I have a dream

This showing season isn't quite over but I've already made a written note of my initial plans for next season. As I'd always promised Leesa that I wouldn't be showing during our 25th anniversary year I had intended to take a complete year out in 2012. Since making the pledge she agreed (nay encouraged!) for me to do SOME showing but just not for the end of August/early September period when we intend to be out of the country on the honeymoon we never had 24 years ago! With this in mind I have therefore decided to throw virtually everything I have at the Malvern National in 2012, and specifically the collection of 6. I've always dreamed about getting a large collection benched in a National and so i'm going to take the opportunity to have a go next year and fulfil that dream. Having entered collections of sorts at Harrogate and Westminster I was able to see that I wouldn't be disgraced and so I may as well have a crack. I won't have to worry about leaving produce for later shows and can pull as many carrots and parsnips as I want to get the two sets of 3.

You might think it's complete madness to throw so much at something you have no chance of getting a ticket in (the place cards will be contested by a list of 5 or 6 suspects) but it's part of an ongoing 'apprentiship'. I made sure I observed how the top guys displayed their collections at Llangollen and Malvern with a variety of metal frameworks and boards and have made a note of the heights and girth I achieved with my own leeks and celery this season, as well as the length and diameter of my parsnips and long carrots so I'm not overambitious when I manufacture my own display boards during the Winter months. My collections at Westminster and Harrogate were all displayed in flat mode but for a National you need to be getting your leeks and celery vertical. Here is Jeff Parson's winning collection at this year's National.

I shall also not be bothering with runner beans in 2012. None of us in the family eat them and they take up a lot of room on the plot and as I won't be needing them for local shows I'll give them a miss for a year. Instead I will be using the land vacated to have another go at cauliflowers. I've never succeeded in growing great caulis for show and I don't really understand why as I have reasonably deep, fertile, moisture retentive soil. Jim Pearson is giving a talk on growing caulis for show at the Scottish Branch seminar in November so I shall be taking detailed notes. Mind you I took detailed notes last year on growing f***ing peas and look where that got me! I know a lot of people will disagree but I believe peas and caulis should be worth more than 20 points as getting them timed to perfection for show day takes much more skill than leeks, onions, parsnips and long carrots in my humble opinion.



Also, I won't ever be twatting about growing things like pak choi, radishes, turnips and spring onions again. I only bothered as I was trying to win a wager against Dave Thornton and needed a lot of these things for Westminster. Not only did they mean I took my eye off the ball with the 'major veg' in certain cases but I never actually timed them for the bench at London anyway so that was a monumental waste of time and energy. In 2012 I will be concentrating on 18 and 20 pointer vegetables, trying to time my entire season for one weekend in late September! How hard can it be?