Yet more on.....

.......brilliance of me at Malvern 2010.....you will all tell me if you think I'm going on a bit won't you?

I was dead happy to get 3rd in shallots at the NVS Midland Championships. This is the first class where I saw I'd won a card and believe it or not I would have considered the journey worthwhile just on this result alone. There were over a dozen entries and of course the class was won by my pal Dave Thornton. He's pretty much unbeatable with shallots and he manages to get his about 65 diameter and still round. Mine were just over 50mm.

My shallots actually came from Dave Thornton 3 years ago so they have the shape if not his size. A couple of guys I spoke to felt I could have got 2nd as the second placed ticket seemed less uniform, but one of my bulbs had a bit of a purple tinge so that probably got me downpointed. I keep reselecting the best shaped ones each year for replanting and keep learning about their needs. I was once told that shallots don't need a lot of feed but I think that cannot be true. I had a lot of bulbs go out of shape (I've given these away.....still ok to replant but it'll just take them a bit longer to get good shaped stock.....can't have them competing with me just yet!). They go out of shape I reckon when secondary growth occurs. The minute the green shoots stop emerging from the growing point is the moment you have to get them up and I reckon for me this is the first week in June . I shan't be tempted to leave them in the ground to get bigger....I'd rather have slightly smaller bulbs that are nice and round than big, misshapen ones.

I also won the 12 shallot class on the Malvern side which had even more entries.....and yes before you say it Mr. Perry....Thornton didn't enter here or I wouldn't have won obviously!

In the meantime my wife informs me that her work screensaver is of me and the kids.

Here is mine!

As I end the third full day.....

............of my low-profile year long reign as the greatest tomato grower in the Midlands and Anglesey (and probably certain parts of Yorkshire) I do have to admit the debt of gratitude I owe to my wife Leesa. As I was boxing up the 3 sets of tomatoes that I would need for the various classes on Friday night I couldn't decide which set to enter in the 'big one' and so consulted her for her opinion. Straight away she pointed 'that one. It's rounder and more uniform'. It wasn't the set I would have gone for and so I do have her to thank for allowing me to become a legend in my own head.

She also constructed my 3rd place winning trug.

This is the second time in a row we have come third and as you can see from the first and second prize winners it's going to be a hard class to win. The winner this year was Allen Young and we sat with him at the Saturday night presentation evening (where I was awarded two trophies....not sure if I've mentioned that already?). Allen is a top grower (and bloody nice fella) and his name appeared in the tickets all over the place. Every vegetable in his trug was top notch so if we are to beat him I shall have to make sure I give Leesa nothing but the best to work with in future.

It was only just above freezing when we arrived at the showground at 4.30am and by the time she'd finished she couldn't feel her fingers. All in all I had a hard time persuading her it was fun....as you can see from this photo taken at 2.30am just before we set off!

I couldn't have become Tomato King (have I mentioned that?) without you dear.

4x4 collection class

No ticket in this hard fought class of about a dozen entries but I was happy that I entered a worthy exhibit. Dave Thornton also entered this class and amazingly admitted that he thought my set was better than his. That almost knocked me off my feet in itself!

You can choose 4 sets of veg from potatoes, stump carrots, 8oz onions, tomatoes and globe beet. As potatoes are the only 20 pointer out of those then they really have to be one of your 4. Stumps and tomatoes are 18 pointers and 8oz onions and beet are 15 pointers so ideally you only want to choose one of those.

My spuds were Blue Belle and this photo was taken late on day two when they had deteriorated. I wish I had taken one on the Saturday as I felt they looked quite good. One of my Sweet Candle was a bit smaller than the others but the skin condition was good. I shall be showing the better 3 of these at Sturton this Saturday.

I think this is a good class for people like myself to enter before they step up to the prestigious large collection class. I grew a whole bed of Sweet Candle just for this class and shall be attempting the same next season. Just one minor gripe. There were no score cards showing the judge's marks which was very disappointing and I know the organisers were unhappy with the judge's reluctance to do this. As a novice showing in this class for the first time I would have found it very helpful to be able to assess my individual dish scores against all the others. It's also educational for the viewing public.

Behold my magnificence!

Right, sod off you lot, i'm off to play with my new best friends at the NVS top table!

Only joking! What a weekend! We've not long got back from Malvern where I won the tomato class from 29 dishes, beating my hero the great Medwyn Williams into second place. We didn't get into the tent until gone 11am yesterday morning as the walk over the Malvern ridge ended up as a bit of a route march and took longer than expected. Leesa wasn't happy.

