In it to win it (part 2)

Apologies for making this blog invite only, but it had to be done as I was getting so much spam that it was taking too long to wade through each day. Also, I shouldn't be showing up in search engines before too long which should keep certain folk happy. I always found it quite amusing that people complained about my blog so much when there was this perfectly useful little 'X' thingy in the top right hand corner of all computers that could be clicked if you no longer deemed me worthy of screen time.

I took virtually all my big onions down to Westminster. Not that they were that great but after staging I realised I was going to be taking home a fair few quid. This was because I was one of only two entries in both the large onion class and the collection of onions, and although I knew they wouldn't get a 'first' the prize money for coming second was £50 and £40 respectively, so for the sheer effort of bothering to take them I was handsomely rewarded. Some of them were still green underneath despite having been harvested mid-August.

Whilst we enjoyed Westminster Tuesday really is a crap day to hold a veg show meaning at least one day off work but the venue is stunning and as I have intimated there is a fair old wedge of prize money on offer. I've never really understood mid-week shows and I believe it puts the working man at a disadvantage but I suppose each organisation has its reasons, some of them historical. I was contemplating giving Westminster a miss next year but as the entries were down by quite a bit then you do feel a certain responsibility to keep going for the sake of the future of the show. Hopefully I've persuaded a few of you to have a crack next year as there is some good prize money on offer if you are prepared to make the effort. I hope the RHS does a bit more marketing on the Westminster Shows as it would be a shame if the show died through lack of interest. Yes it's a real bind getting veg into the middle of London but if you can then try and car share and by using a website called ParkatMyHouse you can find a local address to leave your vehicle for about a tenner a day. I found a pub about a mile away. If you travel overnight and don't leave until 6pm you also avoid the congestion charge, although sadly not the crazy London traffic. Alternatively the North East Derby DA get a coach load up which certainly takes the stress of driving through London away and I'll be going back to this option next year. If anyone needs advice on entering, getting to and from the venue for future reference then drop me a line.

I grew pot leeks for the first time this season and whilst I virtually neglected them after planting they nevertheless made a reasonable entry at Westminster and won me another first prize, although I was the only entry! Another ten quid. Ker-ching! I shall certainly be growing a few more of these next season, the variety was Cumbrian. I grew some reasonable Pendle blanch leeks last season despite almost total neglect so perhaps there is a theme running here? They were certainly a lot easier to prepare and transport than blanch leeks.

To round up the rest of my Westminster results I got a 3rd for two beautifully conditioned Blyton Belle marrows although one was a bit smaller than the other. Once we get to the end of September they don't grow as fast as they did and I ran out of time to match them up for size. The larger one had actually been cut at the end of August.

A pleasing 3rd in the coloured potato class with Amour. I really wish the judges at Westminster would rearrange the exhibits how they found them rather than slinging them back on the plate from a few yards away!

1st with 15 leaves of chard 'Vulcan'. I have to thank Leesa for choosing the 15 and arranging them.

2nd in the chilli pepper class with Hungarian Hotwax. Leesa chose these too!

3rd for parsnips 'Polar', sadly a variety that is no longer available. Looks like i'm back to square shouldered 'Pinnacle' next year!

3rd for courgettes 'Ambassador'.

1st for lettuce 'Saladin'. I dug the roots up intact, washed off all the soil, wrapped them in damp tissue followed by kitchen foil and the plants stay nice and fresh for the two days of the show no problem.

A very pleasing 3rd for my celery 'Evening Star'. I even beat former National Champion Geoff Butterworth so that has given me a real boost to carry on growing celery despite the fact that we don't eat the bloody stuff! Besides, celery doesn't last too well on the show bench and gets left behind every time.

2nd for french beans 'Prince'. The timing of my sowings were for Malvern so I was really struggling to keep these going and they were a tad 'beany'.

3rd in the 4 dishes class. I had to stage some pretty poor 250g onions in this class or I might have easily got a 2nd. Sherie Plumb won the class.

So that's my final show of the season done and dusted. I'll leave the final word to Medwyn.

At the third exit....

