Tomato update

My tomatoes last year were the best I'd ever grown and came about because of my desire to beat my friend Wendy at long last! There was only so much ridicule I could take each year! I therefore devoted far more time to them than I had ever done previously, to the detriment of some of my other veg, especially runner beans.

Having 'nailed' them last year this year should be easier.....but it hasn't been so. Because I had poor germination (only 6 came through on the original batch) I had to hurriedly sow some more in late April and these are well behind the others.......but I should get a longer cropping season because of that, and give me a better choice for the October shows. In many ways it has also helped my onions because they are all growing in the same greenhouse border......if I had planted all 14 or so tomato plants together the onions would now be getting swamped and therefore not ripen properly. So, by accident I may have stumbled upon the way I will grow them in future years.

I use three different feeds in alternation as soon as the first tomato is about the size of a pea. The first is the usual tomato feeds you can buy anywhere. The other two are liquid feeds I make from fermented comfrey leaves and nettle leaves that have rotted down in buckets of water for a few weeks. The 'stews' are sieved off and the resultant liquids bottled up. A splash of each feed is put into a watering can at each watering.

I water and feed into half lemonade bottles sunk into the soil next to each plant. This way the water gets straight to the roots and the topsoil is kept dry. This is because tomatoes hate dampness and much prefer hot, dry conditions. This is especially important nearer show time as any moisture in the greenhouse could settle on the ripe fruits and cause what are known as 'ghost spots' which are basically tide marks.....you would be downpointed for this on the showbench.

Again.....as with everything involved with 'showing' it seems an awful lot of effort to go to but when the judge is looking to decide between 2 or 3 'dishes' things like that can make all the difference.