Onions under 8oz

This is a good class to enter if you haven't got the facilities (as I haven't really) to try and grow the larger onions to compete against the 'big boys'.

I grow a variety called 'Tasco' and the key is to harvest them all at the same circumference in the hope that they will all come in under the 8oz mark. An added complication (thanks to metrication) is that some shows specify a maximum weight of 250 grammes which equates to 8.8 ounces! Therefore a compromise has to be reached until the schedule makers get their arses into gear so I settle at 225grammes which is just under 8oz.

Over the years I have learn to harvest Tasco at 26cms around in order to achieve this weight after drying and tying.

Other good varities to grow for this class are Toughball/Buffalo/Carlo/Canto/Marco and Bristol. However, each variety will have different circumferences at which it would be best to harvest them for the optimum weight.

The way I arrived at 26cms for Tasco was by taking one up when it reached say 28cms and weighing it after I had cut the tops and trimmed the roots. This told me that it was too heavy and that I needed to harvest at a smaller size.

The onions will not all 'arrive' at 26cms at the same time so you need to have the tape measure handy over a period of 2 or 3 weeks and harvest them as they reach your required size. They then have any loose skins removed, are washed, dried, dusted with talc and stored in newspaper or on beds of sawdust in a cool place such as a shed or garage out of the sun.

This needs to take place about 3 to 4 weeks before the first show so that they go a nice golden brown colour that the judges like. Trim the tops and tie with raffia and display on plates of dry sand in a simple arrangement like the pic above.

I've actually won 'best veg in show' awards with these onions when competing against all the other large onions, huge leeks and long roots. So you see.....if you can spend a little effort getting them to look good then you can compete against the 'big boys'.

Growing marrows for show

I usually start to get some decent marrows around about now as I grow the vines up and over some strong strings securely attached to fence posts as in one of the pics above. If you let them trail on the ground the botton side of the marrow in contact with the soil will inevitably be discloured due to the lack of all round light and probably have a few scratches and marks from stones or slugs.

Growing them the way I do means the fruit is the same colour all the way round and the judge cannot fail to be impressed. The only problem is knocking your head on them and the risk of them being blown to the floor in strong winds. The one nearest the camera is about ready for cutting (tomorrow evening hopefully) and the next one needs to catch it up to be ready for my last show in a little under 2 weeks. Hopefully it should be spot on. The variety is Blyton Belle but Table Dainty is another good one to grow.

Whilst at Malvern Autumn Show on Sunday I also couldn't fail to be impressed by the marrows in the giant classes......absolutely huge and ugly as well!

Geoff Hamilton

A couple of weeks ago I arranged for Nick and Sue Hamilton to give a talk at our horticultural society AGM and a very interesting and entertaining evening it was too. Nick is the son of the late, great Geoff Hamilton the former (and by far the best) presenter of BBC Gardener's World. The programme used to be presented from his 'Barnsdale' garden near Oakham in Leicestershire and was great for novices like me in that Geoff told you exactly how to do things in simple terms. I find the programme now is so frustrating as it flits from shot to shot in a bid to show trendy camera angles, and they try to pack far too much into it. Stick to basics for pity's sake! I feel sorry for new gardeners if they watch GW these days......it would have left me even more bewildered than when I started I reckon.

Barnsdale is open to the public and several courses are run throughout the year on various subjects. Despite being an 'organic manic' I feel sure that anything Nick runs would be very enjoyable and excellent value for money.

http://www.barnsdalegardens.co.uk/ie-index.html

The big clean up !

I only now have one show left to do in early October so the next couple of weeks will be used to clean up in the veg garden. Whilst I'm running around like a headless chicken getting things ready for the shows that I do during late August/into September then foliage, pots, secateurs, string and all manner of other items are strewn around the plot, leaving it looking like a bombsite.

