The other day my wife brought home a couple of tomato plants that she had been given. Now me and my older gardening partner (let’s call him “The Sage” or simply “Sage”) do not have a greenhouse and had decided not to grow tomatoes as it is likely that the results in this climate would be fruitless.

Not expecting a bountiful crop a challenge has been set – the first one to grow a red tomato of at least 2cm in size will win a fiver off the other. My plant is here at the house while The Sage has custody of the other plant up at the vegetable plot. Now he has a south facing wall but I sneakily took the stronger looking plant, though looking at the plant below you may not have guessed it.

Well, the bet is on so the challenge has begun.