Winston spuds sorted.....

The spuds I 'harvested' last weekend (when I cut off the tops and stored the pots in my garage.....see previous entry pic below) have been emptied out and sorted for size and conditon. The ones in the pic are the 'rejects', in that they are either too small, too irregular in shape or have blemishes making them no good for showing. But over 20lbs of spuds for the kitchen certainly goes down well in the household as Winston are excellent roasted.

The good ones have been sorted and graded according to which show they are being entered into, and stored away in pots of the same growing medium that they grew in to keep them moist. Each pot is labelled so that I can go straight to it the evening before the show. Only then will the tubers be cleaned and wrapped in damp paper towels. I shall probably cut the tops off my Kestrel potatoes this weekend and again store the pots in the garage for emptying and grading next weekend. Kestrel is a mainly white potato with purple splashes at the 'rose' end which means it is therefore classed as a coloured potato. It is very hard to beat on the showbench. Winston is classed as a white potato.

The pumpkin seems to have slowed right down and has only put on 20mm in circumference for each of the last two days so my plans for a whopper have gone right out of the window. I will probably leave it now until my last show in early October, although there is a young lad who shows there who always has to get his grandad to deliver his pumpkin on his trailor! Not much chance there then!

The windy, dull weather in the Midlands over the last two days has knocked about my beans and marrows. A nice bit of rain followed by gentle sunshine would soon sort them out however.

Also, my cucumbers have perked right up and I have several about 4 to 6 inches long. With the first shows in acouple of weeks they should be a good size by then, and all I need to do is to make sure none of them come into contact with the coarse foliage. This scratches the skins and can cause the judge to downpoint them. I usually pack little bits of flexible polystyrene sheet between the fruits and the foliage to prevent this. I will take a pic to illustrate this nearer the time.