The season just gets crazier. Due to a late sowing and planting I wouldn't expect my tomatoes to start colouring up yet based on 'normal' seasons, but last week the first ones started turning and now many more have followed suit. I haven't even thinned the foliage or had to hang up any ripe bananas! After several months of cold temperatures those few days of sunshine last month must have been enough to shock the fruits into ripening. It's a blessing in disguise as I can hopefully use up the fruits from the lower trusses which are usually not a great shape and will get plenty to choose from the 3rd and 4th trusses upwards. I certainly have many nice large shiny green fruits to come so I'm hopeful of tabling a set at Harrogate and Malvern this season. I've also got some cracking aubergines growing below the plants too.....which does make the watering a little awkward.

I pulled up all my 250g 'Setton' onions last night.....actually make that 150g onions as I only managed to salvage a dozen or so from this pile that might make me a set of 4 for the Millennium Class. They stopped growing when the rain stopped, basked in a few days of sun and basically said fuck it, we're ripe, dig us up before that wet stuff comes back. I shall have to make the best of a bad job as the Vento isn't much better.

With my leeks going to seed, my spuds being dogplop and my globe beet hardly germinating I am having to think of a plan B so i'm now turning my attention to other crops such as these Blyton Belle marrows which i'm tying to a sturdy framework of arching metal poles. I've taken off all embryo fruits thus far but fairly shortly the plants will be turning almost horizontally so I can then allow fruits to form. They will then hang down away from the spiky foliage and you'll get a blemish free skin with green colouring all the way round. In the past when i've trained them along the ground you will get one side of your marrow with a yellow face where it has been in contact with the ground. I tried putting a pane of glass between two bricks and growing the marrow on this with some success but it can be dangerous when you walk down the garden at night after a few bevvies!

My french beans 'Prince' timed for Malvern are ready for planting into large pots. I'll plant 3 to each of the pots that i've been growing the onions in and put these on the greenhouse staging for regular maintenance and titivation. Growing under cover should give blemish free pods. These plants come from seed provided by Ronnie Jackson who has won at Branch and National level. He grows them in his polytunnel borders but pots will have to suffice for me again.

And as I may have to rely on some lesser pointed crops to win a few quid this season i've started planting a few lettuce in succession. I've come up with this nifty little idea of some plastic covered wooden planks suspended at the ends on bricks. The plants are planted between the planks, themselves into 3" bottomless pots, the idea being that the roots grow through the pot into the soil below and the leaves rest on the clean surface of the plastic and don't get marked by the soil. The plants will be cut just below the bottomless pot and this allows me to wash the roots with a hose without splashing about too much soil onto the underside of the (hopefully very clean) leaves, The roots are wrapped in damp towelling and this keeps the lettuce fresh for a two or three day show no problem. Sometimes I really do get scared by the brilliance of my brain.

By the way if anyone's interested I'm selling a good line in cheap sat navs stolen (with some ease apparently) from thick northerners' vans. Let me know if you're in the market for one.

Cauli wobbles and sparsley parsley

It has been a strange season thus far. Whilst I'm happy that the majority of my stuff is looking good I have had some issues, the main problem being that I am really struggling to get some seeds germinated. I've now had 4 attempts at getting some parsley on the go. I put it down to old seed and having purchased some new last weekend I now have the first seedlings popping up at long last. Parsley is important for garnishing Leesa's trugs as she pokes it into the gaps between each veg so that the judges cannot see the scrunched up bits of newspaper, old bras, suspender elastic and broken dildos that she uses to prop up the veg on show.

I learned a while ago that lettuce will simply not germinate in temperatures much above 25 degrees so I generally have pots of seeds in a shady corner outside. I can only assume the recent heatwave was a factor but I've had three attempts at germinating some and still no success, despite using fresh seed.

But most disappointing of all are failures to get some cauliflour seed to pop up. I sowed a first batch of 'Boris' 3 weeks ago when it was really hot, and another batch a week ago. There is nothing so far from the first sowing but the second batch is now starting to come through but does seem very patchy and the seedlings don't look that strong. I was hoping to grow quite a large patch of caulis this season with a view to trying to get some staged at Malvern but it looks like that plan will have to be shelved. It's a bit late to be sowing fresh seed now so I'll have to run with what few plants I can muster up. I may buy a few in from a local garden centre.

