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 Moorgreen exhibits.

As I've said not much to show for my efforts at Moorgreen but the competition was at a much higher level than anything I've come up against before. I'm not a million miles away however and was very pleased to get a 3rd in tomatoes out of 20 entries.

The leeks I put in were superb....far and away better than anything else I've exhibited before but I didn't even manage a place, that's how good the 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed exhibits were. At both Hathern and Leicester leeks got 'best in show' but neither set was as good as mine were. Ho hum!

My onions looked quite good on their stands but could have done with another week's ripening. I came 2nd with a set of 5 onions at Leicester and reckon if they had been a bit riper also I'd have won the class, but even so 2nd is the best I've ever done with onions before.

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!

A different approach

The failure of certain veg this year should create some advantages in that I won't be rushing around the night before each show as I won't have anywhere near the same amount of exhibits to prepare. Most years I leave my spud washing until last and have often been scrubbing them over the kitchen sink well past midnight.....this year I have very few that are of a showable size. Hopefully, I'll be in bed at a more reasonable hour.....or else I might even bake a cake for the men only section!



I also have very few dahlias ready (if any), my runner beans are at least a week away from reaching the right length, my beetroot are all very small and my brassicas are so far behind that I've lost interest in them and left them to the devices of the cabbage white caterpillars.



Fewer exhibits should mean I can go at a more leisurely pace and enjoy things a little bit more. Therefore, I shall be concentrating on making sure my carrots and parsnips are as well prepared as I can possibly get them. The first ones will be lifted on Friday night ready for the 3 shows I have this weekend.



My weekend timetable will be something like this:
Friday night: Lift roots and load car with exhibits for Moorgreen.
Saturday morning: Stage at Moorgreen.
Saturday afternoon: Prepare exhibits for Hathern and Leicester.
Saturday evening: Attend gala evening at Moorgreen.
Saturday night: Load car with exhibits for Hathern and Leicester.
Sunday morning. Stage at Hathern and then Leicester.
Sunday afternoon. Attend Hathern Show. (exhibits auctioned off)
Monday afternoon. Attend Leicester Show.
Monday evening. Bring back exhibits from Leicester Show and go straight to Moorgreen to bring back exhibits from Moorgreen Show.

A hectic schedule ! But all worth it if I can pick up a few trophies along the way. My best year was 2004 (above) when I won a total of 18.