Sutton Bonington Show 2010

A busy weekend. This is the show I'm most involved with being on the committee, and the one i've been most successful at over the years. It's also a large country show, the horticultural marquee being only a small part of the whole thing, which attracts some 4000 visitors the first Sunday in September each year. A true British tradition.

Yesterday morning and the exhibits start to arrive. My car was absolutely packed to the gunnels and I had to make a couple of trips back to Loughborough.

Inside the marquee there are classes for everyone to have a go at. We had 750+ entries although the veg was slightly down on numbers this year.

I keep the wraps on my carrots, potatoes and beetroot until the last possible moment. At this show I actually act as steward for the veg judges and I'd strongly recommend you do this if you ever get the chance. Following them round you pick up all sorts of tips and pointers as to what they're looking for.

Meanwhile, outside a couple of my fellow committee members are overseeing the hugely important kids' paper plane competition.

As for my performance this year, I got 11 red cards, 11 seconds and 6 thirds which is actually my worst ever result here. I got 1-2-3 in the onions under 1.5lbs.....

.....1st and second in shallots.....

.....and first with the leeks. These were closely pipped for best veg by John Barton's superb parsnips. I think a little pest damage on the leaves went against me.

I got a 1st with my long carrots. These were actually saved from Leicester last week......

......as were my 2nd and 3rd placed stump rooted carrots. The stumps that beat me were absolutely humungous.

I won both potato classes, winning the coloured class with these Blue Belle. I shall definitely be growing this variety again and giving them plenty of TLC.

It's been a few years since I've won with french beans, but I followed up 2nd place at Leicester last week with 1st and 2nd here.

I'm on a roll with Cederico tomatoes. These were all taken from the bottom two trusses and I have some real crackers to come once they ripen. I think I should definitely have a set for Malvern.

The mexican mouse melons caused a lot of interest, and as at Leicester last week we had to put a label on them to stop people coming to the hort. soc. bench and asking what they were.

Lots of big marrows and pumpkins this year, but I saved Ester to grow for another week. She should make her bow at Seagrave on Saturday. If she carries on growing at the pace she is now, I reckon she could outweigh Heidi from last year.

Leesa demanded a mention for her expertise in arranging my winning trug. Brilliantly done as always darling......but she does of course require top quality veg grown to perfection by a master of his art!!!

So for the 9th time in 10 years I won most points in show and collected the trophy from the Mayor of Rushcliffe.

And if I can just give myself a pat on the back, I've been inundated with texts and emails the last few days from several of my show growing pals thanking me for advice given over the last few years as they all won prizes at their own shows. The next best thing after winning yourself is providing winning advice to your pals, so well done to (amongst others) Paul Wlodarczak in Cumbria (cracking parsnips mate), Rob in Solihull, Craig in Ibstock and Paul Bastow and Dan Unsworth at their mutual gay Yorkshire love-in.

http://paulsallotmentblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/dan-cleans-up-at-ingleton.html

Well done one and all.

Hathern Show 2010

A poor weekend. My long carrots were as forked as my stumps and I had to pull 20 to get this set for Leicester. An even poorer set of two for Hathern came unplaced.

The Pinnacle parsnips cleaned up quite well in the bath. I had two sets of three for Leicester, one in the collection class that I'm quite hopeful about. I was unplaced at Hathern where the judges always go for some huge un-uniform roots that are quite pitted. Most of my roots had some canker damage but I find that it can be rubbed off for these early shows as it's usually only just on the surface. In a couple of weeks it will have gone a lot deeper and be impossible to hide. I am going to have to find something to combat this next season.

My useless potatoes did manage 2nd but I would be ashamed to show these at a higher level show.

A bonus 2nd place for my disappointingly poor Sweet Candle. Great skin finish but poor form and I'd had to carefully slice off a couple of fairly large side roots that the judge would have noted.

In the 'any other veg' my mexican mouse melons were a talking point.

Only entry in the shallots but they would have taken some beating.

1st and 2nd for globe beet in a hotly contested class.

Got a pleasantly surprising bonus 2nd for this vase of 2 gladioli.

For some reason that the organisers couldn't explain my entry in the Master Gardener class never got judged. The flowers weren't great but it should have got a 2nd at least. Instead 2nd place went to 3 tiny sets of scabby veg and a flower arrangement!!! Not even a vase of flowers so that should strictly have been disqualified. However, in view of the weekend's disappointments it was par for the course. I didn't make a big fuss as I've always said the day I get upset by a judge's decision is the day I give it all up. Judges are human beings at the end of the day and can make mistakes like the rest of us. Blind twat.

But at least I managed best exhibit with these tomatoes that were a little on the small side but perfectly formed. A nice little NVS medal made the day's tribulations worthwhile

A chance at last to show off the Midland's soppiest grin. 6 red cards and three trophies wasn't a bad haul but I'm peeved about my roots and potatoes. I would have walked these classes in previous seasons. I'm going to have to seek some advice as to why my carrots were so poor this season.

On now to see the results at Leicester this afternoon where the standard of competition is even higher. All in all I may have to rethink my ambitions for places like Malvern.