In the past I've suffered from my caulis suddenly collapsing a few days after planting out. As far as I can tell I don't have a club root problem on my land so on closer inspection I discovered lots of tiny grubs eating the roots which I assume were those of cabbage root fly. However, I never seem to have this problem with my cabbages so that has always confused me. Thankfully though, problems with cabbage white butterflies are now a thing of the past as I use something called Decis on the leaves of all my brassicas (and celery to ward off leaf miner). Two or three sprayings a season are enough and the cabbage whites simply avoid the leaves and don't lay their eggs.

Apparently Decis is a highly toxic substance (as are the phorate granules I used against carrot fly) and according to Greenpeace you need to don full body armour, preferably an XC55 (Mark IV) Turbo Charged Patented Spunkmaster Sprayer with integrated cock wipe attachment and apply a minimum of 6 million miles away from any other human being, and you need to go to horticultural college for the duration of 3 lifetimes to acquire the necessary certification to be able to use it. I prefer to spray on sunny days in a T-shirt and shorts with my bollocks hanging out but I do take the rather unusual and perhaps radical precaution which I'm sure many of the organic grass chewers might find a little hard to accept....OF POINTING IT DOWNWARDS AT THE GREEN THINGS AND NOT SPRAYING IT IN MY FUCKING FACE!

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!

London calling

Next up is my 4th Clash (see how clever I was there!?) with Dave Thornton at the RHS Westminster Show a week today. This is an absolutely stunning venue in which to stage vegetables and if you can make the effort the rewards are good as the RHS give very good prize money across the classes, not just in the big collections. Thanks to a website www.parkatmyhouse.com i've managed to find a parking spot at a local pub for 10 quid a day (you can claim this back) so I shall be driving into London in the early hours in order to avoid the congestion charge. Leesa will be travelling down on the train later on in the morning as there will definitely be no room in the car for her this time around.




The reason for this is i've entered 35 classes including 5 collections in the hope of clawing back some of the points difference between myself and the Derby Dingbat. He currently leads by a seemingly unbridgeable 716 to 351 but hopefully i've got a few tricks up my sleeve as Westminster has classes for things like squash (of which I have a nice specimen), turnips, brussel sprouts, red cabbage, cylindrical beet (I have 4 drums of these to empty out!), loose leaf lettuce (my current speciality!), courgettes and chard. When I informed the Thornquat of all my plans his smug face quickly changed and I know he's looking for late rule changes as we go to press just in case. Having said all this he usually picks up a rook of red cards at this show, especially if the Welsh boys don't turn up as happened last year. Therefore I don't doubt that Medwyn will be taking his photo again for GN....yawn!

As well as my Westminster preps i'm also in the process of digesting the NVS Judges' Guide for my impending exam this Saturday. Because Midland Branch aren't holding an exam this year i'm having to travel down to Dorchester in southern country-bumkin land so i'll be setting out early for the 200 mile trip. It means I will be not be entering Sturton Show in Lincolnshire for the first time in 12 years. As well as a two hour written paper there is a mock show that you have to judge, coming up with a 1-2-3 in each class. There are two collections A & B that have to be pointed, so i'm hoping that my experience in entering several collections this year and concentrating on the pointage given to each competitor will stand me in good stead for this. I may sleep in the car if i'm too tired afterwards but as there are more village idiots per hectare down south I don't really want to be hanging about after dark.

You gotta be in it to win it!

My only red card this weekend came on the Malvern side in the any other vegetable class where I staged a single Sandrine lettuce.

At 2am I dug this plant up, gave the roots a quick blast with the hosepipe (sorry neighbours!) and threw it in the car. At the showground it was the first thing out of the car but because i'd already seen it was a very popular class I thought I won't bother staging it so just threw it on the grass by the car.

At the last moment I thought sod it i'll chuck it in, staging it with the roots in a jamjar of water. And I was rewarded with a red card which was a total surprise. Steward Colin Higgs (another top bloke) said judge Charlie Maisey thought it was faultless.