I pride myself on keeping my garden tidy so I hate to see it in its current state. I shall also be making copious notes about things I shall be doing differently next season. One major task will be to erect a permanent bean fence. No matter how well you do the job in the Spring with canes and string, they always seem to suffer damage from September winds and this year has been particularly bad. I've not won a single prize for runner beans this year, which is most unusual for me. In truth, I've been so obsessed with getting my tomatoes right that I've not given my other veg as much attention as in previous years and it's showed. So I've settled on a permanent location and will erect some sturdy wooden posts by concreting some metal sockets into the ground.

I will also be sorting my seed orders as the catalogues land on my doormat. I will be ordering a mixture of the tried and tested favourites as well as one or two new varieties for the 2007 season. Therefore, I need to assess my successes and failures for the 2006 season very soon.

This Sunday however, I am off to Malvern for the Midland Branch NVS Championships as part of the Malvern Autumn Show at the Three Counties Showground. However good I might think I am at growing veg for 'show' the exhibits there soon bring me down to Earth.......they are simply awe-inspiring. (See attached pics)

Controversy!

I've always said that growing for showing is my hobby and I will never let a judges decision get to me. I've said to my wife that the day that happens is the day I should give it up.

A situation occurred at the weekend that I've come across every now and then that could leave a bad taste in the mouth if I didn't find it so funny. I grow Jomanda dahlias which are technically a 'ball' type, but I have from time to time entered them in the decorative classes. It's taking a chance but at small village shows I believe that you can enter them as a dual purpose bloom. Having said that, if I found that I had been given a NAS card (not as schedule) I would accept it and not bleat about it.

Last Saturday I entered a new show in Sileby that had been restarted after a gap of 10 years by Norman Byatt who had died last week as I have already mentioned in the previous post. I wasn't going to enter originally but felt that I ought to support the dedicated volounteers who had decided to go ahead with the show, and as I had quite a few dahlias I went specifically to enter those. I entered two vases of 3 cactus Kenora Sunset, a vase of 5 Jomanda in the class for poms or ball type and as I had 3 Jomanda spare I put those into the class for 3 'Decs'. A gentleman then approached me and more or less demanded that I remove them from that class as they were technically a ball and shouldn't be in the decorative section. He said that if I won he'd lodge an official complaint as he had entered that class also.

Now, if there's one surefire way of making me not do something then it's insisting that I do, so I decided to leave the vase where it was and let the judge decide. Looking at the competition I didn't think I would win but you never really know.

Anyway, on returning later that afternoon, lo and behold I had won the class in question! (In fact I won all the dahlia classes) And sure enough when the gentleman turned up himself a few minutes later he saw the 'red card' against my vase and went straight to the organisers to lodge his complaint. Like I said these organisers are all volounteers who give up loads of their spare time to help put on these events and when they have to listen to plonkers like him it must make them wonder whether it's worth the effort!

Chill out fella!

Seagrave Show 2006/Norman Byatt

The second show that I did over last weekend was at Seagrave in Leicestershire (see link to their website). It was a hugely sad occasion as the show's founder Mr Norman Byatt died on the Tuesday before the show at the age off 77. Norman was one of the most entertaining characters I have ever come across and it wasn't until his funeral on Thursday that I realised just why I liked him so much......the vicar said in his address that Norm was a Man. Utd supporting, pro-fox-hunting, staunch Conservative. I'd never known any of this before Thursday but it also describes me to a 'T'!

The show went ahead in his honour and I managed to regain the 'Smith&Byatt' Shield for most points in show, a trophy I have been fortunate enough to win on 5 previous occasions. It's also an incredibly friendly show, well contested and supported by local growers who are now coming from far afield. There may well be bigger and more 'important' shows on that day but I will always attend Seagrave because you simply have so much fun.

The after show auction conducted by Mr.Rodney Bint is now legendary. You scratch your nose at your peril for fear of bidding 20 quid on a jar of pickles! Me and the kids have been eating the cakes that we bought all week and there's still half a chocolate cake left!

Oh, and for those following the Smith/Hallam tomato challenge........I won again!

