No Tasco fiasco

I had a good year last season with onions for the 250g and under class. At most shows this class is well supported, as you don’t need exotic growing chambers to be able to grow them like you do for the large onions. This is certainly the case at the NVS shows where there are several top growers of 250g onions such as Sherie Plumb, Ronnie Jackson and Graham Wagstaffe. I’ve exhibited at National and Branch level several times without success but have always been content that my bulbs must have been there or thereabouts, and I was certainly never out of my league. So it was a nice surprise to come 3^rd at Malvern last year in a well contested class yet again, with the variety Tasco. I really needed an extra week or two to have them fully ripened.

My pal Ronnie Jackson won the class at Malvern and his set (also Tasco) were adjudged best exhibit in show. Beautiful. The onions, not Ronnie. Obviously.

The same set actually won for me at Derby Show in late October when they had ripened to a nice straw brown colour, which was a lovely bonus in a class of over 20 entries. I had a big grin all weekend proving that ‘smiles’ is my middle name, ironic as it’s sometimes wasted on miserable twats that have it as a surname, but hey ho.

There are several varieties suitable for this class, others are Toughball, Canto, Globo, Vento to name but a few, but I’ve always liked Tasco as I find it a bit more robust than the others when grown outside. Having said that mine are now grown in a long border in my tunnel which makes tending them an easy task.

It’s important to keep them growing upright with split canes and plastic support clips (available from Medwyns... I also use flexible plastic coated wire) so that the growing point is in the middle of the bulb and also if the plant flops to one side you can get uneven shapes which is a fault the judge will use to down point you. These were sown in January, planted out a month ago and won’t be ready to harvest for at least another month when I’ll need to be checking the diameters daily and getting them up when they reach the magic figure of 83mm. I use nothing more than a cardboard gauge I made myself for this task and which I've had for several seasons now. Last season they were a bit late going in so weren’t getting up to size at the time that I needed to get them ripened in time for the shows, so I had to settle on 80mm diameter. This meant most of my bulbs weighed between 200-225g. Bear in mind they may weigh more than 250g when you pull them up and leave 6” of stem, but they should be under (or better still bang on!) when you prep them for show. Make sure you have a good quality set of digital scales for this purpose. The judge will!

Derby 2011

It seems strange to think that I probably won't be doing another show now until the Malvern National at the end of September 2012. In many ways I'm going to be 'taking a year out' as at this moment in time I don't intend to do any local showing next year, something I last did in 2000 when we had an extension to our house and I simply couldn't afford the time. The way I feel at the moment I just need to recharge the batteries and rethink my strategy from now on, as putting 30-40 entries in every weekend really takes its toll, and I didn't enjoy some shows as much as I should, in particular Malvern, Westminster and Derby all for different reasons.


For Derby I felt like shite, suffering from a severe dose of manflu in the days leading up to it, so I was chuffed to come away with 9 tickets. Pick of my bunch was a win in a Top Tray class of 8 entries thanks largely to a good set of 6 Cedrico tomatoes (at last!) that scored well along with 3 nice Sweet Candle stumps and 3 Kestrel spuds that weren't great in uniformity but did clean up nicely.

I didn't win with my globe beet which surprised me as that was the one class I thought was a nailed on ticket, even a first. I believe globe beet is the class that is the biggest lottery as it's usually well contested and indeed i've won shows where I didn't expect to so you win some, you lose some.

I was 2nd in the leek class, my set being the heaviest there but a strange bulge on one side of one of the barrels must have counted against me. I've never had it before but I think it's a side shoot and indeed you could see a secondary growth emerging from one of the leaf folds, almost like a mini-leek within the leek itself. Scottish Chair Jim Williams reported in the NVS magazine that he'd seen it on some of his leeks for the first time ever this season and wondered what the cause was. In my case i'm assuming it's stress related as I don't think I watered enough this season, especially during June, July and August when we hardly had a drop of rain to speak of.

I was 3rd in a strong parsnip class with 'Polar', a bit of canker (or was it carrot fly damage?) downpointing me. It's a shame I still get these markings as size and uniformity wise i'm on the money and the skins clean up pretty well too. I'm hoping that a thorough drenching of Jet 5 in the Spring will cleanse any spores and other nasties out of the sand as I hope to get a set of 5 at Malvern along with another three in the big collection class. When I got a best in show with 'Pinnacle' at Leicester Show a few years ago a respected fellow grower reckoned they would have competed at National level. They really did stand out and the skins almost shone but I've never had parsnips so blemish free since. I changed entirely to Polar this year as this variety was pretty clean for me last season but about 60% of them have been marked so I have a decision to make. Pinnacle is supposed to have the best canker resistance rating but does get a bit 'blocky' near the top I find so I'll probably stick to Polar as I think it has a more refined, tapering shape.

