Almost time for lift off

For most of us the show season is now well and truly upon us and there’s diddly shit you can really do to alter the colour of the cards you’ll be winning, if any, apart from continuing to keep on top of the usual pests. My first show is not until next weekend, my local show, and for the first time for as long as I can remember I won’t be entering runner beans or cucumbers. That’s because I only sowed them with later shows in mind and after thinking I may even have overcooked those I am now thinking I’ll be getting some on the bench at either the Welsh Branch, or Harrogate, or Malvern, and certainly RHS Westminster in early October. The first fruits are now being allowed to develop on the cucumber plants, variety Carmen, now that they have ‘turned the corner’ at the eaves, where they have started to be trained horizontally to allow all fruits to hang downwards. This keeps them away from the foliage thus avoiding scratching and means you can manipulate them straight if they’re bent.

The runner beans are now forming although I’ve never seen plants with such little foliage. They do look quite bizarre but hasn’t seemed to affect the amount of pods. I could possibly get a set for my local show next weekend but I think I’ll wait a few more days to get a set up for the NVS Welsh Branch show in Carmarthen at the Welsh Botanic Gardens. You can start picking runner beans 5 or 6 days before the show as soon as they reach the size you require (I’m going for 14 or 15” plus the tail) and wrap in a damp cloth against a wooden batten to keep them fresh and straight and pop them in the fridge. Not too cold mind.

I have a row of Exhibition Longpod broad beans growing away against canes at an angle and the beans are about 2-3” long now, so no good for my show this weekend. Bit of chocolate spot but a Signum drench soon stopped that In its tracks. There is a class at the Welsh for 4 sets of legumes, but as I don’t grow peas I’m fucked, so these are destined for the kitchen I fear, but it has been a useful exercise to gather info on growing them to show if I ever get back into it in 20 years time.

Some of the first kohl rabi to be planted out are starting to swell so these will be too early for Malvern, but it looks like the 2^nd or 3^rd batch will probably be spot on, and I’m hoping the Kref in my polytunnel will be one of them. The variety in the photo is Kolibri and there are another 2 later sowings of this alongside, so my dream of becoming National German Turnip Champion are very much alive and well.

At Harrogate & RHS Westminster there are classes for chilli peppers and I have lots to choose from, albeit they are still green but starting to turn red soon I reckon. My banker variety Hungarian Wax (below) always gives me plenty of choice to make a selection from, but I’m not sure about a 2^nd one I’m growing this season called Cyklon. A case of the reality not quite matching catalogue photo I fear.

With 2 weeks to the Welsh Branch my dream of getting an entry at the British Tap Root Championships is hanging in the balance. My long beet are still quite small at the shoulder, barely an inch and a half diameter, but if they carry that diameter down for 10 or 12 inches then they may look ok. My parsnips, variety Victor, are also starting to concern me as they haven’t responded to the Chempak 8 feed yet and a number of them are looking quite spindly and therefore the root should also be quite small. At the beginning of the month I felt they were 3 weeks ahead of last season but they don’t appear to have grown much in the meantime. I do have quite a few large looking specimens so I’ll be saving these to try and get a set of 5 at the National, so I’ll have a decision to make as to which ones to pull for a set of 2 at the Welsh for the Tap Root Class. Decisions, decisions!

I’ve been picking tomatoes, variety Zenith, for the best part of 2 months, when I’m usually just starting to pick my first fruits so they are well ahead compared to previous seasons. It means I’ll have plenty to choose from for the next 2 weekends, including the Welsh where there are lots of top tomato growers to test yourself against. If I manage to get a ticket there I’ll be well chuffed.

For my local show I’ve been growing a fuchsia variety called Auntie Jinks that I rescued from one of last year’s hanging baskets. After taking advice I pinched out all shoots until 11 weeks before the show, then snipped off all the flower buds until 5 weeks before the show and I have to say it is going to be spot on in a week’s time once all these buds burst into flower. I haven’t grown a fuchsia for a show for several years, and I have found all the cocking about snipping and debudding quite therapeutic after a hard day at work I have to say. If you’re planning to show a fuchsia at your local show do make sure you tidy the plant up a bit, take off any foliage that is turning yellow and any flowers past their best, and give the pot a good wipe. There’s nothing that fuck’s a judge off more than getting his hands dirty on muddy pots.

So, over the next few weeks it’s going to get quite intense as you’re prepping for the show, but do take time out now and again to smell the coffee. It should be enjoyable, not stressful and you don’t want to miss little gems like these cyclamen I noticed growing at the foot of my conservatory wall today. Spiffin’.

