Square □ Tomatoes

TA DAH!!

2010-09-08T22:04:00.001+01:00

Square Tomatoes HQ have produced

their very first Square Tomato!!

Here he is, our first Square Tomato!

From the top you can see his squareness!

Here he is with his Top Tester Secret Society Moustache!

(Sally thinks this looks like Mr & Mrs Tomato sitting on a deck chair)

We wanted him to be a bit more square, but Sally accidently plucked him before he was ready. He fell off when she was checking the box. So when you check your tomatoes be careful not to pull them from the plant.

As you can see he's also red. All the other HQ tomatoes are green at the moment. If you want to try one of yours, maybe pluck one that you're not squaring and put them with some bananas as they help fruit to ripen and go red.

TOP TESTER NEWS

Check out Billie and Christian with their magnificent plants.

Billie

Christian

Good luck with your tomatoes and send in your pictures! Can't wait to see them.

STHQ

All Squared Away

2010-08-27T20:09:00.000+01:00

Get Ready To Square Your Tomato!

To cheat go to:

This Cool Website!

Sid Squares Up!

2010-08-27T14:43:00.000+01:00

This is it Top Testers!!

It's time to Square your Tomatoes!!

It's going to get a bit fiddly so you might need a bit of help from someone a little bit older.

This is what you need to find to get ready for the next step:

1. A PAIR OF SCISSORS

2. A PENCIL OR PEN

Mossy pencils!

3. A HARD CLEAR PLASTIC DOCUMENT WALLET
(You can find these at a stationery shop like WH Smiths)

4. SELLOTAPE

This is a sculture made entirely with Sellotape!

You will also need this shape... but I will tell you why in the next blog!

Go get your stuff and see you soon!

Sally

STHQ

LOST!!

2010-08-05T19:02:00.000+01:00

It's easy to get lost at sea and sail into SHARK INFESTED WATERS!

ARRRRRR!!

So how does Sally know where she is?

To help Sally and her crew know where they are they look at charts of the sea and land. On those charts there are lots of lines called Latitude and Longitude. These are imaginary lines that are drawn on the world to make a big grid.

Latitude lines go across the chart from East to West.

The latitude line that goes right round the middle of the world is called the EQUATOR, can you spot it on the picture?

Longitude lines go up and down the chart, from North to South.

The Prime Meridian goes around the world from the North Pole to the South Pole. This longitude line goes through the UK and through London. Can you spot this line?

All these lines are given numbers to help us regconise where we are in the world.

The EQUATOR is numbered latitude 0.

The Prime Meridian is numbered longitude 0.

So when Sally looks at a piece of equipment called a GPS (like a Sat Nav in a car) on the boat it will tell her the Latitude and Longitude of where she is.

This GPS looks like a mobile phone.

The screen that tells Sally her position looks like this:

See the big numbers at the bottom?

The N number is the Latitude - It tells her how far North or South she is from the Equator
The W number is the Longitude - This tells her how far East or West she is from the Prime Meridian.

So if Sally's GPS said

N 00'00.000
W 000'00.000

Where would she be?

Right in the middle of the world!

Sid Vid

2010-05-16T14:19:00.001+01:00

Top Secret

2010-05-16T13:49:00.000+01:00

The Top Tester Secret Society

There's a society, a secret Top Tester society, one that can only be entered with a secret hand signal.

We're going to give you the secret hand signal and then you'll have instant assess to this Secret Society.

Want to know what it is?

Only Square Tomato Top Testers will know this secret hand gesture, so if you meet another Top Tester you'll know because they'll know what the signal is too!

Look at out for the video in the next blog!

Sid Sells Up

2010-05-13T11:46:00.001+01:00

... and moves out!

Yes Sid the Seedling will soon be ready to move into his new home out in the garden where he will grow huge and bear enormous Square Tomatoes. So it's time to get your seedlings and plant them on.

Because Sailor Sal is wibbling about somewhere in the Caribbean we've decided at STHQ to pot on Stunt Seedling Sid a little earlier than he should go out.

It's important that you wait until your seedlings a big and strong enough before you move yours into their final pot.

What you'll need to collect:

Your Sid

More Compost (MORE! Crikey I bet you've never used as much compost in your life!)

A LARGE Pot

A Cane

Some Hairy String ( Wool will do)

(It doesn't have to be a big as this!)

Get ready to check in next week to find out what you need to do next.

Happy collecting,

STHQ

Nautical Not What?

2010-05-13T11:38:00.001+01:00

If you want to be cleverer than an adult then read this. . . !

This is Merlin, he's got a big brain!

In one our our last blogs we talked about nautical miles . . . but what's the difference between them and land miles?

