First leek showing

It's my 'local' show at Sutton Bonington tomorrow and I've just finished preparing my 40 or so entries including these blanch leeks. Considering that I have virtually given these no attention whatsoever, save watering and collaring, I'm very pleased with these 'Pendle Improved'. I wonder what I could do if I tried!

Next season I really must get my beds covered over with polythene sheeting and enviromesh sides in order to keep leek moth and rust at bay. I had to strip back a couple of split flags on each barrel, and the roots had the hosepipe spraying inside them for several minutes to get every last speck of soil. A trim to make them level is the last touch, along with snipping off any dried ends on the flags. If i'm honest these are a bit on the tapered side, heavier at the bottom but certainly not bulbous.

At Leicester last weekend I unexpectedly won with these 3 long carrots and will be showing two of these in the long carrot class tomorrow, having wrapped them in paper towelling and stored them in the fridge all week. I usually like to pull fresh roots for each show, but a lack of good carrots has forced my hand this week.

I say I won unexpectedly, because when staging I was aware of a couple of sets of heavy carrots on the bench, but as they were wrapped up I couldn't tell how good they were. During the public viewing it was clear mine were a cleaner, more uniform set and it was good to see the judges aren't always blinded by size. Mine are in the foreground.

It was also the NVS National Championships in Dundee today and Dave Thornton text me earlier to say he had won the long carrots. If he's beaten the likes of Graeme Watson he must have had awesome roots. I hope he pulled all his good ones and doesn't have any more for our little wager later this month, starting at Malvern. My life will be a misery from now on. The big headed git won't let me forget this.

Niort too bad

I came first with this set of 9 'Hative de Niort' shallots at Leicester, as well as having an equally good set in my winning collection. I'm very happy with the shape and size of my shallots this season and will be quite happy entering a set of 12 at Malvern. They're 2" diameter and the biggest and best looking i've ever grown and yet they will be dwarfed by Dave Thornton's humungous bulbs from which strain mine have been grown. I shall have to make sure I stage mine at the opposite end of the bench to his.

Meanwhile tonight I had some good news at last on the potato front when I harvested some bags of a new variety called Blue Belle. I only grew 9 tubers to try it out and I must say I'm delighted at the shape and form. I've got a set of 4 for Sutton Bonington and another set of 3 for a Top Tray somewhere. I also got several smaller spuds for use in my trug displays (brilliantly arranged as always by Mrs. Smithyveg). Blue Belle has some gorgeous dark purple splashes on the eye end and I shall be growing this variety next season.....possibly instead of Kestrel.

You got away with that one Smithy

I got a surprising 2nd out of 12 dishes in the coloured potato class at Leicester. Surprising when you saw them on the public viewing on Monday that is, because they looked truly awful due to the amount of scrubbing I had to do to get them looking half decent. When I staged them on the Sunday morning I can assure you they looked pretty good and I wish now I'd taken a photo to show how they can deteriorate on a two day show. (A certain top NVS lady grower's prize winning spuds are often decidely ropey a day after judging by all accounts !). The judge can only make a decision based on what he sees and not what they may look like tomorrow.

You often see a similar thing with dahlias. A bloom can often look perfect at judging but may have lost most of its petals by day two and the viewing public can be confused as to why it has won. Still, after my terrible few weeks with spuds I'm happy to accept this card.

Sheer show madness!

I got Leesa to take this photo to illustrate the lengths I (and others) go to in our quest to win a red card or 6. After the final whistle at Leicester there's a mad dash to get all your stuff back off the various benches ready for loading back into the car. I always commandeer a section of table where my collection was exhibited which is handy for the exit door. And it's surprising just how much stuff you take.

There were 6 parsnips, a dozen or so carrots, two sets of shallots, two plates of beet, two sets of french beans etc etc.Throw in a few cacti and it's little wonder that i'm totally shagged out by the end of the day. I started preparing everything for Hathern and Leicester on Friday evening, took all day Saturday and some of first thing Sunday morning. That's not including the onion and shallot tying that went on in the days leading up to the show. And I shall be doing this now every weekend until early October, plus one more at the end of October. Madness.

Leicester Show 2010

I'm a lot happier tonight. Only 6 red cards at Leicester today but a couple of trophies, including one for best veg (parsnips) means it was all ultimately worthwhile. All the best growers in the county show here so any card is hard to win and therefore worth something.