And finally Dan Unsworth took to Twitter this week to strongly refute claims that he’s a gay dyslexic. Personally I think he’s in Daniel. And finally finally, the French man who invented beach sandals sadly died this week. RIP Philippe Phillope.

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.

Nearly April already!

A lot has happened since my last post but unfortunately I've been too busy at work and home to keep you all up to speed. My Cedrico tomatoes were sown on 16th March and were up within days and are now pricked out into 2" cells. I have several pots of peppers and aubergines to prick out also. I shall be taking care of my tomato seedlings from now on as if they were my very own bollocks, such was my disappointment at not being able to stage a decent set of tomatoes at all last season due to my incompetence.

I still haven't managed to get my parsnip holes bored yet although I should have that job nailed this weekend. They will soon catch up with anything that might have been sown earlier. Then it will be long carrots and not long after that the potatoes will need to be bagged up. It's non-stop from now on.

I have all my composts to hand now. Just before TEGS I went up to Codnor Horticultural Supplies in Ripley, Derbyshire and stocked up on M3 and F2, with a few bags of peat, sterilised topsoil and vermiculite to boot. I didn't think I was going to get it all into my car but thanks to the two guys in the yard they managed to load me up so that I could still see PC Plodfart of the M1 up my arse if I had to. They really were a helpful company, and despite advertising themselves as 'trade only' they don't turn away anyone with hard cash, and I shall be visiting them more often from now on for my composts and feeds. I've never bothered with Levingtons before, preferring to buy cheap and cheerful from B&Q and adding my own nutrients (very haphazardly!) but I'm now prepared to pay extra for better quality material. I hope it makes a difference.

M3 is a high nutrient compost which I'll be using in my pots for growing my onions on, and F2 is a lower nutrient seed and potting compost which I shall be using for my parsnip and carrot mixes.

My shallots are giving me many concerns yet again. Despite a spraying with Folicur quite a few of them have still developed white tip. Once they get it then the affected leaves can grow no more as they extend from the ends. I think I have it relatively controlled and have plenty of bulbs to plant out so hopefully they'll be ok, but they just won't get as big as I'd like. With a planting date of mid-April in mind i've given the beds where they'll grow a generous dusting of Tev04 fertiliser, and will follow that with some dried blood this weekend for extra nitrogen.

I have also pricked out 30 or so celery 'Evening Star' which needs an awful lot of care taking in order not to damage the tiny little seedlings. Whilst celery are a bog plant and you don't want to allow them to dry out I'm still watering these very carefully with a small watering can so as not to get excess water on the foliage. As these are currently residing in my conservatory I don't want them getting scorched during the afternoon when the sun is strongest.

So, whilst I'm behind on some tasks all in all i'm quite happy with progress thus far. And talking of progress, Oscar has started nursery and even has his very own schoolbag! And he's already nearly as tall as me!

Free Jennifer Lopez nude sex pics hot hot hot

Apologies for the title, but my blog stats tell me that the most popular page (by some distance) was the one I did last year entitled simply 'Loughborough', presumably visited so often by prospective students and visitors to the town doing a google search. No doubt when they click on the link it isn't quite what they are looking for nor indeed expecting and some swearing and cussing ensues, but hey-ho! So I dreamed up the above title, and if I can just convert to growing for showing, two or three of the masturbating teenagers out of the millions that will now undoubtedly visit this blog for other reasons then it'll be a result (well, it worked with Adam Greathead!). Either that or I'll be cited in the Guinness Book of Records as the most prolific cause of lost boners in recorded history!


Well now, I really do have to buckle down from now on in and make full use of every spare moment. My peppers popped through the compost today and in the next few days I will be sowing brussels, cabbages, aubergines and celery indoors. The sand in my parsnips drums has now settled with no further sinkage, so I took the opportunity to drench it with some Jet 5 at a rate of 45ml to 5 litres. Hopefully that has scorched the crap out of any remaining canker spores or carrot fly larvae that might have overwintered. I'll try and get my mixes done in the next week for boreholing next weekend, although my involvement with the NVS stand at The Edible Garden Show might mean that goes back another week.

I really can't praise my friend Helen enough for the superb onions she's grown for me and as Dan is quite rightly intimating, I hope I can do them full justice from now on. They are already as big as anything I would have had growing in the beds in May so I'm off to a flyer with them. Unfortunately my growlight has gone on the blink so they're currently residing in my conservatory but as this weekend sees equilibrium with 12 hours of equal daylight/darkness I'd have been switching the light off anyway.

My conservatory is also home to my Pendle Improved leeks and several trays of Vento onion seedlings.