Collection

2 more shows over the weekend and one class I was particularly pleased to win was for a small collection at Littleover in Derby. You need a vase of 3 flowers (choose from dahlias/chrysanths/gladioli/annulas etc) and 3 sets of 3 veg (choice from about a dozen different kinds)

I staged 3 Jomanda dahlias, 3 Winston potatoes, 3 Cedrico tomatoes and 3 Purple Speckled french beans, managing to beat the guy who usually wins it by half a point.

The whole show is a credit to those who organise it and is always well supported, the quality of the flowers in particular being above most other shows of it's size. I staged on Friday night and because I didn't get away as early as I wanted it was 8.45pm before I got there. However, the organisers didn't mind waiting for me to finish and it makes the effort all worth while when you are welcomed at a venue like that.

One problem I've been having all summer is 'open centres' on my dahlias and was wondering if it was a cultural problem (i.e. my fault) or to do with the hot summer. I took the opportunity to ask a guy called Paul Harvey who is a top dahlia showman and a bloody nice guy to boot. He said he didn't know why it happened which was good enough for me. If it can happen to him then what chance have I got?

Leeks

I won with my leeks also. They're not brilliant but are the best I've grown so I shouldn't moan too much. It's been a right struggle to keep leek moth and rust at bay and I've had to spray constantly through the summer. If you go to some of the larger shows the leeks will hardly have a mark on them and they'll be twice the thickness of mine.......how on earth they do it I have no idea.

I shall have to invest in a polytunnel before too long and get the soil tested. One or two have also succumbed to onion white rot. Perhaps it might be best if I move house altogether....or else take up a less stressful hobby?

Dedicated to wifey.......

I would like to dedicate the pic on the left to my gorgeous wife Leesa (above)who spent 25 minutes (tops!) on Saturday morning preparing the trug of veg that secured 1st prize in the class. She has given me endless earache since for taking all the glory as the 1st prize card did not mention her name at all.

Apparently, spending 10 months growing, nurturing and cosseting the veg counts for nothing !

Why did I win this class?

Above is a pic of my winning parsnips at the weekend's show. My set is on the left and some discussion was taking place in the marquee as to why my set had won. The other 2 sets were undoubtedly bigger but perhaps not as uniform. Also, they could have done with a little bit more careful cleaning to get all the soil out of the tiny crevises where the root hairs grow from. It doesn't take long and can make a difference between a first or a second place card.

Parsnips can suffer from a rot called canker and any sign of it will also downpoint your exhibit. My set was clear of it but I think the other 2 sets may have had the odd blemish where canker had started to take hold.

Having said all that I'm not happy with the size of my roots this year. The cold, late Spring meant the 1st sowings failed and they all had to be scrapped and started again at the end of April. The quality is very good however and there is no sign of carrot root fly or canker. Perhaps the cold Spring had something to do with this also?

Sutton Bonington Show 2006

Today was judging day at our show and I ended up with 19 '1st's' but it was a very close fought affair. Everyone seems to have had a very good year and there were some excellent exhibits with a record number of entries. There also seemed to be a lot of new people having a go for the first time. I hope they all enjoyed it and had fun.

The only downside on the day was the weather with the marquee threatening to take off on more than one occasion. I just hope it's still there when the show opens tomorrow.

Another weekend, another show.

This weekend is my 'home' show....the one for which I have the most involvement, being on the 'Hort.Soc' committee. It's quite a large event in the village of Sutton Bonington and the horticultural show is just a small part of it. We get up to 4000 visitors on the day depending on the weather of course.

It's a 'closed show' in that you either have to be a villager or member of the society. I live a few miles away so had to join. On my first show 5 years ago I won the cup for most points in show which was the first time it had gone outside the village and I've won it ever since. Each year however, the locals are getting closer and closer and their exhibits have improved lots. I think it's probably now the best quality show for many miles around and I like to think I've played my part in that.

The show isn't open until Sunday but the staging and judging takes place on Saturday. I go round with the judges on Saturday afternoon and it's quite interesting to listen to them as they make their decisions........and you also pick up a few tips !

The pics above are from previous shows.