Homemade tomato feeds

This season has been another good one for my tomatoes. I've won 3 out of the 7 shows I've entered, and can't believe how I didn't win 3 more. On each occasion the judge's decision seemed totally baffling and that belief was reinforced by other people saying the same. I came 3rd out of 20 entries at Moorgreen which was perhaps the most satisfying of all the results in that the quality was very high and the show was judged by Gerald Treweek.....one of the now legendary judges from TV's 'The Great British Village Show'.

I put my improved success these last two years down to my feeding regime. I alternate the feeding with 3 different feeds. One is the usual tomato fertilisers you can buy from the garden centres and the other two are homemade 'stews'. I cut down comfrey and nettle leaves and soak them in buckets of water for a few weeks. The liquid is strained off into bottles giving the red comfrey liquid and the green nettle liquid. A capful of each of the 3 feeds in turn is put into each watering can at every watering during the season, AFTER the first fruit on the lowest truss has reached the size of a pea.

The only other feed I might give is a spraying of epsom salts over the foliage if the leaves start to turn a little yellow. This is a possible sign of magnesium deficiency, and spraying epsom salts on the leaves seems to miraculously turn them back to green within a few days.

Because of my feeding programme I've now won 6 shows in a row against our friend Wendy in the Smith v. Hallam tomato challenge after going several years unable to beat her.

My Hathern exhibits

Didn't put too many entries in at Hathern this year as I was trying to make a bit of point (eeeeee I seem to be single handedly taking on the World at the moment don't I? LOL) but still managed to come away with three trophies for best carrots, tomatoes and pot plant (for a standard fuchsia).

I did manage to beat our friend Wendy at tomatoes for the second year running, which is the single most important class to win in terms of avoiding 12 months of ridicule from her hubby Graham. And if I'd entered my leeks here instead of Moorgreen I'm sure they'd have won 'best veg in show' but that's the chance you take. Do I want to be a small fish in a big pond or a big fish in a small pond in future? Trouble is, if I don't put my stuff in at places like this there doesn't appear to be many other growers in the area and the shows will die....especially if the organisers don't help themselves by forgetting to send previous exhibitors a schedule or by getting the schedule completely wrong in places!

Quick Bank Holiday weekend show report

Well....that was an interesting weekend. I competed at Moorgreen Show near Hucknall for the first time and came away with a bit of a 'bloody nose'. It was a real step up in class to what I've been used to and I only managed to come away with a 2nd (for cucumbers) and five '3rd's'. The leeks and long carrots I put in would have won at just about every other show I enter but I didn't even manage to get a place! It was a chastening experience but a useful and educational one also.

I'll be publishing photos of the shows and looking at things in more detail in the ext few days. However, I would just like to mention that I did win the annual Smith/Hallam tomato challenge at Hathern Show again!

The Annual Smith v. Hallam Tomato Challenge

Last year you may remember I finally beat my tomato growing friend Wendy after several years of ridicule. She had somehow conspired to beat me on every occasion we had competed in tomato classes due to illegal drug injections to her plants and the occasional bout of eye fluttering in the judges' direction !

OH YES SHE DID!

Last year I devoted an obscene amount of time making sure my tomatoes were spot on and managed to win 5 of the 7 shows I competed in. However, much of my other produce suffered as a result, notably runner beans and carrots. So this year I've not gone too over the top on my tomatoes but I do appear to have quite a few reasonable looking fruits ripening and I'm hopeful of doing well again. One thing I've done differently to previous years is to thin the fruits out on the truss in order to give the remaining ones more room to develop. It does appear to have worked and they seem a lot rounder than usual without the slightly flattened sides you can get.

However, I'm sure Wendy and Graham have pulled out all the stops this year to try and put me in my usual place so we shall have to wait and see.....let battle commence !

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.

Seagrave Show 2006/Norman Byatt

The second show that I did over last weekend was at Seagrave in Leicestershire (see link to their website). It was a hugely sad occasion as the show's founder Mr Norman Byatt died on the Tuesday before the show at the age off 77. Norman was one of the most entertaining characters I have ever come across and it wasn't until his funeral on Thursday that I realised just why I liked him so much......the vicar said in his address that Norm was a Man. Utd supporting, pro-fox-hunting, staunch Conservative. I'd never known any of this before Thursday but it also describes me to a 'T'!