They looked a bit scabby after two days on the tables but did it for me again at Leicester. I got best in show with Pinnacle a couple of seasons ago too.












My other success was in the collection of 6 where I deservedly beat my new buddy Ian Taylor who has now vowed to rub my nose in it next season. A fiver says he can't!

Special mention again for my good lady Leesa. Yesterday was our 23rd wedding anniversary and she got up early to put together my winning basket of veg for the 4th year running. More photos in the next few days.

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.

Candle in the bin Part II

My show growing pal Mark Roberts says this hobby is life ruining. I wouldn't quite go that far but it's been another disastrous night as I pulled one forked Sweet Candle after another. I'm at a loss as to what's caused this and I had no idea things would be this bad when I started pulling tonight. The shoulders of every single root were superb and the skin condition is excellent but 75% were unshowable. Last year's disaster was down to pest damage but there were no such issues this year as the enviromesh kept carrot fly at bay.



It's not total doom and gloom as I did manage to salvage these specimens to make a few sets for the weekend shows. My wife and kids dread this time of year as they are unable to take a bath until the roots are washed.





A big plus however is that I seem to have some exceptional globe beet with nice colour and long tap roots that are perfectly central. They're a little on the flattish side but are still the best I've grown for a few years and I have high hopes. Still gutted about those carrots though! I may go and chuck some cats in a wheelie bin to make myself feel better!

Don't look Ethel!

Anyone glancing in at the kitchen window of Smithyveg Towers tonight would have seen yours truly stood at the kitchen sink apparently wanking off a potato. With my first shows this weekend I had a go at cleaning up a set of 5 Winston for the white potato class at Leicester on Sunday. Heavily scabbed up I have managed to clean them to an acceptable standard that may get a place card. However, it did take an awful lot of hard rubbing that had the sweat pouring out of me and made it look as if I was appearing in a cheap porn film. You really do have to press them into your body and rub vigorously with plenty of clean running water for lubrication. I'd normally do my spuds the night before a show but I knew these would take ages so I did them tonight. As you can see from the photo they're not brilliant and the locations of the scabs are evident but hey....it's an entry.






Tonight I also emptied out a dozen bags of a variety I thought was Harmony, a white skinned spud. However, it has pink splashes and is patently not Harmony. A case of mislabelling at the garden centre on this one. Unlike my Winston and Kestrel it is not scabbed up and I have some reasonably good sized tubers. Therefore I shall be able to enter them in the coloured classes at the weekend shows. I think they could be Osprey.

TC says...."What's all the fuss about?"

"I've been living in a f***ing bin for years".

Countdown.

Well the time is almost upon me when I can find out whether months of hard work has been a waste of time or not. I already know I have decent shallots and 8oz onions, and my runner and french beans should be ok also. But it's the things you can't yet see that will intrigue until the day before the show when you pull them. I'm talking of course about my long and stump carrots and parsnips. Two years ago I pulled some cracking Pinnacle parsnips that got best in show at Leicester. The skin finish was superb but I'd had no idea from the state of the foliage that they would be as good. Last year my parsnips foliage looked amazing but I pulled roots that were riddled with canker. This year? I can't decide. The foliage is reasonable but certainly not great. Parsnips bury themselves right down so I can't tell how big the shoulders are and I don't want to root about as this is a way of letting the canker spores get to the root a lot quicker....if there are any.

I'm semi-concerned about my Sweet Candle stumps as they haven't started forcing themselves up yet to expose the shoulders.....a sure sign that the stump end has formed.....despite being in the ground for over 20 weeks now. Dave Thornton said his were the same. I'm banking on the fact that I used a lot of vermiculite in my bore hole mix and hopefully this makes the compost more spongy and 'gives'. In the past I've suffered with a strange rippling near the stump and I think this may be down to compaction. When you pull your roots you notice that the compost is fairly solid a few inches down, and I'm hoping the vermiculite has stopped this happening. It may also have stopped the roots forcing themselves up. I shall soon be finding out. I need 13 stumps for this weekend's shows.

Ester's in the lead....

