Flavour, that's what it's all about! - The second instalment of author and expert tomato grower Terry Marshall’s top tips...

It is no longer gardening as usual but there are lots of solutions to be found from the natural world and there is plenty of hope. I will be sharing tips every month here on everything to do with building and boosting soil health, natural pest control, seed saving, water and money saving and much more besides.

How bracken is made into compost

In a pan, gently heat the vinegar, water, salt and sugar (if using) and simmer until everything has dissolved. So, let’s welcome in winter with a celebration of rich harvests and warm suppers. Carve goulish faces on homegrown pumpkins, collect precious seeds and look ahead to a new growing season. While I found the harvest from the ‘Honeycomb’ tomato plants that were grown in the ground and mulched with Dalefoot Composts Wool Compost for Tomatoes had their harvest improved by 54% in 2019 (Compared to the harvest achieved by my ‘Honeycomb’ tomato plants in 2018 – when the plants were mulched with Dalefoot Composts Double Strength Wool Compost). I enjoy growing cherry, small, medium sized, and larger plum tomatoes. Last year I trialled Dalefoot Composts Tomato Compost for the first time. I took this photograph of the Trial on the 30th August 2019.

Peat has traditionally been used as a growing medium since at least the mid twentieth century. But while gardens flourished, peatlands (which form over thousands of years) were withering away to nothing, and with them a valuable ecosystem, flood risk mitigator and carbon store vanished too. It’s thought that, in the last century, more than 95% of British peatland has been destroyed or is in a degraded state. PANNIER PLANTING - looking to maximise growing space? Tomatoes can take up less space when grown through 15cm slits cut into each outward facing side of the bag of Wool Compost™ for Tomatoes – folded in half, straddled over a fence or rail ie. “pannier”. The strategically positioned air holes at either end of the bag enable excess water to drain whilst retaining a saturated reservoir for the tap root to access water. This will help reduce the risk of ‘blossom end rot’. Peat compost is usually more assured compost than peat free alternatives, though as manufacturers continue to create compost with different materials, this may change. Beware of any peat free composts that do not state their ingredients on the bag. What are the disadvantages of peat compost?

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Happy climate change savvy growing Kim x .................................................................................. Kim’s climate change savvy gardening tips for August Having chosen your method and growing position water your seedlings well the day before planting. Growing tomatoes indoors: With so many varieties of tomato available which ones shall we choose? After carefully reading the details of variety, size, colour, flavour, early or main crop, disease resistance, cordon, bush, dwarf or family preferences! Tomato plants are known as ‘gross feeders’ but at this stage of their lives they need a potting compost that will feed the developing plant without being too strong that it inhibits extensive root development. Dalefoot Compost for vegetables and salads does this admirably and remains moist between watering. Keeping the structure of the soil intact allows fungi, worms and other soil life to create tiny tunnels in the soil, which creates a superb soil structure, increases drainage and oxygenates the soil. Mycorrhizae networks remain intact, connecting all of the plants in a symbiotic relationship which aids plant and soil health. Digging breaks up and destroys this balance in the soil. Stopping digging enables the soil to recover and thrive.

You may see composts formulated for veg growing. These are very similar to multipurpose composts, but may have a slightly different balance of nutrients. Some are excellent, some are less good. Look at our grow bags results.Next, I covered the area with card, making sure it overlapped to discourage weeds from sneaking through, and watered it well. The indicators are we are in for further droughts and dry spells this year with El Niño. To help protect plants and reduce the amount of watering you need to do, healthy soil is absolutely key. My private water supply keeps running extremely dry each summer so my plants in the ground have at times made do with no watering at all for weeks, here’s how to build resilience from the ground up: Natural pest control is truly a climate change savvy gardener’s ally in so many ways and nature’s finest predators can be encouraged in with gusto in relatively simple ways for free. To turn your outside space into a more balanced eat and be eaten ecosystem means it is then harder for one potential plant muncher to proliferate. When you consider that greater risk of pest and disease is unfortunately one of the biggest challenges with our changing climate it has become more important than ever to encourage and protect biodiversity close to home. Concerns around the environmental damage caused by peat extraction has led to a ban of peat compost in the UK, effective from the end of next year. Environmental and wildlife groups have flagged the CO₂ emissions that are released in the peat extraction process, as well as the loss of biodiversity that occurs in the peat bogs. There's also worries around an increased risk of wildfires because the extraction of peat leaves the land dry. Why won't my tomatoes ripen? This is a cry often heard during a prolonged spell of dark cool summer weather. Firstly, are the fruits old enough? Then, are they warm enough? To increase the flow of warm air that is available in the greenhouse, remove the bottom leaves up to the first truss. From now on for the rest of the season regularly remove the leaves up to a ripening truss. Cut through the collar of the leaf’s petiole where it joins the stem with a sharp knife. When this is done early in the day the wound has time to callus over before nightfall to minimise the risk of disease entering. When leaves are merely broken off, the larger wound surface area is open to any bought in Botrysis cinarea spores that may be floating about, and these will enter the wound and rapidly multiply and eventually eat right through the stem, producing millions of spores before the season's end.