Page 63 - Simply Vegetables Autumn 2024

Hants DA
By the time you receive this issue of SV, the Southern Branch Championships at the New Forest Show will be over. Yet as I write, we are days away from the show. Barbara has finished dealing with the entries. She does a wonderful job and contacts all the exhibitors to confirm receipt. We were beginning to worry because numbers were significantly down on last year, but on deadline day, a final flurry of entries came in. Although the NVS entries were 10% down on last year, the Open Show entries were 10% up, however it all hinges on how many entries actually make it to the show bench.
We have a new challenge of fitting them in, because to save money, the organisers have reduced the tent from five bays to four. Tomorrow I will be organising show equipment for Ann and Nicky Brown to transport to the showground. On Sunday, the Hants DA team plus Keith Hine and Jan Lovell will meet in the marquee, to transform an empty tent into a space fit for a show. On Monday exhibitors start arriving and then on Tuesday morning, it is Judgement Day! You will hear in the next issue of SV how we got on.
Looking back, in May, we were at BBC Gardeners’ World Spring Fair Live at Beaulieu. Jon Wheatley of RHS Chelsea fame grew all the vegetables. He had said he would position them for us to dig in. Instead, he unloaded the veg and then left us to it. He was off to Malvern to build his show garden there, so had other priorities.
So, the design was down to us! I knew
we could do it though. We had a taste
of doing our own thing from working
with Paul Stone last year. This time, we were faced with three raised beds, each measuring 3m x 3m. We threw around some design ideas and decided to plant one bed in straight lines, one diagonally and one “in the round.” Mary and Andy, Sarah and Helen, Lucy and Jacqui took
a bed each and started placing plants to create an overall design before sinking
the pots in the ground. Harry, Paul and I worked across the three beds, helping with planting and carrying around
plants when a cry went up “Anyone got any more pak choi?” or “Can anyone use some sweetcorn?”
A wonderful bunch
The build team worked like a dream and when we finished, we had three brilliant looking beds, each with its own character; a worthy show garden for the visitors to enjoy.
A wonderful bunch of people help me at Beaulieu. Ted, John, Lynn and Malvin grow and transport plants and equipment to the show. The build team also help during the show, along with Barbara, David, Moira, Rebecca, Debs, Ros and Ian. Nigel and Kelvin man the Seed Planting Zone for children and adults to sow seeds to grow
on at home. Keith and Norman travelled from their DAs to help, Brenda
and Donald brought a mass of pelargoniums for us to sell,
and Sandra travelled for
The build team in action
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