Nautical miles are miles at sea, not miles on land. The reason why they are different is because the water hides the land underneath it, so we can't measure that accurately.

Also the water wibbles a lot so it's difficult to stay in one place long enough to measure it.

So some clever people many, many years ago came up with an idea to create a nautical mile.

They drew pretend lines on a chart of the the world and divided them up like a ruler. The lines on the ruler are the same distance apart. The distance between them = 1 nautical mile.

Can you see all the lines on this world?

Each line has marks on it like a ruler. The next picture shows you the marks on the line.

On a proper chart the distance between each mark on the line is a nautical mile!

Most adults don't know the difference between a nautical and a land mile.

Now you do!

Also ask them which one is longer . . . will they get it right?

The Answer is:

The Nautical Mile

Where's Sally?

2010-05-12T11:15:00.001+01:00

Have a guess, where do you think she is?

What do you think?

Any easier?

Try this one...

Poor cat!

***

Yes Sally's got to New York, and she's probably eating an enormous burger!

She's sailed 1371 nautical miles. How did she know that? She looked it up here. In fact you can calculate distances between places from all around the world, give it a try. Perhaps see how far it is from Hawaii to Kuala Lumpa, or Tasmania to Tanzania.

** COMPETITION **

If you want a challenge try calculating how far Sally is going to sail on her trip. Go to the website and find the distances from Jamaica to New York, New York to Canada (Cape Breton), Cape Breton to Ireland, Ireland to the Netherlands, then the Netherlands to Scotland.

What's the total number of NAUTICAL miles?

Email us the answer, with your name and and a picture and we'll put you up on the website.

Good luck and get adding up.

STHQ

See where Sally is - www.clipperroundtheworld.com

Sch-imples Sewing

2010-05-12T10:41:00.001+01:00

Ahaar Me Hearties!

2010-05-11T17:24:00.001+01:00

Ahoy there!

It seems I be taking our Secret Society to Sea! I got me pirate flag ready to hoist up the yard arm and I be off to Jamaica to get me some rum!

Actually, I just wanted to let you know I'm going to be away for a couple of months. I'm sailing in a racing yacht across the Atlantic Ocean until July!

I will be sailing from Jamaica, to New York, to Nova Scotia, Cork, then the Netherlands, before finally arriving in Hull.

The yacht is huge and they'll be 18 people on board helping to put the sails up and make it go really fast.

I've already asked my crew to be members of the Top Tester Secret Society - this is them with the Top Tester Tash!

This is only half way up the mast, but I've climbed all the way to the top and it is quite scary.

What's great is that my boat is Square Tomato RED. It's called Uniquely Singapore and if you want to see where we've got to, you need to check out the Clipper website. I'll be writing diaries of our adventures so you can read those too!

These are our bunk beds. They are very small.

As you can see I'm hiding in the store hatches where you keep all your clothes.

Because I'm away I've done some videos already and I've asked a ST expert to put them up for me. I've also asked Burt the Wonder Dog to look after Sid the Seedling and his friends.

Hopefully when I get back all the seedlings will be big enough to put in a big tomato compost bag. (It's a special bag for tomatoes, I'll tell you all about that another time!)

So, look after your seedlings, have a go at the next two projects and I'll see you when I get back!

Oh and I'll say hello to any whales or dolphins I see, I'll take some pictures too! And I'll try not to be eaten by a

SHARK!!!

Salty Sea Sal

Top Tester Secret Society

2010-05-11T16:32:00.001+01:00

More Secret Members!

2010-05-09T17:07:00.001+01:00

This Man is NOT a Member!

Amazing moustache though.

This dog is!!

Have you asked any of your friends to join the Secret Society? If so make sure they know what the hand signal is. Tell them to go back to the video to learn how to draw the tasche!

Super Seed Power!

2010-05-09T15:57:00.000+01:00

Your Square Tomato seedlings are slowly growing away... getting themselves ready to produce the most amazing squob-long fruit.

But check out these amazing seedlings.

Theses field are being planted but they don't look that exciting here -

But these are rice plants and they've been planted to grow into enormous field pictures.

How amazing!

Sew on... and on... and on...

2010-05-09T15:26:00.001+01:00

Simple Sewing

Everybody needs to know how to sew, even boys!

Whilst Sally is sailing the crew will sometimes have to mend the sails by sewing together any tears. Knowing how to sew is really useful, especially if you damage your clothes.

So you need to find yourself a needle, some thread . . .

Not knitting needles though, we'll do that another time!

You can try stitching a button if you like!

Find a small piece of fabric to practice on . . .

And get ready to give sewing a go!

It's Time to Meet . . .

