That's gardener Marlena Welch's amused admission in explaining how she was able to win the Bathurst East Rotary Club's tomato growing competition this year.

The annual contest, which is run to raise money for Daffodil Cottage, asks the city's gardeners to race each other to see who can be the first to grow a ripe tomato.

Mrs Welch won that race last Tuesday.

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The competition doesn't impose any restrictions on its participants, so Mrs Welch was free to make use of the hothouse on her Cambewarra Court property.

"And my little secret was that I put a heater on [in the hothouse] in winter," she said.

"That's why our electricity bill was up a bit."

The tomato plant that produced the winner was self-seeded, so Mrs Welch said it was hard to say exactly when the plant started growing, but she estimated it was March or April.

She found the winning tomato, along with a number of others that were also ripe, "hiding underneath" part of the plant last Tuesday.

Robin Price of the Bathurst East Rotary Club said there were 80 entries in the competition this year.

Entrants pay $5 to take part and every dollar raised is matched by the Rotary club, Mr Price said.

Proceeds go to Daffodil Cottage, which Mr Price said was "Bathurst's favourite charity".