When we got close to the tomatoes I could see a red card close to where I knew my set was and didn't think it could be true. Then I saw Leesa's writing on the variety card and knew it was me and my legs nearly buckled. I am the Midland tomato champion.....unbelievable. However, as Mark Perry (Ciderman) said to me yesterday "This is going to make you unbearable now isn't it?" You betcha!

I also won the novice class. It's apparently the first time anyone has ever won the novice class and one of the main classes, although the great Trevor Last put in a joke complaint that as the tomatoes were judged 10minutes before the novice class I was no longer technically a novice. It was a great moment last night to be presented with two trophies by Medwyn Williams at the presentation evening.

So then guys here's the challenge. If I can do it anyone can. I want to see more of my pals having a go at next year's show and then I'll have a few more friendly faces to keep us company at the presentation evening. However, everyone at Midlands Branch were incredibly friendly and glad to see a new face amongst the cards. More on Malvern 2010 over the next few days but right now I'm bushed. I'll leave you with this close up of the greatest tomatoes grown in 2010 by the greatest tomato grower in the Midlands (2010)......and also the best damned looking!

All set

In the end my cucumbers didn't make it so I only have 19 entries at Malvern. But I've spent as long preparing them as I would 50 for a local show.

All the onions and shallots are individually wrapped in newspaper and I have 28 tomatoes and 24 cherry tomatoes also wrapped in sheets of toilet paper.















Leesa has excelled again with a blinding trug and will finish off at the showground poking bits of parsley and mexican gherkins in the gaps.

Now it's off to bed for a couple of hours kip before a 3am start. Should get to the showground around 5am giving me an hour and a half to get everything in. After a quick cuppa we'll be off over the Malvern ridge for some fresh air and amazing views if the weather forecast is correct.

Different meanings of the word 'wow' !

I am a happy chappie tonight. It takes a lot for me to impress my missus when it comes to veg. In the past I have often beckoned her into the garden to view my newly harvested carrots/parsnips/leeks etc and she will invariably say something along the lines of 'wow, great', in a manner that I know she really means to say 'you bald twat, you've got me away from Coronation Street to show me some reasonably ordinary looking root vegetables. What happened to that exciting man I married. Lord rid me of this tit'.

However, tonight I got a genuine 'wow' from her when I unveiled my plate of four Blue Belle spuds. They will be one part of my set of 4 lots of veg at Malvern, the other 3 sets being four tomatoes Cedrico, four Vento 8oz onions and four Sweet Candle stump carrots. Whilst I don't expect to be in the tickets I am really happy that I shall have display that will not look out of place in such exalted company. The Blue Belle have cleaned up very well and I'm really pleased with them. One tuber needed quite a bit of vigorous scrubbing but it came good in the end. They're far from perfect uniformity wise but I'm still happy with them. After drying off I wrapped each spud in some tissue paper and stored carefully in a biscuit tin to exclude light until Saturday morning.

I pulled 30 Sweet Candle and 20 of them were forked, but I did get a reasonable set of 4 for the collection. They cleaned up really easily and there was no fly damage. I also got a set of 3 for the stump class that weren't brilliant and are way off from being in the tickets as they are lacking in uniformity and one is a little lop-sided at the shoulder. However, I shall enter them anyway as I want to see how the skin finish compares to all the others in the class.

Keep it going!

With Malvern now looming large on the Smithyveg horizon I need to congratulate Kev Broxholme for winning a class of dahlias at Harrogate last weekend (any photos boy?). He's the first of my pals to win at such a high altitude and I hope to emulate him before too long with vegetables. Well done Kev. With that in mind I've vowed to compete at Harrogate next season along with my fellow blogger Paul Bastow the loser having to sleep with Ed Milliband. If neither of us wins a card I guess we'll both have to give him one. If we can just persuade Dan Unsworth to have a crack i'm sure he wouldn't be out of his depth with his onions and what's more we could all have our photo taken together for the cover of Nuts Magazine.


I managed to pick a few dahlias for the house and seem to have plenty coming for Sturton Show a week Saturday where I shall be pitting my wits against the new Harrogate champion! The white decs are Ryecroft Jan which has stood up to the recent rains quite well. The orange cactus is Ryecroft Zoe and I'm really impressed with the form on this one. I shall be trying this one next season for sure.



















And so Malvern at the weekend but I won't be pulling any parsnips as they simply aren't good enough. I have a couple of drums left ........














.....and a couple of drums of long carrots. I'm toying with entering some at the RHS Westminster. There is a class for 2 long carrots, 2 stumps, 2 parsnips and 2 long beet which looks interesting.















