The 2013 season starts here.

Whilst I've cut down on the shows that I have done this season I have found it a bit of a bind prepping certain veg in recent weeks, struggling to get myself motivated even for the big shows. Parsnips in particular have pissed me off, and I didn't lavish the usual care and attention on my Westminster entry. The decision of the NVS not to reduce them from 5 to 3 at future National Championships was a frustrating one and makes me wonder whether I can be arsed in future. Parsnips need quite a bit of rubbing to get the dirt from all the nooks and crannies and when you've done the first one and it's gleaming (Which can take 10 minutes or more to do properly) and your hands and arms are cold and you're faced with a bathful of another 8 or 9 for the various classes then your motivation starts to wane. It was for this reason that I supported a class reduction proposal. Washing several plates of spuds over the sink is another excrutiatingly mindnumbing task and with proposed increases in peat prices I am seriously considering not bothering growing spuds to show in future. How do other growers feel about these subjects?

Maybe the answer is to specialise? A couple of seasons ago Charlie Maisey watched me whizzing around like a lunatic at Westminster and advised me to cut down on the amount of different veg I grew and concentrate on growing a few to the absolute best of your abilities. Charlie himself is best known for growing tomatoes, cucumbers and runner beans. At the time I was adamant I wanted to grow as much as I could in order to fill the benches at local shows but if I'm struggling to enjoy the preparation then perhaps I need to re-evaluate which crops I grow in future?

Next season I intend to do a new show at Causey Inn in Stanley, Co. Durham, not far from the Beamish Museum. Run by the recently formed North East Horticultural Society this show has gone from strength to strength the last couple of seasons but it has been held on the same day as Harrogate Show. Next year it will be held the week after so I'll give it a go and put myself up against the cream of the north east where there are many incredibly good growers who never venture out of the region. Indeed, it was in Co. Durham that my interest in show veg was first fostered 20 years or so ago, when my geordie uncle took me to a working men's club at pot leek show time. There were many benches straining under the weight of pot leeks but I was more interested in one small section towards the back of the display where they'd crammed in all the other vegetable classes, and in particular the long carrots. I just had to know how they were produced and it wasn't long before Gardeners' World did a piece showing Medwyn preparing for the British Tap Root Championships and from that moment I was hooked.

Causey have excellent prize money and some very interesting classes that don't require you to pull several drums of parsnips or long carrots so I've decided to give Malvern and (possibly) Westminster the elbow next season and visit a different neck of the woods for a look-see. Have a look at the NEHS website and see what you think.

http://www.ne-hs.com/

So that's my show season over for another year. Due to our 25th anniversary I severely cut back on the amount of shows I did this season but I must admit I did enjoy the reduced workload so I have some hard decisions to make next season and so I fear there are one or two shows I won't be able to attend for the foreseeable future. A couple of years ago I was doing virtually one show every weekend from mid-August until late October in some capacity or other and I want to trim it down so we have at least one free weekend every other week during the show period. It's been a real bonus for me that Leesa has started to enjoy helping me out at staging time but I don't want to push my luck so I am already looking at the shows I do and coming up with a schedule for 2013. I already know that I won't be doing Malvern and maybe Westminster next year.

I'm also now going to be taking a mini-break from the blog until just before Christmas as I want to concentrate on getting the plot tidy and some construction work for a new polytunnel and a chicken run. I have quite a few exciting plans for the garden and it's no use talking about them I have to get outdoors on cold Winter weekends and get things done! I'm also itching to get out on the hills and try out my brand new walking boots which I am currently wearing around the house to try and break them in and avoid blisters. In November we're having a weekend in the Brecon Beacons and I'm hoping to take Leesa up Fan-y-Big (titter titter!). I also need to give my undivided attention in the coming weeks to Strictly Come Dancing and Victoria Pendleton's Argentine Tango. Just before Christmas I will be publishing this year's coveted Smithyveg Awards. I've already started writing them and the usual suspects are in the firing line but I can promise some new faces will be winning my much coveted awards this season. Until December folks........adieu!