So it just goes to show that unless you put it on the bench you'll never win. If you've gone to the trouble of growing it, preparing it, then travelling with it you have nothing to lose by staging it.

If I hadn't I wouldn't be Midland lettuce champion now would I?

Let's have a look at what you could have won!

After only my 4th NVS show I feel a bit like an old hand now such is the friendship i've experienced at the highest level already. It really has been another top weekend and I'm already looking forward to meeting up with the gang again at Malvern next weekend. Aside from the Bullshit Bloggers Challenge which I won in magnificent style I had the following results;

I came 8th in the National Carrot Championships out of a dozen entries, typically just outside the sodding money! My entry is on the right next to Dave Thornton's 5th placed exhibit. His stumps were truly shocking but his long carrots were quite good I suppose!

My best placing was 2nd for these Sandrine lettuce, the roots having to be washed and placed into a jar of water. Returning to the show today I noticed that everyone else's lettuces had wilted and mine still looked as fresh as they did Friday morning.

I got 3rd in a mini-collection for 4 veg with a points value of 16 or under. I staged 3 Sandrine lettuce, 3 Pablo beet, 3 onions under 250g 'Setton' and 6 pickling shallots 'Hative de Niort'.

And at least I was beaten by one fellow blogger this weekend, James Park (Digtoplant) showing the Yorkshire bumboys how to do it with a 2nd placed trug (top of the photo) beating me into third( below it). This was actually Leesa's fault as she did the design work and threw it together on Friday night in about 10minutes. I really am getting sick to death of coming third with trugs so I'm hoping she pulls her bleeding finger out at Malvern next weekend.

There was quite a lot to see at Harrogate although it's nowhere near the size of Malvern. Pick of the exhibits for me was this stunning display of dahlias by Kent Dahlia Society I believe.



So that's Harrogate over with and I'll certainly be back. It's a long drive (they need to sort that exhibitor parking issue out!.......and also stop the thieving bastards nicking your stuff at the end!) but I earned 44 quid from a second and two thirds! Certainly beats breaking your neck at local shows, and  getting a shed load of tickets for 20-30 quid!

So tonight I treated myself to a couple of bottles of my favourite tipple Snecklifter, Cockermouth's finest. It's certainly wasted on Cumbrian Jim Bowen looky likeys. Super smashing great.





Northern sowing dates

Further to my post the other day with John Branham's sowing dates here are the dates for those of you who live in northern rat'oles such as Huddersfield, Ingleton and Leeds. These are the dates of Bob Herbert from Mosborough, near Sheffield and bear in mind these dates first appeared in Medwyn's column 10 years ago so may of the varieties have since disappeared or at least have been usurped by better show varieties. The first sowing date was for a show on Aug 26th and the second for a show on September 29th.

I reproduce these dates exactly as they were published but I cannot for the life of me see how the tomato sowing dates can be correct. Dave Allison and Medwyn have agreed to revisit this idea with a new set of growers for the January 2011 edition of Simply Veg, the NVS quarterly magazine after I'd prompted the pair of them. Something to look forward to and even more reason to join the NVS!