These are on a par, if not better than any leeks i've produced in the past so i'm more than happy with how they're ticking along, but once again Helen put me to shame as I simply could not believe the size of her leeks which must be at least an inch diameter and 11" to the button. Derek Aldred is going to have some serious competition at Southern Branch this season. And thanks for the tea and cake Helen!

I've also done something I've not bothered with in the past, although it does make a whole lot of sense. I've heard one or two other growers talking about germination tests so I've done one with a few long beetroot seeds from a batch I had left over from last season supplied by a scottish friend. As I grew my best long beet last season I wanted to see if the same seed was viable and i'm happy to report a small pot of seed has germinated, although I won't be starting the boreholes off until early May with Malvern in mind hopefully. I've got two drums prepared already, and hope to get another four set up before then, each with 5 roots in. You can do a germination test with old batches of carrot and parsnip seed also. It certainly saves wondering whether they're ever going to germinate after sowing proper.

Westminster 2011

This is fast turning in to my favourite show despite the problems associated with getting veg into the middle of London. Having spent all day Sunday lifting and preparing veg, then getting straight down to more of the same after work on Monday it was 2am before I left home. Thanks to satnav technology which I was using the first time I was able to drive straight to the RHS Lindley Hall, arriving at 4.10am. A quick offload I then drove 3/4 mile to leave my car at a pub which hires out its parking spaces at a tenner a day. Bargain at London prices.

As for the show I managed quite a few placings which has pleased me no end seeing as the welsh boys were in attendance this year, along with the regular contingent from Derbyshire.

Pick of the bunch was 2nd in the class for 5 Kestrel spuds, behind Sherie Plumb of course!



I entered a collection of 6 (won by Jim Thompson) and came 4th but was more than happy with how my stuff compared, my leeks, celery and parsnips in particular. I even had a couple of bonus wins for chilli peppers (me and Dan have the country conquered!) and in a highly popular cylindrical beet class, although I forgot to get a photo of them.

Leesa came down on the train and we had a stroll along the south bank followed by a meal....outside.....in short sleaves......on the 4th October. Unbelievable! War museum today then back to the show to load up. I'll make sure I get a photo of my superb beet!!

Flag carnage

I'm not very proud of this photo but in many ways it appears unavoidable when growing exhibition blanch leeks. All of these flags had split right down the blanched barrel of the leek to the root plate, sometimes 4 or 5 layers deep. I think it might be due to intermittent watering which is something I'm often guilty of when it comes to my leeks. I resolved this season to try and keep the soil moist at all times but the path to Red Card City is littered with good intentions. As I hadn't uncollared my leeks for several weeks (again very naughty...try and do it every couple of weeks) I did so a few nights ago and it's a good job I did. As well as the splitting problem a few plants were infested with aphids that I hadn't noticed hiding away deep down in the DPC collars. As they were merely sucking sap from a loose skin attached to a base plate no virus appears to have been transferred and no permanent damage done it would seem. I also noticed a few barrels were not as straight as I would like and when they're a couple of inches diameter it's not as easy to straighten them as when they're an inch. Oh well.....should still be ok for local shows, but it just goes to show that even though everything appears to be ticking over there is often something hidden and it pays to be as vigilant as possible.

 

 

 

I left one split skin ( a guard flag) on each leek, replaced the collars (now 20") and squirted some Polysect down the inside of the collar. A couple of growers were saying to me at a show last weekend that they find it very difficult to get Pendle Improved to 'pull' upwards, but I've never found this a problem.

 

One surprise plant this season is this variety of pepper called Hungarian Hot Wax, which has been fruiting its socks off for weeks now. I even got a 2nd place with it in an any other veg class at a show in July which is by far the earliest I've ever had peppers ready. It's an attractive plant and like most hot peppers I find the foliage is often unpalateable to caterpillars, presumably because the heat of the fruit must somehow convey to the leaves. You tend to get the odd tiny hole that never develops, presumably because the caterpillar has f***ed off in search of a bucket of water.

Beet box

I think I may well have to take up stamp collecting instead of showing veg. There seems to be some sort of Bermuda Triangle around my tomato greenhouse as some aubergines have now decided to throw down their leaves in disgust.

Just outside the greenhouse this pepper plant also threw down its leaves overnight. Plants in pots next to it growing in exactly the same compost are doing fine.

And several of my Kestrel potatoes in bags are showing this weird yellow tipping on some of the leaves, although the rest of the foliage seems to be very glossy and healthy. Oh what a multitude of stress!

Dave Thornton reckons I should stick to growing radishes (at which I excel I might add), so with this in mind I have this fine row of 'Jolly' alongside my leeks just through in time hopefully for the 'any other veg' class at a show on 9th July. Sadly, there is no class for radish at the National but if there was I'd be a contender, no doubt about it.