Elsewhere on my plot the runner beans are about spent. I really shall have to find some 10' canes next season as the string wasn't rigid enough and when the wind blew some plants were simply ripped from the ground.
















My outdoor cherry toms Sungold have been cropping heavily for weeks but have now succumbed to blight.














But my indoor toms Cedrico are still growing very well and I have reasonable hopes of staging a good set or two at Malvern at the weekend.
















And I heard on the radio tonight that Liverpool were playing Cobblers. No change there then!!!

Today has been a good day....

.......for a 12mile walk across boggy peat in the rain. We decided not to attempt the whole 18 miles round Kinder Scout but a shortened version ending up here on Mam Tor with the line of Kinder silhouetted in the background to prove how crap the weather was. My 400quid investment in waterproof clothing proved to be a good one.

On the way home I caught the last 10 minutes of Man Utd's win on the car radio. I, of course, correctly predicted our thrashing of Liverpool 3-0, although we did give Stevie Gaylord two goals to stop the scousers crying. Therefore, my celery Redstar can remain in the ground rather than my chocolate starfish.

This week I will be preparing my veg for the biggest show I shall enter this season, Malvern. I have a bed of 24 Sweet Candle to pull and I just hope they aren't all forked like my first bed was. I know I have no chance of winning (just like Liverpool) but I just want to table some exhibits that don't look out of place in such high company. At least I have a pint to look forward to from two 'pool fans, Ian Taylor and Mark the Ciderman. Pay up boys! (errr, we did have a bet going didn't we? LOL)

Celery lessons to learn

I came 2nd at Seagrave in the any other veg class with a couple of Redstar celery. These aren't great specimens and in fact I was beaten by my own courgettes, but they

did have clean foliage as I haven't succumbed to celery rust as I did last season. Celery is one crop I really need to learn to grow better.

In the past I've grown celery but not properly observed how it grows. You need to learn new things each year about your crops, especially ones you're not used to growing and I have certainly made a few useful notes about my celery this season. For one thing they are evidently gross feeders and I need to make sure I give them much more nutrients next year throughout the growing cycle. I read about one top grower who gives several regular dressings of cow slurry so I shall be soaking some well rotted muck in a bucket next season for this very purpose.

I also need to collar sooner in the early summer as the sticks haven't blanched very well. The plant seems to grow from the inside out so by picking off the weaker outer stalks as soon as possible it seems the stronger inner ones are encouraged to grow up quickly and are much wider for it.

And slug pellets are an absolute must. Not only do the snotty little bastards love munching on the sticks, but they like to live in the dark, damp atmosphere afforded by the damp proof collars. Once a slug or snail chews on your plant allsorts of problems can be introduced such as celery heart rot, not to mention the fact that the plant looks awful for all the tiny little teeth marks.

One final observation......Man U will absolutely stuff Liverpool on Sunday or else I will appear on this blog with a stick of celery protruding from my chuff.

Countdown to Malvern 2010

Today I posted off my entries for Malvern, 10 in the NVS Midland Championships and 11 in the Malvern Championships. Last year I did brilliantly, coming in equal 5th position with every entry I put in.

Once again I don't expect to get in the tickets but am merely using the experience to gain valuable knowledge going forward. Hopefully I can harangue a few of the major growers for some tips whilst I am there.

We shall be traveling down on the Friday night and staging around 4am Saturday morning. Then it will an early morning walk in the Worcestershire sunshine (hopefully) along the Malvern ridge before going back to the showground to see the results. On the Saturday night we're booked in at the Great Malvern Hotel so if anyone wants to buy me a pint and get me pissed you know where we'll be.

Seagrave 2010

My 'other' local show that I am quite heavily involved with was another huge success with 350 entries which was a record.

It's always well supported by the local community especially the homecraft and children's classes.

As for me, I got 9 red cards, most pleasing of all in the Top Tray class. My tray is nearest camera with 3 Vento onions, 3 Maxine spuds and 6 Cederico tommies. We had the usual yearly complaint from a miserable exhibitor who can never understand why his veg never wins. The answer is invariably that his stuff is crap. The stuff that he does occasionally win with is purchased from after show auctions. He's never actually grown it himself. Wanker. And if he talks to my missus again like he did on Saturday night I'll break his f***ing legs.

Another 1st for tomatoes. This is the only crop where I think I may be able to compete at Malvern in a couple of weeks time.

My winning cucumbers would have been excellent in a couple of days, being a bit on the small side, but they won nevertheless.

I managed to keep last week's winning leeks for a week by re-wrapping the barrels and keeping the roots moist in wet tissue paper. They came good for me and won again.