Kind	Cultivar	1stShow Date	2ndShow Date	Comments
Globe Beet	Pablo	17thApril	7th July
Long Beet	Regar	8th April 22ndApril	28thApril 12thMay	Grown in 40 gallon drums
Broad Bean	Jubilee - Hysor	6th May	One sowing	sown in cold greenhouse in 4 inch pots
Green Cabbage	Marathon	25thFebruary	17thMarch	Sown in cold greenhouse in 40 modules potted on into 4 inch pots in J Innes compost
Red Cabbage	Autoro	11thFebruary	10thMarch	Will hold well in rows
Runner Bean	Stenner selection	6th May	9th June	Sow in 4 inch pots in greenhouse
French Bean	The Prince	17thJune	21st July	Sow in 4 inch pots in greenhouse
Carrots Long	Own Selection New Red	4thMarch	7th April	Grow in 40 gallon drums on top of raised beds filled with sand
Carrots Stump	Gringo and Yukon	8th April	21stApril	Grown on raised beds filled with sand
Cauliflower	Virgin, Beauty and Mexico	27thMay	16thJune(Amerigo and Virgin)	Sown in Multicell 40s, potted on into 4 inch pots
Trench Celery	Own sel Ideal Evening Star Red Star Morning Star	28thJanuary 4thMarch 4thMarch 4thMarch	3rdMarch 7th April 7th April 7th April	Start them off in a propagator at 70F. Pot on into 4 inch pots using J Innes 1 and then into 5inch pots in J Innes 3
Cucumber	Carmen and Jessica	1st July	27th July	Sow in propagator at 70F when germinated pot on into 4 inch pots
Lettuce Butterhead	Nancy	17thJune	21st July	Sow in Cold greenhouse in Multicell 40s
Table Marrow	Table Dainty	1st July	29th July	Sow in propagator at 70F then pot on into 4 inch pots
Onions over 250 gram	Re selected Kelsae	28thDecember	one sowing	Sow in propagator at 70F then pot on when at seedling stage
Onions under 250 gram	Buffalo, Bison and Toughball	14thFebruary	One sowing	Sow in propagator at 70F then pot on when at seedling stage
Parsnips	Gladiator and Javelin	25thFebruary	11thMarch	Grown in 40 gallon drums of sand
Peas	Show Perfection	13thMay	3rd June	Sow in cold greenhouse in 4 inch pots
Potatoes	Winston Kestrel Maxine Harmony	22ndApril	26thMay	Grow in black polythene bags using peat based compost
Radish	Cherry Bell	15th July	18thAugust	Grow in Gro bags and keep well watered
Tomatoes	Cheetah Goldstar and Typhoon	20thMay	20thJune	Sow in propagator at 70F in Multicell 40s. Transplant young seedlings into 5 inch pots in J Innes 3
Turnips	Purple Milan	1st July	4thAugust

Ate two brute, eh?

Vigilance is the key from now on. As I've said just about everything has now been planted so it's a case of keeping an eye out for pests and pre-empting any disease problems such as blight on your spuds and tomatoes. I've lost a couple of leeks in the past few days.....they went all pale and stopped growing and something was obviously wrong. Upon lifting some tiny maggots were eating the base away causing the plants to collapse. Shitbags.

My thoughts are now turning to a show I may do in a couple of weeks time and for which I set away some potential exhibits many weeks ago, a lot earlier than I would normally do. July 10th would be the earliest I have ever 'shown' so today I've been assessing the chances of the veg being ready in time. (They certainly won't perform any worse than that total sack of shite on a South African football field earlier today!)

The peas (sourced from good Scottish stock....cheers Ian!) are growing well and I should have some super pods.

















I have plenty of lettuce at various stages around the plot so should be able to enter this class also. I will dig the roots up and wrap in damp paper towelling to exhibit. Otherwise the heads will soon go limp on the showbench.

















The carrots in an old kitchen bin could be good. Growing so few means I may have a problem finding a uniform set of 3 however.

















And I wasn't holding out much hope for the spuds in a pot in a bucket experiment but after having a bit of a 'furtle' in the compost today I exposed a couple of decent looking tubers. I grew 3 buckets of Winston and 3 buckets of Kestrel and the Kestrel in particular looked excellent. I shall only need a set of 3 so I shall cut off the foliage next weekend in order to give the tubers a week to harden their skins.

Watch out for those frosts

At this time of year it can be quite frustrating when you have a greenhouse full of plants and you want to start hardening off and planting out. A couple of weeks ago I'd put several trays of various plants outside with a view to hardening them off in readiness for planting. However, the last 3 nights have seen temperatures in the Midlands plummet so I've been bringing plants back into the greenhouse (things like onions and brassicas) or going even further and bringing more tender veg indoors overnight.....lettuce, pumpkins, french beans, peppers etc. It's a bit of a ball-ache but worth it for the peace of mind.

So you really do have to keep an eye on those overnight weather forecasts. There would be nothing worse than putting in all the effort to get your tomato plants looking like this....

