18

18 is a significant number. For instance it's the record number of English football titles won by a team, currently shared by Manchester United and Liverpool, although Manchester United will overtake their pikey rivals at the end of this season, assuming of course that Steven 'utter scouse cheat' Gerrard doesn't do his usual trick and create a goal for Arsenal with a dubious pass-back like he did last season for Chelsea. No, i'm talking of course about 18 pointer vegetables which include stump carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, exhibition shallots and runner beans.

For show-growers making up collections they can be very useful if you have a shortage of 20 pointer veg, and indeed Peter Clark has often won the National by using quality cucumbers in his collection of 6. When well grown, getting 13 or 14 out of 18 points can often be a better option than getting 11 or 12 out of 20. One 18 pointer that isn't often seen on the show benches is the humble aubergine, in fact it's about as rare as seeing a Liverpool player who doesn't want to break a Man Utd player's legs. I've tried growing this veg for a few years now and haven't had much success, so I know it's well worth its valuation as an 18 pointer veg. At Westminster there is a class for veg over 14 points and less than 20, and Dave Thornton has won this a few times now with a set of three quality aubergines. The variety he grows is 'Bonica' and i've decided to try it by sowing a few seeds today in the hope of giving Dave a run for his money at Westminster in October, and maybe get a few nice specimens like these.

Text books say they can be grown in a similar way as tomatoes and given the same feeds. They like a moisture retentive soil that also doesn't get too waterlogged, and irregular watering can lead to blossom end rot much as it does with toms. I read a few years ago that they are best grown in large pots in the greenhouse and can be planted on a mound in the centre of the pot so that the base of the plant doesn't get too wet and rot. By planting on a mound when you water it runs away from the foot of the plant and thus you are able to give plenty of water safely. I've found that red spider might can be a problem so a regular mist of the leaves is needed and very often the fruits form but drop off before they get much bigger than a cherry tomato. Last year the leaves of my plants turned yellow quite early on in the season and although a regular spray of epsom salts helped a bit I think perhaps I needed a bit more 'oomph' in the potting mix they were planted into. I shall be using a more soil based one this season.

The thing about 'showing' is to learn from your previous mistakes and improve things bit by bit for the next season. It's much like life isn't it? For instance, if you left your car within 10 miles of Liverpool you would come back to find it on fire and all your possessions stolen by the thieving scouse bastards, so the next day you'd know not to do it again.