2010-04-30T21:34:00.000+01:00

SID THE STUNT SEEDLING!

It's a tough job but one seedling has to do it!

Sid the Seedling

It seems the fabulous Top Testers are growing their tomatoes at an amazing rate, in fact way too quickly for Sally our intrepid presenter! Thing is, Sally's seeds aren't quite ready for potting up. Maybe it's her soil, perhaps it's her seeds? Who knows? (It's probably the over-powering smell of cake baking in the oven? The seeds like it so much they don't want to grow up and move out!)

Sally's Seedlings -
you can see Sid is the best seedling in the bunch!

Trouble is, she hasn't got a How-To video to show those Top Testers, who have EXCELLED themselves, how to pot on their seedlings.

So ... here at STHQ we've decided to do a 'Little How-To' instead and later on when our seedlings are ready we're going to post our proper BIG video.

We've nominated a Stunt Seedling (Sid) and he is going to take one for the rest of the seedlings, and go where he's never gone before... off into his own pot ready for him to grow even BIGGER and even STRONGER!

So here goes.

Potting On

You'll need the following bits of kit:

* Enough pots for all your tall, strong seedlings

* More moist compost

* A Pencil

Your seedlings are ready to pot on when they have four healthy leaves. The first two leaves are their starter leaves, a bit like baby teeth. The next leaves are their adult leaves. Only pot on the seedlings with adult leaves.

So repeat this with all the seedlings that are ready, leave the smaller ones to grow a bit if you need to.

Put your pots back on the windowsill, if you have room. If not they can go outside in a sheltered spot in the garden. Somewhere where there isn't too much sun, or too much shade, too much wind or rain.

Then WAIT!

They'll grow, just keep them watered.

THE NEXT STAGE WILL BE TO PLANT THEM OUT PROPERLY BUT WE'LL EXPLAIN THAT LATER.

Get dibbling!

Sally @ STHQ

2010-04-28T20:40:00.000+01:00

STHQ love this video. What do you think? Email us and let us know.

New to Square Tomatoes!

2010-04-27T15:50:00.000+01:00

Hey you're new!

Yippee!

Ok, so you've just come along to check out the Square Tomatoes site and you're not quite sure what it's all about yet. Well, scroll all the way to the bottom and start reading from there. It will all become clear.

Oh, and don't worry there's still time to plant your seeds if you want to grow a Square Tomato.

There's more projects on the way, so keep logging in.

Of course if you want to be a Top Tester and find out stuff before everyone else does just drop us an email at STHQ.

Enjoy!

Sally & Burt at STHQ

Top Testers & Their Tomatoes

2010-04-18T13:28:00.001+01:00

Well our TOP TESTERS are doing an amazing job!

Seeds have been planted and pictures taken.

Here's just some of our fabulous Top Testing Team!

Jed & His Pot

Katie with her fabulous tray of seeds.

Billie & her brother Christian

rock with their Tomatoes!

Remember get your pictures in and we'll post them up for all to see.

Our Seeds

The seeds at STHQ are already starting to grow. We'll be letting you know what to do with yours now they're getting bigger. Soon there won't be enough room for them to grow in the same pot so we'll have to transplant them.

Top Tips for your Toms

1. Turn your pots to keep your seedlings growing straight.

They like to grow towards the sun so if they look like they're bending over turn them round.

Wobbly Seedlings.

We need to remind Sally to turn them!

2. Remember to water them.

Not too much though, just enough to keep the soil moist.

3. Not all your seeds will grow.

Sometimes one or two of your seeds won't grow. It's ok. Don't worry, just look after the ones that have grown so they become big and strong.

2 big strong seedlings and 4 not very good ones!

Potting On

Check in later for the stuff you'll need to collect for this next bit. Sally will put a video up to explain everything.

Until then, Happy Growing!

STHQ

Lets Grow a Square Tomato!

2010-04-06T21:24:00.000+01:00

So here goes, watch the video, follow Sally's instructions and then you're well on your way to growing your very first Square Tomato!

Freaky Fruit

2010-04-03T21:01:00.000+01:00

To inspire us on our mission to grow a Square Tomato we've found some really freaky fruit.

Check these out!

These are pears and they've been grown to look like Buddhas!

The pears are given to people who are Buddhists, a religion millions of people practice around the world.

Star & Heart Cucumbers

Imagine having these in your sandwiches!

Whale Strawberry

Teddy Potato

Square Melons

The Japanese like to grow perfect fruit, they pack them in pretty boxes and give them as gifts to family and friends.These melons are a speciality and are very very expensive. They also grow enormous apples like these...

To get the pattern they stick a template on the skin; as they ripen the pattern stops the skin from going pink.