I always say you have to be in it to win it and I picked up an unexpected 3rd in the white spud class out of about 15 entries with Casablanca. These looked so bad on Friday night there was no way I could get them clean with a soft cloth so I had to resort to using the rough side of a scourer and rubbing the skin with that as hard as I dare. They looked reasonable when I staged them but as you can see by the Sunday afternoon they looked absolutely shocking. I'm not going to miss growing white spuds at all next season. They look magnificent when they're first harvested but boy do they deteriorate. Sherie Plumb must have some form of industrial buffing wheel in her kitchen!

I also won with brussel sprouts 'Abacus' at Derby, and with the trug prepared as usual by Leesa and which attracted an awful lot of interest from the general public, mainly from people enquiring about the little mexican gherkins that I use to fill in any gaps.

And so that's it. Time now to get the garden shipshape once again, install a new greenhouse that I intend to grow some decent onions in for once, and to get the old walking boots waxed ready for some Munros in Scotland in a couple of weeks time. I've learnt many things in 2011, proof that you will never stop learning and you need to store everything in the memory bank and take it with you into a new growing year. It's been my lowest haul of tickets for quite a few years because I did 4 less local shows than usual and tried my hand at a National Championships and Harrogate for the first time instead, but I feel I've still grown some of my best stuff ever, particularly stumps, leeks and celery that didn't look out of place at the highest level. I got more satisfaction from seeing my veg alongside the very best and winning nowt than I did winning 30+ tickets at my local show. And most important of all (by far!) I made some new friends at these new shows that I am looking forward to spending many more social evenings with in future years.

Dave Thornton in Smithyveg Winning Top Tray Admiration Shock

And so I face the final curtain!

Derby Show staging in the morning and I pulled some very good globe beet a couple of nights ago. After washing, getting off all the fine root hairs, carefully rubbing off any corkiness around the shoulders with the rough side of a scourer and carefully snipping off any side roots from the main central tap I left them to soak in bucket of water with some vinegar and a dash of salt. I find this really brings out the colour of the roots and indeed I've had a good year again, winning at Westminster, coming third at Malvern plus a couple of local show wins. I also have some spare roots which look really good in a trug when turned upside down with the tap sticking upwards, and Derby has a trug class this year for the first time I believe so I (Leesa!) will make an effort to enter that one.




I think I've really found the key to good globe beet the past couple of seasons, growing them in raised beds that has a good depth of crumbly compost/soil mix. The deep bed in question is actually where I grow my leeks and onions and which has been well cultivated for several years now. After my shallots are pulled in June I give the soil a nitrogen fertiliser boost and sow my seeds in drills over several weeks to cover the show period. I have other beds in old half-oil drums and an old water tank which yield good globe beet for the early shows. However, the beet in the water tank starts well enough but then wilts quite badly and i'm thinking the soil gets too warm in the steel container.



All my remaining carrots and parsnips have now been pulled so I'll have a reasonable set of stumps, a nice clean (if a little small) set of long carrots and a canker free dish of parsnips. I've managed to cobble together a set of 6 tomatoes for a Top Tray entry, I should be able to bench a decent pair of long leeks and 3 or 4 collections which are all for single specimens only. In the any other veg class I'll be entering some turnips, lettuce and sweet peppers which are growing in pots and which I moved into my conservatory a couple of weeks ago in case any frost caught them.



And that will be that for another season, but my preparations for next season have already started. I've ordered 25 blanch leeks 'Pendle Improved' from Dave Metcalfe which I'll be collecting in early December. I shall put one of my Derby leeks down to seed for next season but more on that later. You need to be looking at the seed catalogues and getting your orders in as early as you can to avoid disappointment and I'll say from experience that you should make a plan of what you're going to grow where and when, so that you only order what you can physically grow. I've done far too much this season as I've attempted to try and win more tickets than Dave T, an attempt that seems doomed to failure going into tomorrow's final showdown. I've grown crops that I wouldn't normally give the time of day such as turnips, pak choi, spring onions and many other minor veg but never again. I shall be concentrating on the 18 and 20 pointers for next year as I attempt to stage a large collection at the Malvern National. Plus, after researching the subject in 2011 I shall be going all out to win peas at next year's National. This year was merely a practice run.

Final countdown

Just a few more days until my last date of the season, the Dave Thornton organised Derby Show on Saturday and Sunday. I actually made up about 9 points on him at Westminster thanks to my policy of entering just about everything including a plate of 1000 matching lentils and a dish of curly pubes (dressed). However my chances of overhauling him are nil as the likes of John Croot, John Goodall and Charles Cooper will be showing at Derby, all first-rate growers. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and although i'm over 300 points behind i've kept back some long carrots, parsnips, stumps and spuds plus I finally have some tomatoes ripening which I hope to include in my Top Tray. There are also classes for brussel sprouts, a brassica collection (for which I saved one of my 3rd place winning Westminster red cabbages) and a weirdly named 'stem vegetable collection' where you choose from 3 types, 1 of each type selected from Onion, Leek, Celery, Beetroot, Swede. Never seen a class like this at any other show anywhere but it could be worth a dabble! And there is an any other veg cass that my radishes won last season, although I've been a bit more ambitious this year and think I have some nice clean turnips plus I still have several decent lettuce 'Sandrine'. If the Great Show God Mohammed Medwyn is smiling upon me I might make it a close contest yet!




