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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Cabbage carnage


I found this photo on the t'interweb and it made my blood boil. If I had come back after judging to find my cabbages mutilated in such a way I would have thrown a monumental titfit and as you all know I'm a placid kind of fella. I know why this has been done but it is totally wrong. This subject was in the gardening press recently with some judges calling for every exhibit to be cut to check for various internal diseases. Can you imagine what a showbench would look like in the wake of such a ruling? Thankfully, the NVS is leading the way on this and is now advocating that not even beetroot should be cut as there simply is no need to check for internal white rings with today's modern varieties.

The way I see it is there is a clue in the word 'showbench'. It is a SHOW. The public come to see veg that has been grown to perfection. There may well be a bit of rot deep within that perfect onion you see marvelously presented but so what? You cannot see it so what's the problem? At that moment in time they are the best looking. In another month the rot may well have grown and rendered the bulb useless. At a beauty pageant the winning beauty queen is the best looking bird on that day. You don't cut her in half to see if she has the start of lung cancer or something and then award the title to the minger who came 2nd do you?

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Waste not want not

Apparently, the Jeremy Vine radio show has been discussing the subject of urinating on your compost heap all week in the light of this story........

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2009/nov/13/composting-urine

I've actually been doing this for many years. I pee into an old watering can and then pour it onto my compost heap. This helps kick start the composting process.

However, a word of warning from past experience.....don't wait until the watering can is full. It can take several weeks to fill a standard watering can by which time it smells worse than Venus Williams' tampon.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Westminster Bridge

I love this.......In the mornings, these aptly-shaped shadows all point to the West side of the bridge, which is the side of the Houses of Parliament.



If anyone is interested I'm selling the spawn of Heidi on ebay.....rest assured anyone who has asked for some seed.....these will be in the post shortly!


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Giant-pumpkin-seeds-variety-Heidi-from-the-Sugababes_W0QQitemZ250528501538QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_HomeGarden_Garden_PlantsSeedsBulbs_JN?hash=item3a54a98f22"

Friday, November 06, 2009

Sleepers

Surely with a name like Nidal Malik Hasan the yanks saw that one coming? It just goes to show we all have to be vigilant these days.

However, GREAT NEWS. I was speaking to a bloke over the road and got onto the subject of my hobby. Turns out he's very interested and also very rich and he would like to sponsor a huge flower and vegetable show next year with big prize money for all classes. He wants to get as many show growers and their families in one big indoor location at the same time and give us all a treat.

If anyone wants a schedule he can be emailed at Alifatwahbinladen@Aljazeerah.com

Should be a cracking day out!!!