Timeline
1 day to go
22 May 2006: An early start for the team today to make sure everything looks perfect for the judges. Today is also when the press come in and preview the show which is a good opportunity to get publicity for the college. Some press shots were taken for local newspapers and an interview was done for The Grower magazine. The Gala Evening Preview brought lots of enquiries and positive feedback about the exhibit. All in all a tiring but very exciting day!
2 days to go
21 May 2006: Today was spent putting the finishing touches on to the exhibit. All the plants were watered and checked over for any damaged leaves and fruit, interpretation signs were erected and all the gaps in between the pots were filled in with woodchip and moss. Mick Lavelle was also on hand to give the team advice based on his previous exhibits at Chelsea. At 8pm we decided we had done all we could and stepped back to admire the result- fingers crossed it will all still be there in the morning!
3 days to go
20 May 2006: Everything is carefully loaded in to the van. All was going well until we realised that the tallest tomato plants were a little bit too tall to fit through the door! The canes had to be cut and we just managed to squeeze them in. It was pouring down with rain when we arrived at Chelsea so everything was unloaded as quickly as possible and work got underway putting it all in place on the exhibit. There are lots of jobs to get finished so we all had something to do and by the time it got to 7pm we are all exhausted but the exhibit is looking good and there are only a few finishing touches to put in place on Sunday.
4 days to go
19 May 20006: Today the tomato plants were loaded on to the trolleys and wrapped in cling film to protect them as much as possible during transit to Chelsea. The companion plants and other bits and pieces are delivered to the site ready for the arrival of everything tomorrow.
6 days to go
17 May 2006: Work started today on the set up for the exhibit. After a long wait in a seemingly neverending queue, the van finally arrived at the Pavilion and all was unloaded. The shed is now built and the trellis fixed to the wall.... all we are waiting for now is some tomatoes! These are all back at college getting a few more precious days sunshine so they will hopefully be ripe for the beginning of next week - fingers crossed!
2 weeks to go
10 May 2006: Boards and paints were purchased for the main signs for the stand and painting is now underway. The rest of the hanging baskets were moved in to the large glasshouse and all of the plants were checked over to see what stage they were at. A count was taken to see how many of each variety are going to be ready for show week.
3 weeks to go
3 May 2006: The team got together to tidy up and hang the hanging baskets and check over all the plants to make sure all is going to plan. The layout of the exhibit was checked using the shed and garden funiture and other design aspects were discussed. We also had a meeting to go through ideas for the interpretation and presentation signs for the exhibit. Plans are made to source materials to paint and design the signs.
5 weeks to go
26 April 2006: A photographer from the Essex Chronicle visits the college to see our progress and interview the team members. Companion plants are integrated in to the tomatoes in the hanging baskets. We also potted the companion plants in to separate pots for display on the exhibit stand.
9 weeks to go
29 March 2006: The first batch of plants is re-staked to support growth over the Easter holiday period. Plants from the second sowing are moved from the propagation area and the final batch of hanging baskets is made up. Seeds are sown for companion plants - Basil, Parsley, Tagetes minuata and Nasturtium.
11 weeks to go
17 March 2006: More potting up of tomato plants! The first batch is now complete and put in a separate glasshouse.
15 March 2006: This is a busy week! Strong members of the team start the hard task of mixing the composted wood chippings and green waste to make our compost mix. We start potting up the first batch of tomato plants. The normal indeterminate cultivars go into 10 litre pots (possibly bigger than one would normally use, but the tall plants are going to need a bit of weight at the base). The determinate or bush cultivars go in to 5 litre containers or hanging baskets.
12 weeks to go
10 March 2006:
Desch Plantpak deliver pots and hanging baskets made from recycled plastic.
8 March 2006: Sponsors Hemcore deliver a roll of 'Biomat' hemp fibre matting which we will cut to make liners for the hanging baskets and pot toppers.
6 March 2006: Herb seed specialists, CN Seeds agree to sponsor us and we ordered a range of plants suitable for companion planting.
13 weeks to go
1 March 2006: The team gather in a meeting to discuss promotional material and contents for the leaflets. Ideas were also discussed to include a survey about companion planting as part of the exhibit.
15 weeks to go
15 February 2006: The second sowing of plants are potted in to 1 litre pots and placed under lights in the propagation area
17 weeks to go
30 January 2006: The second sowing of tomato plants takes place, again sowing 6-8 seeds of each cultivar
19 weeks to go
20 January 2006:
Tree Fella deliver our main compost ingredients- three tonnes of nicely composted wood chippings (made from tree 'top and lop') and one ton of composted green waste. Enquiries were made regarding some suitable eco-friendly pots and containers for the final display. We discovered that biodegradable pots were not available in the larger sizes that we needed, but a local company
Desch Plantpak do a nice line in containers made from recycled plastic.
20 weeks to go
11 January 2006: Plants from the first sowing were potted in to 1 litre pots. A coir based compost mix was prepared for this stage.
23 weeks to go
20 December 2005: First sowing of tomatoes takes place using lights on a propagation bench. Only 6-8 seeds of each cultivar were sown, with the objective of getting 5 plants each.
26 weeks to go
1 December 2005: A complete worm farm arrived from our sponsors
WigglyWigglers! Along with a kilo of worms (received with some apprehension from the ladies on the college reception desk!) and all other necessary ingredients. Requests were made to staff to contribute any kitchen waste.
Thompson and Morgan have agreed to send us two packets of every tomato cultivar they sell - which gives us 40 in total! An area of one of the amenity glasshouses was converted for plant raising purposes. This house displays a marked temperature gradient due to the nature of the heating system, so space was reserved at the hot end. Two 400 watt SON/T luminaires were installed to help the plants through the short winter days. The lights will be used on a timer for 2 hours, 16.00-18.00 hrs each day initially.
