Page 14 - SV 3 2024

Carrot Competition
GRAEME LE MARQUAND FNVS
One of our very first carrot competitions was held in the central flower & vegetable market in 2008.
Medwyn Williams MBE, then president of the National vegetable society and a thirteen time Gold medallist at the Chelsea flower show, had been invited by the Jersey Farmers union to come over to Jersey, to judge the schools fun carrot competition .
& Horticultural Society, who kindly loan us their members room, in order to hold these fun carrot workshops.
This has turned out to be a very successful and worthwhile project, as the number of children who entered the workshop in March this year was in the region of 70 plus. Since last year, all our carrots are now sown in 15 litre pots of
I don’t remember
the number of schools
who entered the carrot competition at the time, but the variety of carrots that were grown, were the lovely sweet candle variety. These were grown right through, until we changed over to Chantenay Red Cored, which we still grow now.
We now hold carrot workshops for all children (and grown-ups) who wish to join in the fun
compost.
Each child or grown up,
if need be, is shown how
to make eight indentations with their fingers in the compost approx. 2cm deep and place 4 carrot seeds in the centre of each indentation, and then cover up lightly with the same compost and so it goes on!
8 Chantenay Red Cored 2 carrots will hopefully be teased out of the pot and
However, it was fun
to meet up with all the
schoolteachers who each
brought along their school’s carrots which were all wrapped up in damp cloths, and ready to be put on the table for judging.
I noticed that one of the teachers didn’t seem to be carrying any carrots at all, so I immediately asked her very politely “where are the carrots!”, “in my handbag!” she replied. At least the teacher had done her very best for her pupils, so that they could enter the competition.
washed. The 3 best carrots (equal in size and shape will be presented on the table for judging. This is based on the judging criteria of the National vegetable society, as detailed in the Judges guide.
Out of the 8 carrots that have been pulled out of the pot, one of the carrots
can now be entered into our second competition, for the funniest looking carrot. This has been organised mainly for children in order to give them a chance of winning
a prize, and of course learning how to grow carrots.
Our Thanks to Marshalls for sponsoring the show carrots, and to Sonnic Support Solutions for sponsoring the funniest looking carrot, and the Royal Jersey & Horticultural society for accommodating us.
Since those days, our society has come a long way. We now hold carrot workshops for all children (and grown-ups) who wish to join in the fun – especially for children who are keen to become green fingered gardeners in the years to come.
Also our society is fortunate to be working in harmony with the Royal Jersey
14 Simply Vegetables