......and waking up to find several pots of green snot in the morning.

Another very tender crop is celery and I have 10 plants of Evening Star in their final pots. A crop that requires plenty of nitrogen I have already given the beds where I intend to grow them a dressing of Vitax Q4 plus ammonium nitrate, in anticipation for planting out at the end of the month. I've never managed to grow good celery before but I've got a few plans in mind and intend to give them more attention this year with a view to showing a few at the end of the show season.

What if.........?

I'm sometimes asked which varieties are best for showing and then asked where these can be purchased as they are often not available from the large seed merchants. I buy my seed from Medwyns, Sheeley Seeds, and ESP (potatoes) but it got me thinking whether you could compete by only sourcing your seed from the likes of T&M, Suttons, Dobies etc.

I think the short answer is yes you can but you would have to have grown them exceptionally well to compete against seed which has been bred specifically for the showbench. Indeed, some seed which started off as showbench favourites such as Red Ace beetroot and Gladiator parsnip have now found their way into several catalogues.

If I had to go one season only purchasing seed from the 'garden centre' stockists these would be the varieties I would choose. I have chosen from Thompson & Morgan's seed list.

Onion Marco (small classes only)
Long Carrot Yellowstone
Stump carrot Kingston
Parsnip Gladiator
Tomatoes Shirley
Leek Musselburgh .......you'd have to sow early in heat though and grow under cover
Cauli Clapton
Marrow BadgerCross
Beetroot Red Ace
Runner beans Enorma
French beans The Prince
Cucumber Carmen
Cabbage Kilaton
Celery Victoria
Lettuce Webb's Wonderful
Peas Cavalier
Potatoes Kestrel & Winston
Shallots Longor

Quite a reasonable selection there I think and I'd be confident of putting up a good show at local level. However, I still maintain it's worth paying a little bit more for that personal touch and to guarantee selected seed that will definitely perform for you.

Next year's varieties

Long carrot – Resel. New Red Intermediate from Graeme Watson
Parsnip – Pinnacle (Medwyns)
Stumps – Sweet Candle (Medwyns/Shelleys)
Potatoes – Kestrel/Maxine/Winston/Pixie (ESP)
Tomatoes – Cederico (Shelleys)
Cherry toms – Sakura and Sungold (DT Brown)
Onions and leeks – bought in plants from top growers
8oz onions – Vento (Medwyns)
Shallot – Hative de Niort (new stock hopefully!)
Celery – Red Star (Medwyns)
Beetroot – Red Ace (Shelley)
Cabbage – Globemaster (Medwyns) Kilaton (DT Brown)
Red Cabbage – Autoro (Shelley)
Runner beans – seed from a secret source!!!
French beans – Declic (DT Brown) & Purple Speckled (own saved seed)
Peas – Cavalier (DT Brown)
Marrow – Blyton Belle (own saved seed direct from Les Stothard breeding line)
Pumpkin – sent off for some from the grower of the recently crowned european record (should be fun!)
Courgette – Ambassador (DT Brown)
Lettuce – Sunny (DT Brown)
Brussels - Abacus (Medwyn)
Caulis – bollocks to caulis!!!

Sunny....like me!

Once again I’ve been very pleased with the lettuce ‘Sunny’ that has gained me 3 wins in ‘any other veg’ classes this season already. It’s a real ‘zingy’ lime green colour so does stand out on the benches but you need to take one or two precautions when displaying it. It’s quite a loose leaved variety that hasn’t got a solid heart as such, so it is a bit like trying to hold a jelly when you’re digging it up. You need to get a fork under it, lever it up so far, put your hand at soil level above the roots and pull it out with the roots intact. It pays to have a hosepipe running in anticipation so that you can wash off the soil and pull off and yellowing leaves from around the base. Wrap a few sheets of kitchen towel around the roots and wash off any muck or slugs that may be lurking in the leaves.


Display on the bench with the moistened kitchen towel still on the roots so that it stays fresh as lon as the show lasts and doesn’t wilt.

