A day off from veg !

Decided to have a day off from tending the veg on Saturday and have a nice stress-free stroll up Snowdon in North Wales.....some hope!

Got up at 4 a.m. to drive the 150 miles to Pen-y-Pass, and started climbing at 8am in driving rain that never relented all day. By the time we reached the summit at 10.15 I was soaked through to the skin so we didn't linger to take in the non-existent views. I was looking forward to changing into some dry clothes at the bottom but they too had got completely soaked in my rucksack.....waterproof my ass!

And to round the day off perfectly my mate cut my bleedin head off when he took the above pic of me (honest) on the summit.

But know what? Twas a cracking day and I can't wait to go through it all again!

Can't wait......

Couldn't resisit exposing the shoulders of some of my long carrots last night to try and gauge how good they might be......and they look huge. Many of them are a good 3" dia. at the top so if they carry their weight all the way down to the bottom of the barrels and haven't forked, split or been nibbled by carrot fly I could be in for a good few weeks.

The carrots in the pic were one of my earliest efforts back in 1998 (I had hair back then!) pulled from a maximum of about 15 'stations' (I now grow nearly 50). They were by far the best 3 that I grew that year and had reasonable uniformity and won me my first ever trophy for veg at Hathern Show in Leicestershire.

However, things were a lot more hit and miss and I used to get of lot of weaker carrots. This year I think I've solve

d that particular conundrum by doing my 'mixes' in smaller batches so that the nutrients get more evenly spread. Certainly all the carrots seem to be similar in size to each other

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.

Collections

The premier class at any large veg show and which most growers aspire to is the class for a collection of vegetables. Very often this is for 4 or 6 kinds and can put a drain on the resources of those with limited space and so very often the class isn't that well supported and gets dropped from the schedule.

Collections of 6 kinds may be very well at large NVS shows but I would like to see schedule makers at smaller village shows use a bit of imagination and reduce the number of specimens in each dish.

For instance, I would have to think twice about finding 3 carrots/3 parsnips/6 tomatoes/4 potatoes/3 celery and 3 caulis for a collection of veg especially if I also wanted a similar amount in the main classes. However, if the collection called for 4 kinds of 2, or 6 kinds of 1, then it's a lot easier to harvest and match some more veg for a collection.

The RH picture above shows a winning collection of veg at Malvern Show in 2003 and as you can see every dish is stunning and would win the individual class in most village shows up and down the country. The LH pic is from Sturton Show where they ask for 6 kinds also, but only 1 specimen of each. It's usually well contested as exhibitors can put all those subjects that they couldn't quite match up with another 1 or 2 to make a dish in the individual classes.

A season that promised so much.

This was supposed to be the season that convinced me I could compete against the 'big boys' at Midland and National level but it's only shown me I still have lots to learn. The pics above were taken at Malvern Show in 2003 and were totally awe-inspiring to see.

Admittedly, it's been a horrendous season and I dread to think what newcomers to veg growing must be thinking. The hot, dry Spring followed by the wet summer has been a terrible combination and this year I suffered from potato blight for the first time ever. I only hope it doesn't put them off as I can assure them you don't get many seasons like the one we've just had...thank God!

It's not all doom and gloom....my leeks, onions, carrots and parsnips all seem better than usual and of course at this point I still don't know what my competitors on the local scene have.....I will only know after the first shows during Bank Holiday weekend. But having adjusted my timings for certain veg because they matured far too early last year, the lack of sunshine this year means they are weeks behind....I will be struggling to show things like tomatoes, runner beans, marrows and beetroot. Just when you think you have things cracked a new set of problems rears up to test you in a different way!

Back to plan1 next year

I'm stood behind some cabbages here that I grew in 2003 (variety Globemaster) that I grew under green netting, the sort they use on building sites and throw in the skip at the end of the job. The netting was great for stopping pigeons and cabbage whites getting in but I did find it very fiddly and it makes spraying and watering awkward.

These last two years I've tried to grow my cabbages without netting and things haven't been nearly so successful. Last season I wrote off because of the hot weather but that hasn't been the case this season obviously. This year my cabbages are ok but they don't seem to have the same 'bloom' as they did when they grew under a bit of shading. Seeing pics like this one makes you realise just how good things have been in the past so next season I shall be dragging the old netting out of the garage and growing my cabbages under them again.

Best weekend of the year!

After a long wait through the summer months we have finally arrived at the best weekend of the year.......a weekend when mankind can put down that paintbrush or garden hoe and tell his missus he's got better things to occupy himself.

Ladies and gentlemen I give you.....the start of a new footy season!

Organic

Just looked in the dictionary for the meaning of 'Organic';

=Expensive. When used in conjunction with vegetables it usually means covered in slug snot, aphid poo and susceptible to the World of Fungus!

So....there you have it!

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'.

The Annual Smith v. Hallam Tomato Challenge

Last year you may remember I finally beat my tomato growing friend Wendy after several years of ridicule. She had somehow conspired to beat me on every occasion we had competed in tomato classes due to illegal drug injections to her plants and the occasional bout of eye fluttering in the judges' direction !

OH YES SHE DID!

Last year I devoted an obscene amount of time making sure my tomatoes were spot on and managed to win 5 of the 7 shows I competed in. However, much of my other produce suffered as a result, notably runner beans and carrots. So this year I've not gone too over the top on my tomatoes but I do appear to have quite a few reasonable looking fruits ripening and I'm hopeful of doing well again. One thing I've done differently to previous years is to thin the fruits out on the truss in order to give the remaining ones more room to develop. It does appear to have worked and they seem a lot rounder than usual without the slightly flattened sides you can get.

However, I'm sure Wendy and Graham have pulled out all the stops this year to try and put me in my usual place so we shall have to wait and see.....let battle commence !

