Caption: Pauline Pears' Lizzano Tomatoes
Caption: Pumpkin Beth's Tomatoes
Caption: Pannier tumblers - Terry Marshall
2019 has been the Year of the Tomato here at Dalefoot Composts. We launched our no-feed Wool Compost for Tomatoes at Chelsea in May and have been amazed at the uptake in the market. Now is the time to report back as it’s also Organic September: Organic September is a month-long campaign run by The Soil Association designed to encourage more people to try organic as a way to promote and educate people about organic food & farming practices.
The feedback to our Wool Compost for Tomatoes has been overwhelmingly positive. The most common theme has come from growers who have been happy to save themselves the bother of buying and using additional feed:
‘I love your new Tomato Compost…My tomatoes are thriving’ See picture of Lizzano Tomatoes, July 2019. Pauline Pears.
She adds, ‘I love the fact that I don't have to feed them – one of my least favourite jobs’. Pauline is the author of The Organic Book of Compost.
In a similar vein, horticultural blogger, Beth Otway has grown cherry tomatoes this year. Her plants put on lots of healthy growth and have set plenty of fruit. They have been slower to ripen this year due to sowing seed slightly later than normal and lower light levels for a few weeks in July and August.
Beth says, ‘I’ve attached some photographs I’ve taken of the Tomato Honeycomb plants that I’ve grown in Dalefoot Tomato Compost. I am looking forward to enjoying the fruits as they ripen over the coming weeks.’
Beth adds, ‘I am a passionate advocate for going peat free. I’ve always been a peat free gardener, but I’ve not always managed to find good quality peat free compost. To search for good quality peat free products, I run peat free Compost Trials every year. Dalefoot Composts have been the top performing compost brand, in all of my trials to date.'
Thanks Beth! It’s dedicated growers like you who have inspired so many gardeners to go peat-free with your excellent results. You can follow Beth’s trials here.
If you fancy growing heart-shaped Tomatoes next year then try Rienhards Purple Heart. Master Tomato Grower, Terry Marshall has had stunning results with this variety.
Terry is also author of Tomatoes; The Inside Story, he repeatedly astounds us at Dalefoot Composts with his reliable and plentiful tomatoes. For those of us at beginners' level, he would recommend trying a bush variety like Tumbler. The photo opposite shows two Tumbler plants growing in our Tomato Compost used pannier-style over a post. As you can see, there’s plentiful fruit and no need to pinch out makes Tumbler ideal for novices. It’s so simple as the compost contains all the food you need, so just add water!
Terry sends us pictures taken on his ‘old-school’ camera so we’ve scanned this one in to share with you.
We’d like to make a photo gallery of tomatoes you’ve grown in our Tomato Compost this year, please email us your pictures to lizzi@dalefootcompost.co.uk.
Juliet, Dalefoot Composts. 2019