Joy Michaud

We have been selling seeds to the Eden Project for years for a capsicum display in the Mediterranean Dome. So we took a trip to Cornwall to see it. Our chillies look great, and the labelling gives us full credit for varieties we bred. #chillies #edenproject

We found this cabbage white caterpillar on the netting surrounding our kale. It had succumbed to an attack of parasitic wasps, which themselves became enclosed in yellow cocoons after doing their job. Too bad there are not more of these wasps around.

We produce seed of over a 100 Capsicum varieties, all grown behind screens to stop any cross pollination. But elsewhere, where we are not producing seed, we encourage these lovely friends as much as we can. #seeds #chillies #capsicum

Every year since 2021, we've donated chilli seed to the Iwerne Horticultural Society; this year it was 'Pixie Lights'. Interested members raise a plant then enter it into the Iwerene Horticultural Show. This summer there were 13 entries, producing an impressive set of plants.

Anyone desperate to satisfy their heat fix will be pleased to know we have now started selling fresh fruit of Dorset Naga. To buy go to seaspringseeds.co.uk/product… #chillies #DorsetNaga #seeds

Extracting seeds from our Bangladeshi cucumbers, "Keera". #cucumbers

Speedo carrots growing in one of the bathtubs we keep by the back door of our house. Despite the weather, they have performed extremely well from a 19 April sowing. Today we harvested an excellent yield of large-sized roots from just a 60cm row.

Tomorrow we're off to the Great Dorset Chilli Festival. At 12 noon Joy will be giving a talk on Top Ten Tips for Growing Chillies, while later in the day Michael will be judging the chilli growing competition sponsored by Sea Springs Seeds and Simpson Seeds.

We are growing long-fruited snake gourd for seed production in one of our polytunels. They are heat lovers that originate in the tropics, and are popular in Asian cooking. They are eaten at about this size, but will get much longer when grown to maturity.

Tiny Tim tomato. Probably the smallest tomato plant there is. They taste ok, but plants only produce up to 50 small fruit. But they are cute! #tomatoes #seaspringseeds #tinytim