The King of the Pfaffers!

Each night when I return to the house from the garden, my missus will invariably ask me what I've been 'pfaffing about at down there?' Despite my protests that I'm performing vital tasks she's not wrong.

The thing is you can sow your seeds or plant your plants in the Spring, do a bit of watering and feeding during the Summer, pull your veg on show day, plonk them on the benches and no doubt you'll pick up the odd prize along the way. But to be sure of getting first prizes, best in show awards and trophies etc you need to become a bit of a pfaffer! This means doing all those little 'tweaky' jobs in the last few weeks that just add those finishing touches and can make all the difference to your exhibit. The sort of things I mean are:

Straightening runner beans, french beans, cucumbers and courgettes in their earliest stages when they're only an inch or two long. If done in the evening after a hot day they are quite easily to manipulate.

Shielding cucumber and marrow fruits with bits of polystyrene to stop them getting scratched.

Cutting back tomato foliage to ensure ripening fruits aren't too shaded.

'Talcing' onions and storing in boxes of sawdust.

Measuring shallots in special rings to ensure they are graded according to size and tying the tops carefully (a pleasant task from a garage armchair on drizzly evenings whilst listening to the radio).

Untying celery and leek collars, removing yellowing foliage and split flags and checking for pests.

Checking fuchsias for any yellowing leaves, spent flowers and picking off.

Disbudding dahlias to leaves the strongest, central bloom to grow away.

Making display aids such as 'Top Tray' boards and spraying them black.

Writing down a 'schedule' for each show noting staging times, items to take etc (essential when you might have 3 shows on one weekend)

and so on and so forth !

It's no good getting up on the morning of the show, throwing everything into the car and setting off. You have to plan things and prepare properly in the days and weeks beforehand so that you don't make silly mistakes

Spuds blighted ?

After all the hard work in the Spring sifting the peat and filling the spud bags it's really disappointing that my potatoes all seem to have suffered badly from blight. My white Winston variety was worst affected and I thought I wouldn't be able to salvage a single tuber.....so much so that I pulled up all the bags (about 20) after my holiday and shoved them to one side under a hedge in disgust. As I said a few days ago, it was my own fault as I should have sprayed them before I went on holiday.

But I emptied them out two nights ago and was quite surprised to be able to salvage a dozen or so spuds of showable size. The only problem might be that blight affected tubers don't keep as well as they would normally......fingers crossed they'll last a few weeks. However, they're perfectly fine for eating.

Last night I pulled up 20 or so bags of the variety Kestrel. Again, I managed to salvage 20 or so tubers. I have another 15 or so bags of Kestrel to harvest, 15 of Nadine, 15 of Maxine and 15 of Amour. .......so I may well be able to stage some spuds this year after all but they certainly aren't up to the standard of previous years.

I've asked for advice from the National Vegetable Society as to whether my peat needs to be sterilised in any way........does blight stay in the soil? I don't think it does but I'll let you know as soon as I find out. One thing I do know is that the haulms should NOT be composted. I have a separate bin full of them which I intend to add to my bonfire and burn.

Well done Dorset boy !

Congratulations to Richard from Dorset who won his first ever prize at a veg show for his outdoor cucumbers at the weekend. I reckon he's got the bug and we have a budding Medwyn Williams on our hands now. And his 10 year old daughter also won a prize for her carrots.....Sherie Plumb had better watch out!

I remember my first ever 'red card' back in 1996 for beetroot. I'd been as nervous as hell in the lead up to the show wondering whether I was wasting my time trying to compete against the 'big boys'. But most of them are as helpful as possible and welcome the chance to encourage future opposition. The smell and feel of the marquee (sometimes it's the village hall! LOL) has stayed with me ever since. I seem to remember I also won prizes for parsnips & pot plants and there was no stopping me after that.

If any others of you reading this blog have shows coming up in your area in the next few weeks try and have a go......even if it's for baking a cake, jams, flower arranging, photography etc. It's a great part of the British heritage and there is nothing like it anywhere else in the World. Shows even took place during the wars between the Home Guard/RAF/WRENS etc. This year Sturton Show in Lincolnshire is holding its 120th annual show.....incredible.

He's got away with it !

After the doom and gloom of the 'Great Onion White Rot Disaster' I'm all smiles again as I think I may just have got away with it. Having harvested all my onions and dried them off, washing them and then taking off the outer skins there is only minimal damage around the base plate areas of some of the bulbs. I think I may just have harvested them at the last possible moment before further internal tissue damage rendered them useless for showing.

I shall have to keep my eye on them to make sure the rot doesn't spread but hopefully now they're dry and have been dusted with talc and stored in sawdust they should be ok. An experienced judge will mentally downpoint me for the imperfections to the skins around the root plate but so long as they ripen evenly I should pick up good marks for uniformity and shape.

Out of the original 20 planted I have 9 to choose from.....3 the size of the ones in the photo and 6 that are slightly smaller. It should allow me to stage a set of 3 and a set of 5 depending on the show.

Bugger!

This season is fast turning into a disaster. Not only have I lost my spuds and cherry tomatoes to blight but my indoor toms are now looking poorly too. And woe of all woes last night my large onions were starting to look stressed.......I thought I'd best lift them just in case it was white rot and sure enough it was. All the bases are showing varying degrees of rot and I'm not sure if I'll be able to salvage them.

My stump rooted carrots appear to have suffered an attack of willow aphid which introduces a virus that quickly causes them to collapse, and my dahlias are miles behind where they should be at this point in time.

Having said that I spoke to an old friend yesterday who has 3 brain tumours and has only a few months to live. What the hell's a bit of blight and white rot compared to that?