This weekend I will sow one last row of Pablo beetroot with Westminster Show in mind, although in reality I've found that a set of three can come from rows sowed several weeks apart. Pablo does seem to be an easier beet to match up than Red Ace but it can produce all manner of sizes from marble to mangold all in one row. Having sown a row every weekend from mid-May I should now be well covered for all my shows but last season my best looking roots came from this old water tank filled with sieved compost from my own compost heap. I find you can grow them about 4" apart quite happily although leaf miners can decimate a bed if you're not vigilant. I've been spraying with Decis this season and haven't noticed any damage so far. I was hoping to time these for Llangollen for the Millenium class but as I won't have any tomatoes to go with them it looks like my local show the weekend after will benefit.

Beetroot needs a lot of nitrogen at first and once established I will also water in nitrate of soda and a dash of salt which is supposed to improve the colour. Growing in this tank with fine compost also means I can force my hand down the side of the root at harvest time and get as much of the tap root up as possible. Three globe beet just under tennis ball size, with long thin tap roots 8" long are what you are hoping for. And an appeal to some of those cheating bastards who coat their beet with some substance that means they still look wet after 2 days.....don't! Certainly at Malvern the schedule says something along the lines that any foreign substances will result in disqualification and hopefully other shows will follow suit, and not before time!

Vento spento

I'm monumentally pissed off about my Vento onion seeds this season. After sowing two batches I haven't had a single one germinate, despite keeping the second batch moist at all times after taking the advice of some of the growers on the NVS forum. I sowed a third batch this season and another suggestion I was given was to break the hard seed coating to make it easier for moisture to penetrate the seed. After doing this I was buggered if I could see a seed anywhere inside so it appears I may have been sowing fresh f****** air! All in all i'm pretty hacked off about it. For the 250g classes I will have to rely on some onion sets 'Setton' and a tray of 'Armstrong' onions that I pricked out a week ago. The 'Armstrong' were a free trial packet which i've never grown before so I have no idea what shape they make and whether they'll be any good for the 250g class.

Yesterday I went walking around the Derwent dams in Derbyshire, famous for being the training ground for the WW2 Dambuster Squadron. Today has been a miserable day weather-wise, totally the opposite of what the f******* useless Met Office forecasted so once again no work has been done in the garden. I've managed to get a few seeds sown, such as capsicums (Californian Wonder, Hot Cayenne, Hungarian Hot Wax), brussels (Abacus), cabbage (Brigadier), red cabbage (Rodeo), celery (Evening Star) and the first batch of tomato Cedrico which i've sown earlier than usual with a view to getting a set at the NVS National Championships at Llangollen at the end of August.

So, the greenhouses are still pretty bare save for this long carrot set down for seed and which seems to be flourishing pretty well......

......and my shallots which are really starting to motor now. The first roots are starting to poke through the bottoms of the pots.

Looking forward, I won't be doing much next weekend as I intend to go walking again, so the weekend after that will be set aside for boring my parsnip boreholes. When they are all finished I will set the parsnip seeds on some damp tissue in plastic containers for pre-chitting indoors. I still swear by this method as it buys you time and means you are absolutely certain that you have germinated seeds in your boreholes. After a few seasons of carrot seeds not germinating I may well try pre-chitting these too. A bit more fiddly than the large parsnip seeds but it could be worth the eye-strain!

Pepper Rooney

Today I found out that some scumbag had hacked into my Facebook account on Tuesday and wrote a comment referring to that great Manchester United hero Wayne Rooney as a 'fat, useless traitor'. Tut,tut. Nothing is sacred these days.

Anyways, today I'm talking peppers, or capsicums if you want to be cleverer than you look....as I often do. Reading other folks' blogs and websites it appears it's been a bumper season for peppers. I've never won anywhere with peppers but I did have a couple of good seconds this season at Malvern with this set of 5 'Californian Wonder' below........


















.......and this dish of 3 at Westminster (middle left). I took a long time deciding on the fruits for both shows, trying to get blocky fruits with similar profiles and no skin blemishes. It paid off as there were bigger fruits at both shows but obviously not in as good condition.














I struggle to get my fruits to colour up and think it may be because I grow the plants too well and therfore they are too lush. I reduce the tomato foliage later in the season to ripen the fruits and perhaps I have to do the same with my peppers. Having said that some varieties colour up easier and John Croot grew this variety from a supermarket seed to win the coloured pepper class at Westminster.

It only needs me now to apologise to anyone who may have received texts and emails from 'me' in the last few days calling Wayne 'legend' Rooney a treacherous scouser who should be shot through the nostrils. Those damned hackers get everywhere!