It was as I feared and suspected. I emptied my spuds out
last night and immediately it was evident I was going to be struggling to stage
any spuds as bag after bag revealed spuds that were decimated by scab. Good
size, nice shapes, but scabbed up to sheer fuckery. I’m now at a loss as to
what caused this, I’ve used the same compost as previous seasons and the bags
were never allowed to dry out. Or were they? Tuber initiation occurred at
around about the time of the heatwave so perhaps the water never really
penetrated to the bottoms, and indeed a few were quite dry whilst others were
wringing wet. I did managed to salvage a few showable sets, some with very
minor scab lesions, but at least I’ll never have to fuck around growing spuds
this way ever again. My hat goes off to those growers like Sherie Plumb who
stages umpteen incredible dishes every season.
On Facebook pages I’ve noticed some growers bemoaning the
recent downpours as their long roots ‘will be ruined’. What they mean is that
the sudden deluge of water into a dry-ish growing medium will make their roots
take up a lot of water very quickly with the potential of splitting. This is the reason I water my
long roots frequently, ensuring the sand is kept moist a few inches down from
the surface. Doing this means you’re less likely to suffer splitting in my
opinion although I did lose this otherwise superb carrot last season.
Also on Facebook a discussion was taking place about a set
of onions that had been disqualified at a recent NVS show for being a few grams
too heavy, and how this was perhaps a little unfair. I have no sympathy for the
exhibitor, a very experienced one, but the same would go for a less experienced
one too. If a rule states 1kg-1 ½ kg then if you’re over then the judge has no
option to but to disqualify you I’m afraid. Discussion commenced on whether the
judge’s scales would have been calibrated and whether some leeway should be
applied, but if you start going down that route then it’s a dangerous game, for
how much leeway do you apply, and what if an exhibitor is a few grams over
that, do you apply leeway on the leeway? No, the exhibitor should have
harvested his bulbs smaller to ensure he was under size. If you measure them at
home and they are bang on the weight you are running the risk of being NAS’d if
the judge has you a gram or two over, so it pays to give yourself some wobble
room. Someone else commented that you could not expect an exhibitor to weigh
his onions to within a few grams which struck me as a contender for the
wankiest statement of the week, for a decent set of digital scales doesn’t cost
much and you should have a set if you’re serious about the hobby. I have my own
set of digital scales which I’ll be taking with me to judge a show tomorrow
afternoon. When I say I have a set of scales, they’re my wife’s kitchen scales
but they’re very accurate and I’ll test them with a weight before I leave to
make sure they are still on the money. She’s away on a hen do this weekend so
she’ll never know.
Last weekend I increased the collar length on my celery to
19” and that will be that for this season. They are currently around the sort
of size I have shown them at in the past so with 4 or 5 weeks to go until I
need to lift them I’m happy I’ll probably be exhibiting the biggest celery I’ve
ever shown, all I’ve got to do now is keep them clean. I’d not grown any celery
for a couple of years because of a comment my wife had made, which was, and I
quote, “why are you bothering with celery, you’re shit’. This was a tad
demoralising I have to say, but when I dragged her down the garden the other
day for a look she was quite impressed so that’ll do for me! I do have one
claim to fame with celery, in that I once beat Trevor Last, a top celery
grower, at Malvern. I was placed 3rd and poor old Trevor was
disqualified. The reason? Apparently, he hadn’t even entered the class and
therefore couldn’t be judged! My pathetic specimens did look a bit stupid next
to Trevor’s rather good ones, but fuck it, I got the ticket and he didn’t!
At most local shows there will be the lucky dip class,
usually termed ‘any other veg’. I say lucky dip because you ask 10 different
judges and you’ll get 10 different answers as to how they might judge ‘aov’,
because you might see radish against caulis or pot leeks for instance if the
latter two don’t appear in the main body of the schedule. It has been suggested
that you mark according to their points value, then use a ratio to work out a
percentage score. For instance a judge may mark the radish at 8 out of the 10
points on offer, giving it 80% of a perfect score. You might then score the
caulis at 15 out of 20 thus giving it only 75% in which case the radish wins.
This isn’t a system I would employ as it doesn’t make allowance for the degree
of difficulty in growing the cauli, and it would have to be a very poor specimen
indeed for the radish to beat it if I was judging the class. However, 18
pointer veg and even 15 pointer veg would certainly be able to beat a 20
pointer if they were grown well and the 20 wasn’t. One vegetable often
overlooked is the humble aubergine which, like tomatoes, cucumbers and runner
beans is classed as an 18 pointer and can be a useful ‘go to’ for the aov
class. I do find it difficult to get a matching set as it quite a difficult
crop to grow, the main problems being that you need to grow several plants to
get sufficient fruit for a match which can be difficult on an already crowded
plot, and the spiky stems which often pierce your fingers quite painfully when
you’re tending to them. I’ve been picking the embryo fruits off my plants all
Summer as I didn’t want them too early but I’m now leaving them to develop in
the hope of having a few for the September shows. At Derby Show last season I
exhibited this one in a collection class that only needed 6 single specimens.
Finally, if you’re into showing I can think of nothing
better than a whole weekend in a hotel discussing the hobby with like-minded
growers at Medwyn’s annual seminar in November. This year yours truly is giving
a talk, details below, and if anyone wants the full costs and arrangements drop
me a line and I’ll forward them on. I may try and persuade my good pal Craven
Morehead to accompany me but the vain twat doesn’t usually like to be seen in
public with me as I’m the only person in Britain who is as handsome as him.
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