Last year we raised £1000 for the local Rainbows Children's Hospice and a representative came to collect the cheque and handover the trophies.

Despite winning 9 red cards, 5 more than anyone else, and a few other 2nds and 3rds I still couldn't get my hands on the trophy for most points. That accolade went to my 118 year old (approx.) apprentice Ian Taylor, who has learnt everything he knows from me. Bloody young upstarts! Next year the gloves are off and we have a wager arranged. Full details to be finalised but you'll need to be on top of your game next year Ian !!!

Ester weighed in at a disappointing 185 lbs or 87 kilos or 13 stone. Still big enough to win the heaviest pumpkin class as it was indeed the only entry. Here I am with a pal loading her back up in the van. She now resides in my back garden ready to be carved out on Hallowe'en.

This weekend I have an unexpected break as the organisers of another local show decided to change the usual date to a week ago and forgot to actually inform one of their regular supporters. i.e. MOI! I'm quite upset about that and won't be going to this show in future. I've since heard that the benches were way down on produce from previous years. Therefore, i'm taking the opportunity to go up Kinder.....and before Dan interjects that doesn't mean I'm performing an unnatural act on a chocolate egg but walking up and around the Peak District's tallest hill Kinder Scout. Should be a welcome break from scrubbing veg for a weekend.

Then it's off to Malvern for my now yearly humiliation amongst the big boys of the veg growing world.

Littleover 2010

Last year was meant to be the last show as the organisers retired after many years of sterling service, but happily Colin Nicklin and Graham Morley stepped up to keep the show going. I'm glad they did because it's always a high class show and every ticket you win is worth something. There are always quality dahlias on show and my pal Kev Broxholme was among the winners.

The one flower, one veg class always attracts plenty of entries. I've won this several times before but was let down this year by a poor dahlia, scoring 4 out of 10. My large Blue Belle spud scored 7 out of 10 however.

The main collection class calls for a vase of flowers and 3 lots of veg, 3 of each. Due to a lack of dahlias I couldn't enter this class this year, but I have plans to get back into the dahlia game next season with a better area in my garden to grow them in.

As for my veg entries I was delighted to win beetroot.......

......especially when you see how many entries there were. The variety is Pablo and the 3 roots came from my regular soil beds rather than the raised beds.

I also won the single marrow class with this Blyton Motley which was a superb shape. Sadly it's the only one I have. If I had another I reckon I'd have a chance of getting in the cards at Malvern.

My only trophy came in the cacti classes, where I won best exhibit with this Echinocactus Grussonnii. I won another first,a second and a third in other classes and a regular cactus exhibitor said he knew he had no chance when he saw mine. Crikey.....I only feed them once a month in the summer. Otherwise they are totally neglected.

In the single specimen any other veg class I came 3rd (yellow ticket) with this parsnip which I think should have won. It's a new variety called Polar which I'd sown in a few stations that had failed to germinate.There wasn't a mark on the skin whatsoever and the easiest to clean up that I have ever had. I shall be trying this variety again next season. The winning parsnip next to mine....although bigger was quite marked, and the 2nd placed leek was not only quite a small barrel the foliage was riddled with thrip damage. Judges eh?

Elsewhere I had disappointing seconds, in the cherry tomato class.......

.......the Top Tray where I showed 3 Blue Belle spuds.....

........and in the main tomato class which I was certain should have won. The calyces on the winning toms were almost yellow whereas mine were deep green. This year I acquired some soot from a friend's chimney which I have soaked in some water all summer. I have been putting a cupful in the watering can every third feed (Tomorite and Comfrey being the other two) as Charlie Maisey reckons soot water helps give a deep red colour to the skins and keeps the calyces green.

I won the 8oz onion class for the 2nd year running which is hard to do at Littleover. The best 5 will definitely be going to Malvern. They won't win, the skins aren't even enough, but they won't be out of place.

2 more shows.

Not long back from staging at Littleover in Derby where i've put in 18 entries.This is a lovely little high quality show where every ticket is hard earned. You have to put good stuff in to win here.

Tomorrow morning I shall be staging at Seagrave, a small village with a fun show that has managed to attract several good local showers. I haven't won most points here for a few years now so I hope to have a good go at this tomorrow. With that in mind i'm just waiting for my victoria sandwich to cool down before I can put the raspberry jam filling in. There is a very hotly contested 'men only' victoria sponge class at Seagrave. Now, ordinarily a man baking is a distinctly homosexual and Yorkshire thing to do, but it is a perfectly manly operation when performed for horticultural show purposes when there are important points at stake.