The show went ahead in his honour and I managed to regain the 'Smith&Byatt' Shield for most points in show, a trophy I have been fortunate enough to win on 5 previous occasions. It's also an incredibly friendly show, well contested and supported by local growers who are now coming from far afield. There may well be bigger and more 'important' shows on that day but I will always attend Seagrave because you simply have so much fun.

The after show auction conducted by Mr.Rodney Bint is now legendary. You scratch your nose at your peril for fear of bidding 20 quid on a jar of pickles! Me and the kids have been eating the cakes that we bought all week and there's still half a chocolate cake left!

Oh, and for those following the Smith/Hallam tomato challenge........I won again!

Which one of these drives a blue Chrysler PT Cruiser........and which one is far more discerning and prefers to swing from a tree? No.....I couldn't tell either!

I DID IT !!!!

After 5 years and much embarrassment I have finally beaten my tomato nemesis ! I'm too emotional to say anything else so I'll leave the final words to Wendy herself....

'Simon, I bow to your vast superior tomato-growing expertise. You are the master.'

Ok, I made that up...... but it's my blog and I can put what I want! On to 'round two' and the next show that we both compete at in 2 weeks time.

It's SHOWTIME!

Sorry for not posting for a few days.....had a situation at work that has caused some stress. You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to sack someone these days ........even if they're a lazy, lying, incompetent idiot who steals from you! Ah well!

Ok.....first couple of shows this weekend and round 1 of the great tomato challenge with my friend Wendy. 2 weeks ago I had world beating tomatoes....a few of the better ones have started to split but hopefully i'll have more than enough to choose from. I need about 36 in all to cover 6 classes at 2 different shows.....a tall order.

Other things have 'arrived' on time but others just haven't quite made it. My cucumbers need another 3 or 4 days for instance. In a previous post I mentioned how I protected the 'cus' with sheets of polystyrene to prevent the spiky foliage scratching the skins. Above is a pic showing this.

Both shows need to be 'staged' on Sunday morning and they're some 20 miles apart so a lot of rushing around is involved. For that reason, all of Saturday will be spent washing or preparing the exhibits, checking and rechecking the schedules and loading the car up ready for an early start on Sunday morning. I'll only be able to get the stuff for the first show ( which is at a village about 5 miles away) in the car so once I've staged there it's back home to reload for the other show in Leicester.

On Saturday morning I will 'pull' my carrots and parsnips. After months of work you finally get to see if they are any good or not, as until that point you just cannot see whether they are any good. They might have 'forked' halfway down making them no good for exhibition purposes.

I'll let you know how things went in the next few days.

The Annual Tomato Challenge

Each year for about 5 years one of our oldest friends Wendy has grown a few tomatoes in her greenhouse in order compete against me at our local show. The first year she beat me was quite funny and I was pleased she had done it. The 2nd year she beat me again and that was reasonably humourous despite the incessant mickey taking from her husband Graham. However, the 3rd year and she beat me again......this time it became serious.........and i'm in the market for a home-made car-bomb that will attach discretely to a blue Chrysler PT Cruiser !!!

Last year she chickened out (something about not having time because of building work) but I know she's growing some this year........and this year it's going to be different ! I have lavished so much care, time and attention on this year's tomatoes that if I don't beat her then I'm taking up stamp collecting.

I have adopted a cycle of 3 different feeds from the first flower set and the growth has gone completely berserk, giving me the largest and best looking tomatoes I have ever grown. If anything, some of them are looking a little too big. Usually around now I'm hanging ripe bananas in amongst the trusses to try and get some of the tomatoes to go red (the ethylene gas encourages ripening) but this year has been no problem.......if anything I need them to slow down a bit!

So......unless Wendy resorts to the annual steroid injections (Graham works for a major pharmaceutical giant) then first prize is in the bag!