Seagrave 2008

First the important news……we raised over £1200 for local charities which is another record. The generosity of the villagers never ceases to amaze me. This in spite of the fact that show entries were slightly down on previous years which was understandable given the atrocious weather conditions on the day. Having said that standards were still high and Mick Mills won Best in Show with his stunning yellow crysanths and also the Smith & Byatt Shield for most points in show. I had a mixed day but I was happy that I managed to beat Mick for the first ever time with my blanch leeks, as well as other wins for beetroot, cucumbers, parsnips, onions from sets, any other veg (lettuce) and the heaviest pumpkin. I thought I should have won with my tomatoes(3rd), carrots(2nd) and Top Tray(2nd) but hey, you can’t win ‘em all!

A missed trick

This is my greenhouse at the end of November showing a lot of tomatoes still in reasonable condition despite the ravages of blight and not being watered for several weeks. What with global warming (according to Lord Jeremy of Clarkson our climate will be akin to the south of France in 25 years....bring it on!) I need to think about future opportunities to keep harvesting salad veg well in to the autumn. As my last show is in early October I have been guilty of believing that to be the end of my gardening activites and shutting up shop so to speak. This year didn't help as our extension work started in September and we've been busy with that ever since but I want to try and make a New Year resolution to try and get as much veg out of my garden next season as possible. This means making as many sowings as possible of things like lettuce throughout the season and to keep on top of the harvesting of tomatoes

Sunny by name and by nature

I've been very impressed with the lettuce variety 'Sunny' that I 've grown for the first time this year. Not only does it have a nice peppery taste but it's an excellent plant that's stands well in rows and is easy to match up. I grew about 20 plants specifically for the 'Any other veg' classes and picked up a few '3rds' along the way, but they've looked their best in the last week or so when I haven't had any shows. Next season I'll be sure to get them in a little earlier.

If 'showing' lettuce dig up the whole plant roots and all and knock off any large lumps of soil. Wash the remaining soil under a tap or hose jet. Wrap these exposed roots in some damp kitchen towel and this should keep the plants fresh on the show bench for a couple of days. Remove any of the lower leaves that may have gone yellow or suffered pest damage.

Where everything is at......

Long Carrots. Could be belters. Foliage strong and healthy and shoulders look heavy. Unfortunately, no way of telling for sure until they're harvested.

Stump carrots. One bed of Osiris looks ok but the main bed of Heracles appears to be struggling for size. Foliage is small and weak looking although no real sign of pest or disease.

Parsnips. Foliage good. Shoulders look large but as with long carrots only time will tell if they're good ones.

Large onions. 9 decent ones harvested. Stripped to the first unsplit skin, dusted with talc and now ripening in boxes of sawdust.

Shallots. Hopeless. Far to small to be serious contenders. Pickling shallots reasonable.

Tomatoes. Nice round fruits ripening due to policy of thinning the trusses. Some blight damage on 3 or 4 plants. Affected foliage cut off.

Cherry tomatoes. All suffered blight. Most plants died weeks ago. Some plants soldiering on forlornly.

Potatoes. All plants affected by blight although some tubers are being harvested that are of a 'showable' size. Kestrel in particular very poor.

Cucumbers. Growing well and many fruits forming.

Courgettes. Have been harvesting for several weeks. One Ball is a lovely round, yellow fruited variety that should look good on the show bench.

Marrows. First fruits formed on one plant but probably won't be big enough for first shows.

Two other plants haven't started to 'trail' yet.

Runner beans. Struggling. Plants look healthy but lack of bees means not many beans are showing.

French beans. No problems. 'Prince' looking the best bet for showing.

Beetroot. Struggling. All roots appear to be no more than marble size.

Celery. Foliage excellent. Needs regular checking to remove decaying foliage and weak stalks.

Leeks. Excellent size although splitting is a problem. Lost up to seven layers at the weekend on some of the larger specimens.

Cabbages. Massive disappointment. Not hearting up.

Caulis. Hopeless as usual.

Brussels. 'Brilliant' plants poor although some buttons now growing. Red 'Rubine' is a better looking plant but no buttons making size yet.

Aubergines. 2 tiny fruits have finally formed.