So go and have a look on the web and see if you can find some weird fruit and vegetables.

Email us the pictures if you find some!

S□T

Preparation Is What You Need

2010-03-30T15:19:00.000+01:00

Ok Tomato fans, it's time to prep!

Yes, that's right, we need to start gathering the bits and bobs we'll need to grow our Square Tomato.

So, Sally has had a chat with her Mum.

Sally's Mum is a gardener and she also has an allotment where she grows all sorts of vegetables. Sally asked her Mum when's best to plant the tomato seeds.

Sally's Mum said, "April's a great time to plant them. It will take quite a long time for them to grow and they need to be kept indoors for a

while so they don't get damaged in a frost. We have frosts all through the winter and sometimes it's still very cold in May so we want the seedlings to be good and strong before we put them outside."

So, we have the timing perfectly right, all we need now is the equipment.

This is what you'll need to find.

1. A POT (maybe 2) - a plastic pot is great, but if you find a clay one that's ok too.

2. Some SOIL. You'll need enough to fill your pots.

You can grab some soil from your garden, if you have one. If not you'll need to go to a garden centre with an adult and buy a small bag of compost.

It shouldn't be too expensive. Compost is good because it contains lots of minerals the seeds will need to grow big and strong. Sometimes soil from outside has had all its minerals sucked out by bigger plants. Seeds are clever though and they will find a way to grow, but you want to give them the best chance, so good soil is essential.

3. The most important thing of all - TOMATO SEEDS.

There's two places where you can find tomato seeds... the first is in a tomato!

Yes, a tomato is packed with seeds. Sally's Mum gave her some advice about these -

"The seeds in a tomato will definately grow but the slimey gunk around them may make them rot, so if you use these seeds you may need to wash and dry them first."

Sally thought this sounded a bit fiddly, but she will show you how to find the tomato seeds and dry them if you want to give this a go.

If you want to try an easier way we think buying a packet of seeds would work better.

Finally,

4. A piece of PAPER, some COLOURED PENCILS and some GLUE.

You'll need these to make the label so everyone knows what's growing in the pot!

***

Now you've gathered all your equipment you're ready to plant your seeds, all you need to do now is....

WATCH OUT FOR THE NEXT POST

because

SALLY WILL HAVE A VIDEO FOR YOU WATCH AND FOLLOW!

Top Testers

ST HQ will email you when the video is up so you can start your first challenge!

If you want to be a Top Tester,

email us and we'll add you to our very special list.

Top Testers

2010-03-26T19:38:00.000Z

* WANTED *

TOP TESTERS

Not just anyone will do!

You need to be:

1. Brave

2. Clever

Oh and ...

3. If you're a bit STRANGE, that's GREAT, we LOVE strange!

So, if you fancy giving any of the Square Tomato projects a go just let us know. Drop us an email and we'll put you on our TOP TESTERS list. The Square Tomatoes team will let you know when we've got stuff for you to do, then all you need to do is do it!

Go on, step up. You know you can!

S□T

About our Fish

2010-03-22T17:55:00.000Z

><((((º>><((((º>·´¯`·.¸ .·´¯`·.. ><((((º> ¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><((((º>><((((º>

Have you noticed that there are 4 fish in our fish tank? Well back at HQ we do actually have a tank of our own and there are 4 fishes in it. 3 yellow, 1 orange.

The tank does need a bit of a clean, but they're happy and eat a lot. We're frightened they may get so fat they'll need a bigger bowl!

><((((º>><((((º>·´¯`·.¸ .·´¯`·.. ><((((º> ¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><((((º>><((((º>

5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

2010-03-22T17:12:00.000Z

We have lift off!!

Square □ Tomato HQ is fired up and ready to go. Our presenter, Sally Kettle has eaten her breakfast. Burt, able side kick, hasn't really eaten his, he's got a grump on! All we need now is a project and a team of TOP TESTERS to try it out with us.

Well ... we have our project!

IT'S TIME TO GROW .....THE SQUARE TOMATO!

All we now need is our Testers.

Do you fancy it?

If so, you'll need to drop us an email (click here) and say 'Yes, Yes, Yes, I want to grow a Square Tomato.'

After that, it's easy. We'll help you find the kit, and all you'll need to do is take a picture of yourself, write a bit about it and then send it to us and we'll post it. SIMPLES.

Sally's going to do a How-To video, just copy what she does and we're sure your tomato is going to be a square-shaped success!

So, watch out for the next post...

* We'll tell you where to find Square Tomato kits.

* You Get to Meet Sally. (She rocks! She's even rowed across the Atlantic TWICE! The first time she went with her Mum... now that's just CRAZY!)

Signing off...

S□T