El ranto

During the course of the last few weeks I've visited several local shows as I try to form a Leics DA of the NVS. I did a search on the internet and found plenty of shows to target my leaflets at but was amazed at the lack of information some show organisers give. Some didn't give a name or number to contact which is surely a basic requisite if you want exhibitors to come to your show.

When I visited a few of these shows in person I also came across one or two where the steward on the door had all the charm of a menopausal rottweiler. I felt most unwelcome and a quick scan of the benches told me that the show wasn't as well supported as it should have been. By contrast those that made me feel welcome had a good feel about them and the benches were bursting with produce. The lesson is clear.... make your show as welcoming and enjoyable as possible and people will come every year.

I see also on Paul's blog that he went along to a nearby show to support it and he was told the 'locals' wouldn't be happy if an 'outsider' won most points (he had) and he now feels he won't be attending in future. Another pal, Paul in Cumbria, said his daughter had overheard some old boys moaning about him after he had also swept the board. I've heard this sort of thing myself and i'm contradicting myself to a certain extent by saying that sort of thing has made me even more determined to go back the next year and do it again. Some old boys think they have a god-given right to win the trophies year after year and won't give any credit if someone comes along with veg better than theirs. Paul and Paul.....they're not worth bothering about and as long as the organisers want you there then keep rubbing their geriatric noses in it!

Meanwhile, tonight I popped over to see how Ester was growing. I think she's on a par with Heidi last year in terms of diameter but not quite as deep, so I don't think she will match her 262lbs. Only another 3 days until she makes her bow at Seagrave Show. Bit of a grainy photo from my mobile in the dusky gloom i'm afraid.

Sutton Bonington Show 2010

A busy weekend. This is the show I'm most involved with being on the committee, and the one i've been most successful at over the years. It's also a large country show, the horticultural marquee being only a small part of the whole thing, which attracts some 4000 visitors the first Sunday in September each year. A true British tradition.

Yesterday morning and the exhibits start to arrive. My car was absolutely packed to the gunnels and I had to make a couple of trips back to Loughborough.

Inside the marquee there are classes for everyone to have a go at. We had 750+ entries although the veg was slightly down on numbers this year.

I keep the wraps on my carrots, potatoes and beetroot until the last possible moment. At this show I actually act as steward for the veg judges and I'd strongly recommend you do this if you ever get the chance. Following them round you pick up all sorts of tips and pointers as to what they're looking for.

Meanwhile, outside a couple of my fellow committee members are overseeing the hugely important kids' paper plane competition.

As for my performance this year, I got 11 red cards, 11 seconds and 6 thirds which is actually my worst ever result here. I got 1-2-3 in the onions under 1.5lbs.....

.....1st and second in shallots.....

.....and first with the leeks. These were closely pipped for best veg by John Barton's superb parsnips. I think a little pest damage on the leaves went against me.

I got a 1st with my long carrots. These were actually saved from Leicester last week......

......as were my 2nd and 3rd placed stump rooted carrots. The stumps that beat me were absolutely humungous.

I won both potato classes, winning the coloured class with these Blue Belle. I shall definitely be growing this variety again and giving them plenty of TLC.

It's been a few years since I've won with french beans, but I followed up 2nd place at Leicester last week with 1st and 2nd here.

I'm on a roll with Cederico tomatoes. These were all taken from the bottom two trusses and I have some real crackers to come once they ripen. I think I should definitely have a set for Malvern.

The mexican mouse melons caused a lot of interest, and as at Leicester last week we had to put a label on them to stop people coming to the hort. soc. bench and asking what they were.

Lots of big marrows and pumpkins this year, but I saved Ester to grow for another week. She should make her bow at Seagrave on Saturday. If she carries on growing at the pace she is now, I reckon she could outweigh Heidi from last year.

Leesa demanded a mention for her expertise in arranging my winning trug. Brilliantly done as always darling......but she does of course require top quality veg grown to perfection by a master of his art!!!

So for the 9th time in 10 years I won most points in show and collected the trophy from the Mayor of Rushcliffe.

And if I can just give myself a pat on the back, I've been inundated with texts and emails the last few days from several of my show growing pals thanking me for advice given over the last few years as they all won prizes at their own shows. The next best thing after winning yourself is providing winning advice to your pals, so well done to (amongst others) Paul Wlodarczak in Cumbria (cracking parsnips mate), Rob in Solihull, Craig in Ibstock and Paul Bastow and Dan Unsworth at their mutual gay Yorkshire love-in.

http://paulsallotmentblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/dan-cleans-up-at-ingleton.html

Well done one and all.