Radish. Plenty to choose from for the 'trug' and 'basket' classes.

Pumpkin. 1 fruit the size of a grapefruit. Not going to be a winner in the heaviest classes !

Swiss chard. Small.

Okra. Give up on this next year

Hot peppers. In pots in greenhouse. Not turning red yet although loads of 1" long fruits.

Purple carrots. Foliage looking good. Will be interesting.

Purple caulis. Have all struggled. Some small hearts have formed but shall not be growing again.

Long beetroot. Poor size.

Longest beans. Runners now starting to grow and several pods showing at 6" ('Yardlong') beans Stopped growing straight after planting and have done nothing.

Dahlias. Very small plants that are really struggling. Emma's Coronet is the best of a poor bunch.

Fuchsias. Looking ok.

Any other veg !?! (AOV)

At most village shows there is a class called 'Any other veg' and people are often confused as to what this means. Basically, if there isn't a class for it in the main schedule then you can enter it into this class......but the same rules apply for any other veg in that you should make sure you have good quality and uniformity in whatever veg you choose to display.

However, you need to think about what you enter and try and use a veg that is reasonably 'high pointed'. Lots of shows don't bother to have separate classes for caulis or pot leeks these days as they don't tend to get many entries......and the 'AOV' class would be a good one to put these into if you had grown some. Caulis and Pot Leeks are worth a maximum of 20 points and are more likely to beat courgettes, sweetcorn, radishes, lettuces or any of the other veg that are usually seen in the AOV class.

Remember also, that if there are no classes for 'quality' marrows then you can enter them into the AOV class.......even if there is a class for 'heaviest marrow' as that doesn't count. Marrows are worth up to 15 points so have a reasonable chance.

The pic above shows a cardoon I exhibited at Littleover a couple of years ago. I only dropped it in to see if the show organisers knew what it was (they didn't) and I ended up getting a '3rd'.

He's finally lost it mum !

A class at a local show for a 'plant in an unusual container' always gets me trying to think of a madcap idea. Last year I won with a hosta in a slug pellet container (geddit?) and this year I'm going for a marigold in a marigold (geddit?) Ah well......you're probably with the kids on that one then....they looked at me gone out too!

As I write it's raining again although it's been a fine weekend and I've got loads done....but I needed to as we fly off to sunny Rhodes this coming Saturday. It's gonna be a fortnight of lying on a sunlounger wondering if my daughter and her boyfriend are really looking after my veg while I'm away. However, I reckon by the time I come back England will consist of the top 100 foot or so of Scafell Pike if this rain keeps up !!!

Everything has now been planted apart from a few trays of lettuce and caulis which will be ready for planting when I come back. Then it'll be a matter of keeping everything ticking over until the first shows at the end of August and making sure I have all the necessary paraphernalia to hand.....things such as raffia for tying onions, string for tying beetroot foliage, oasis for displaying dahlias, display boards for the Top Tray classes etc etc.

However, I have a list of jobs to do before I fly to make sure my under gardeners have a relatively easy 2 weeks babysitting my prize veg and flowers. I have to make sure all the stakes and strings are in place for my dahlias and potatoes, that my tomato feeds are at hand, that the caulis and cabbages are given a last blast of insecticide.....oh I could go on forever!

Get planting

The risk of a late frost should now be over with.......so now's the time to be planting all the tender veg such as courgettes, marrows, lettuces, runner and french beans, as well as all your bedding plants.

Having said that, as I grow for show I haven't even sown my beans yet. I'll be sowing my runner beans in pots tonight. I find that you have better results if you plant out strong plants and germination is more or less guaranteed. They soon make good strong growth and allows me more time to prepare my supports properly. The variety I grow is ENORMA.

My french beans will not go in for at least another week as these only need 8 to 10 weeks from sowing to cropping. I'll be growing THE PRINCE and PURPLE SPECKLED. I'm even toying with the idea of growing these in large pots to make picking easier and to keep them out of reach of slugs.

After my weekend away I've had to throw away several trays of veg and bedding plants.....that's what you get if you leave the watering duties to an airhead of an 18 year old daughter !