I came first with this set of 9 'Hative de Niort' shallots at Leicester, as well as having an equally good set in my winning collection. I'm very happy with the shape and size of my shallots this season and will be quite happy entering a set of 12 at Malvern. They're 2" diameter and the biggest and best looking i've ever grown and yet they will be dwarfed by Dave Thornton's humungous bulbs from which strain mine have been grown. I shall have to make sure I stage mine at the opposite end of the bench to his.
Meanwhile tonight I had some good news at last on the potato front when I harvested some bags of a new variety called Blue Belle. I only grew 9 tubers to try it out and I must say I'm delighted at the shape and form. I've got a set of 4 for Sutton Bonington and another set of 3 for a Top Tray somewhere. I also got several smaller spuds for use in my trug displays (brilliantly arranged as always by Mrs. Smithyveg). Blue Belle has some gorgeous dark purple splashes on the eye end and I shall be growing this variety next season.....possibly instead of Kestrel.
4 comments:
I have alredy pre ordered my spuds for next year and chose Bluebell as one of the varieties. I have seen some on the showbench around here and they look brilliant
I've managed to get 4 sets of 6 out of the shallots you gave me last year and they're pretty good if a little on the oval side of round as I let them grow about a week too long..
So we'll see come Sunday.
Hi, could you please advise me on the possibilty of keeping and showing parsnips 2 weeks running. Also many thanks for the tips in your blog, which have helped me win plenty of cards at my allotment show. Rob Hawkes. Solihull
Glad to be of help Rob.
I've never shown parsnips two weeks running as they tend to dry out quite quickly after a couple of days. If it's just a one day show, you could try wrapping in dry paper towelling and store in the fridge, but not too cold.....4 or 5 degrees I'd say. I do this with carrots successfully so it may work with parsnips too.
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