....not a lot of difference between the two pumpkins but this one is slightly bigger I reckon. Still two weeks to the first show requiring the 'heaviest pumpkin' so this should be around about last year's effort of 262lbs with a bit of luck. I can just about lift it a few inches by myself so there's a fair old weight there already. Great fun.

Long beetroots and long radishes

Mixed views on the long beetroot at the moment. The variety is Cheltenham Green Top which you never see on the benches at the big shows. Most growers go for Regar but I've always found it twists like a corkscrew for me. I prefer the skin finish on CGT. I've also suffered a bit with leaf miner which will affect the final size. The shoulders are about 2" diameter at the moment but I'm growing these with a view to pulling for the RHS Westminster show in October so they have plenty of time to swell out.



Next to the beet i'm growing some long Mooli radish again for Westminster. I grew some last year but found that they force themselves several inches out of the compost, flop to one side and the shoulders go green and manky as a result. When I visited Medwyns in May he was growing some for Chelsea and he said he sowed them several inches down from the top of the pipes, and that if you top up the compost as the shoulders start to emerge from the surface then it stops this happening.

Runners up?

When you go to a National Show you see runner beans you can only dream of growing. Sherie Plumb and Andrew Jones grow 'Stenner' beans so long and fresh looking you wonder how they do it. Well, now so have I, albeit, a week before my first shows. I've picked 3 beans 19 inches long and there isn't a bean bulge in sight. I've wrapped these 3 in a towel secured against a wooden batten and stored them in our fridge. They fit diagonally.....just! Hopefull they will last a week this way but I have plenty of other beans 14 to 15 inches so it's just a matter of waiting for these to catch up. The well rotted cow muck in the bean trench has certainly helped but ultimately you need the correct variety of bean. Enorma is the best variety for local showing and if you are growing this then I'd concentrate on getting a good set of beans 12 to 14 inches. If there is any bean bulge whatsoever don't bother showing it as the bean will not snap cleanly. Most judges will snap one of your beans to assess freshness, and a bulgy bean will always be stringy.

Yesterday I visited a few local shows trying to drum up business for the NVS, but I also shot over to Notts to view the Notts DA show where my arch rival and buddy Dave Thornton was showing. It was an opportunity to see his produce in view of our little wager. The bastard had the biggest, most superb looking shallots you'll ever see in your life. He's a nailed on cert for National shallot champion again I'd say. How the hell does he get them so big? I've grown my best ever at 2" diameter but his dwarf mine. I f*cking hate him!

There weren't many potato entries and those that were there were quite small. The stump carrot class was only reasonable, the skin finish leaving some room for improvement. I'm starting to worry about mine now. I haven't seen a good stump carrot dish anywhere yet.

Has the World gone mad?

My middle daughter announced yesterday that she was looking after a friend's pets whilst he went on holiday. Nothing strange in that I thought until they turned up. A dog? A cat? A hamster? A goldfish? Nope.....a huge bloody great snail and a couple of smaller ones.

I spend half my life trying to kill them in my garden and now my daughter is feeding one in my house! I give up!

I wish I could blame my woes on snails at the moment. Last night I emptied out my Kestrel spuds and they're even more scabby than my Winstons. They look like Keith Richard's cock after a 60 gig European tour. I informed Dave Thornton of this today. After he had stopped laughing he did admit to me that a lot of members in the North Derby DA were reporting the same at a recent meeting so I am in good company. The probable cause he feels is dry compost at tuber initiation, which is when the foliage is about a foot high. Thinking back, that was probably late June for me when it was really hot here in the Midlands. I obviously didn't give the bags enough water.

Not a problem as such but an issue with my tomatoes. A week to go to my first show and i'm struggling to get them ripe despite hanging bananas up. They are starting to go but I won't have a great selection for the first couple of shows. Some of the trusses are so heavy i'm also having to support them with string tied to the horizontal supports to stop the truss breaking off.

One success story this season is my courgettes. I've grown them in cordon fashion, tying to a stout pole as the grow and cutting off the lower foliage as they go yellow. The air circulation helps stop mildew and towards the end of the season the fruits are borne clear of the foliage and easy to pick at the top of the plant. I shall certainly be trying this method again.

Northern rat'oles......I'm saying nowt! LOL

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3102460/Invasion-of-the-giant-rats-in-Bradford.html