Raining champion

It's been a miserable day in more ways than one. I tried to pull some roots today in the pouring rain with a view to entering them at Westminster in the taproot class. However, my stumps and long beet were a long way off being good enough so I've left my long carrots and parsnips alone in the hope I'll have a decent set for Derby at the end of the month. I shall still travel to Westminster more as a fact finding mission fornext year but I did manage to cut some more decent tomatoes and along with my shallots I know these should be able to compete.

Yesterday was the 123rd Sturton Show and for the seventh time I won most points in show mainly because I picked up a few bonus points with some cacti and succulents. Most points in veg went to Ian Justice who put in some excellent leeks and long roots. This show was graced by Les Stothard who won the same trophy an amazing 22 times so I have some way to go to be mentioned in the same breath. He now concentrates on breeding dahlias with the prefix 'Blyton' and looks healthy enough to give the veg men a run for their money still.

I managed a 1-2-3 with the 3 sets of tomatoes that I showed at Malvern last week, although my NVS Midland Championship winners only came 2nd to the set that won me the novice class.
















I also got a clean sweep with shallots and one old sage tapped me on the shoulder and said they were the best he'd seen anywhere this season. He obviously hasn't seen Mr. Thornton's. I now need to select my best 12 to take down to Westminster.

And at long last I've managed a red card with celery. I accidentally found a way of cleaning these up without breaking any stalks as I was trying to wash the base over the bath. One fell out of my arms into the bath and of course the water supports everything. I was able to gently turn the plant round and round, cleaning up and down the stalks and teasing out any bits of dirt from between them without fear of breaking them off. I want to try and grow celery to a much better standard next season.