And in answer to the pathetic torrent of texts, emails, blog comments (deleted) that I have been subjected to since yesterday afternoon (haven't you fuckers got anything better to do?) can I just remind you all of the following?



October 20th 1996 Newcastle United 5 Manchester United 0

October 26th 1996 Southampton 6 Manchester United 3



Champions that season? I rest my case. No trophies were ever handed out in October! Now piss off!

Derby 2010

Got to be happy with that. A single red card ( more on that later), 3 seconds and 6 thirds against some of the best growers in the country never mind Derbyshire.



Most pleasing was 2nd in parsnips, second only to Dave Thornton who won at Malvern and was 3rd in the National. As you can see from the photo my set in the middle was bigger shouldered but did have a few patches of canker compared to Dave's clean set to the left. If I can get this disease beaten next season I know I can compete on size and uniformity.















3rd in 250g onions with Vento. My onions have looked better and better as the season has gone on. This is one class I really want to go for next season at Llangollen.
















3rd in leeks, the set on the right. The winning set of John Croots in the middle was actually best in show. Mine were a bigger set but thrip damage on the foliage and overstripping, a common problem with Pendle Improved, did for me here. At least I beat Thornton's pencil leeks which were unplaced. He called them culinary leeks! I called them crap.














I didn't get anything in the tap root class, my pathetic long carrot letting me down, but at least I proved to myself I can grow long beet with my Cheltenham Green Top being as long as my huge parsnip (also pocked by canker).

2nd in globe beet with a nice clean set of Pablo grown in raised beds filled with garden compost. Another crop I want to try and grow well next season for the Millennium Class at Llangollen.

Out of 6 entries I got a 3rd in Top Tray. The potates are Camelot which I was hoping to grow again next season but apparently the whole stock of most of the major suppliers has been bought up by a supermarket chain so I shall be saving some of my crop to use as seed potatoes.

Not a bad set of tomatoes for the end of October from an unheated greenhouse. These all came from the upper trusses and still have nice green calyces. I shall certainly be applying the soot water feed again next season as I think this has been the major contributory factor in the improved colour of my fruits this season. I also gave Dave Thornton a bag of soot which he used around his celery and he puts that down to his best ever season for that also.

My one red card? It was in the any other veg class for these two magnificent (and by day two of the show very shrivelled) radishes. I also got 2nd for the two french beans in the class with the most entries. There was kohl rabi, various peppers, marrows etc. Bit embarrassing but hey ho.

And so that's it for another season, a season that was beyond my wildest dreams when I won a class at the Midland Championships. Now starts the planning (and dreaming) for next season when I shall be having a crack at my first ever National.

I shall spend the winter months getting the plot back in shape and making a few structural alterations to allow me to compete with parsnips, carrots and long beet, but also glancing over at my trophy shelves. I won some lovely cups and plaques but it is the little glass tankard that means most as this is the one that means I am Midland tomato champion......for a few more months at least.

Last knockings

It's my final show of the season tomorrow at Derby. This is by far the latest I have ever shown but I'm happy i've got a few reasonable exhibits. I pulled some humungous parsnips today although most have spots of canker. I shall be growing my roots under cover next season to try and combat this annual problem.



Whilst talking to John Branham at Malvern he taught me a little trick with 8oz onions. Very often towards the end of the showing season they can be looking a little wrinkly, with tide marks spoiling their uniformity. If the skin 'gives' a little near the root plate then you can probably bet the skin underneath is ripe. I skinned a few tonight to reveal nice, dark and fresh looking skins that don't have any blemishes. Give them a rub in your hands to reduce the shininess and voila!















Normally at this stage of the year i'm feeling a little depressed at the longer nights and the thought that Spring is so far away. But the good thing about being in the National Vegetable Society is that you can attend the many talks and seminars held up and down the country, so in the next couple of months I shall be hearing a talk by Graham Wagstaffe on potatoes at North Derby DA, and Charlie Maisey on tomatoes (to make me even more fabulous than I already am!) at North Mids DA. I shall also be travelling nearly 300 miles to the Scottish Branch annual seminar near Edinburgh to hear Sherie Plumb talk about her prize winning technique with spuds, and Ian Simpson on growing peas for exhibition. There is also an opportunity to buy seeds and other goodies. Can't wait.



Meanwhile, a report on Radio 5 live yesterday said that it is becoming quite commonplace for heterosexual men to greet their mates with full blown smackers on the lips. I'd just like to say that if any of my pals and show growing chums ever greets me in such a way.......I WILL kill you!