Harrogate T minus 4

Well now, what with my two local shows being safely tucked out of the way with a few confidence boosting wins under my belt I can finally turn my attention to what promises to be the biggest moment of my showing year, namely the inaugural BULLSHIT BLOGGERS Challenge at Harrogate this Friday morning. The Northern NVS collection of 6 only requires single specimens so it's an excellent starter class at this level for the likes of myself and fellow bloggers Paul Bastow and Dan Unsworth, plus any other top level novices that want to join us. Rules are 10 quid to Dave Thornton before staging, winner takes all decided by the number of points scored as marked on the tickets by the judges.



When pulling our veg and making up matching sets you will often find one superb specimen that doesn't match any others. Local shows may have a class for a single veg/flower/fruit as mine does, but invariably you have to leave it at home which can be a shame. This makes the Northern NVS collection class a very popular one amongst the top growers and I understand from speaking with a few that there are very often 20-30 entries. As for us, we can have our own little show within a show with the winner taking the pot and bragging rights for a year. Of course we all know it's gonna be me but I don't want to put them off, so as a little incentive and at huge financial outlay to myself I've come up with with this rather splendid certificate for the 'winner'.

I could probably stage a radish, kohl rabi, courgette, cherry tomato, ball of belly button fluff and a piece of snot as my set of six and still beat the Yorkshire batty boys, but I shall be taking it seriously and will be revealing my set during the course of the week.

Hold onto your hats, cos this one is gonna be a whole lot of fun, with some controversy, blood, sweat and tears thrown in for good measure!