the best results?

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!
I quickly tweeted "Lets do this! #ricinuschallenge2017" .... and so the dream was born!


This is where you come in

I'm asking gardeners all over the country to grow & record their results in the coming year. Then send me a few details on how you grew your plants, where you are in the country etc. to help us correlate the data and give us a good idea of how to get the best success with this amazing exotic in the UK, I'll be producing a questionnaire for you to fill in in the next few days (just as soon as I can work out an efficient way of distributing it!) so the results can be measured in a uniform manner and if you could include any pictures of your plants that would be amazing (you would of course retain all rights to these pictures!)


Thompson & Morgan have very kindly said they will give away 2 packets of seeds to help us in this venture, this is SO exciting!

All you have to do is email me at loujnicholls@googlemail.com with the #ricinuschallenge2017 as your header, include your name and address, so I can post them to you and the first 2 people will receive a packet of 6 Ricinus communis "Impala" seeds worth £3.99.

 Thompson & Morgan Ricinus communis impala

 Other suppliers are of course acceptable in the challenge as are self saved seeds.

Sorry to those of you outside the UK I can only send seeds within the country but you can of course still take part in the challenge!