Trug-a-lug, keep the sand in the tub

The trug class at any show just seems to get more and more popular. There were 13 entries at Harrogate this year and when Leesa placed ours on the bench I think we both felt we would be out of the tickets for once, and got on with our other exhibits. However, we were very wrong and came back to a 2nd place ticket and a very useful 30 quid in the back pocket! Having more time after judging I was able to run a judge's critical eye over the exhibits and realise that the judge had made a good call and taking that little bit of extra time prepping the veg that I give to Leesa paid off, although it does help to have someone with an outstanding eye for design! Most entrants had merely piled a lot of veg very high so I think a little thought and careful veg placement catches the judge's eye very often.

We've bought a brand new wicker trug for Malvern where there are no dimension stipulations, and having come 3rd here for the past three years we're hoping to go at least one better. However, this is the winning trug from last year, exhibited by a Mr Porter so you can clearly see there's a very, very high standard.

I had a decent weekend for my wallet. Leesa is anti-gambling so it was with some consternation that she witnessed people chucking money in my direction over the weekend (if it had been the other way I'd have done it without her seeing). As well as winning the 3x2 (BBC) against Dan Uddersworthy and Paul Bastardfeatures and a tenner from each to boot, I had a last minute bet with Dave Thornton that i'd beat him him in the National Carrot Championships. I'd lost money to Dave the past couple of seasons when we had a yearly 20 quid side bet on accumulated points during the season and he'd beaten me hands down. When I'd pulled my long carrots I knew I had a pretty good entry and just before I washed them in the bath I picked up an email from Dave asking if we were having a bet this season? I cheekily suggested the Carrot Championships and of course he bit my hand off as he's never seen me produce decent long carrots since i've known him. His hangdog face was a picture when he saw me staging mine next to his and it was a superb moment when I finally saw him open his wallet to hand over the crisp 10 pound note. This is an end view of the National Carrot Championships, Dave's entry nearest camera and mine next up.

I guess I only have two or three decent long carrots left to pull, judging by the tops, and I was very lucky that the 5 I pulled for Harrogate seemed like peas in a pod, and I had no need to keep pulling any more. I won't be entering long carrots at Malvern where you need 5 but I may have an entry of 3 at Westminster a week or so afterwards. It took a text from Dan to remind me that I'd not actually bothered emptying out my drums this season as time was against me and I wasn't that fussed about long carrots this season. If that is the result then I am seriously tempted to not bother emptying out any of my drums and beds this Winter, be it for carrots, parsnips or stumps. They were the best long carrots I've grown for several seasons so I can't see the point of all that hard work unless it's absolutely necessary...which it appears not to be. It could just be that I got very lucky of course!

At Seagrave I benched a couple of sets of long carrots that I'd grown in these pipes (pictured before I'd set them up or secured them), 28 in all so the rows of pipes were 4 deep.

I tried this method last season and whilst I had some heavy specimens they were throwing out all sorts of side roots a couple of feet down as I neglected them from July onwards. This season I gave them a little more attention and when the pipes were emptied out I was pleasantly surprised at the results, one of the sets coming second to a set of my stumps (sadly I forgot to take any photos). It has encouraged me to have a go again next season but I will be growing them in single file inside my soon to be acquired polytunnel so that I can give them much more frequent watering. I found that once the foliage gets large it's impossible to tend to them properly and I had a few with green shoulders. I couldn't see through the forest of leaves that a few shoulders had come clear of the compost which tends to sink in pipes. I believe it's a method that is worth persevering with and indeed Paul Wlodarczak's winning tap root set had an excellent carrot that was grown in a pipe.(below...my 4th placed set next to it)

Dave T is determined to win his money back so we've gone double or quits on stump carrots at the National. Dave's stumps scored more than mine at Harrogate but I have a bed of 28 from which to pull my 5 for Malvern so i'm banking on that yielding me some corkers. It's the first one I sowed and the sides were protected with polythene so the plants have been really cossetted and I'm hoping to have some really pronounced stump ends. If neither of us gets a ticket then the two entries will be judged separately by an independant adjudicator! At least I can't lose anything on the season with a double or quits can I?

One class I was hoping to enter at Malvern was for 3 quality marrows, a class that has been introduced for the first time at National level. I grew 5 plants up along inclined metal poles and managed to harvest my first good specimen a couple of weeks ago.

However, I do find Blyton Belle a bit shy to produce fruits and whilst I have another couple growing I fear there isn't enough time for them to catch up with the one i've cut. Graham Wagstaffe won marrows at Harrogate with this lovely neat pair.

Graham is another top grower and he also won the 250g onion class at Harrogate with this uniform set of 5, variety Toughball I think. I believe they were probably the same set I saw win at Notts DA at the end of August.

However, the picture above doesn't do justice to how small they were.....in other years these would be classed as almost embarrassingly small and i'm estimating they were only about 180g if that, but because of their exceptional quality in this most difficult of seasons they beat larger less well conditioned exhibits. It just goes to show that good small ones can beat larger ones, whatever the veg, so long as you have good form, shape, colour, uniformity and condition. I have a similar sized set put to one side for Malvern which I will have no qualms about showing. They are easily my best looking set of small onions and are pretty well matched. However, if I hadn't seen Graham's winning set I probably wouldn't have dared show them at Malvern.

My car park pass for Malvern arrived today. If you enter the National you get a free entry ticket and if you enter 5 classes or more on the Malvern side you get another, which saves a good few quid. If you get chance try and get to Malvern. Apart from the National Vegetable Society's Championships there are dahlia, chrysanth, cacti, fuchsia and many other competitions not to mention the multitude of other attractions in the showground itself. It's a huge country show and you really do need a full day to get round so get there early as soon as the gates open. We are hoping to get a chicken run set up over the Winter so we'll be eyeing up the various stalls at Malvern that sell chicken houses. If I don't need to empty out my sand drums I should have plenty of time to construct it. I bought some of the winning eggs in the after show auction at Seagrave Saturday night and had them on toast today for my lunch. The yokes were huge and shop bought eggs don't come close.