Page 18 - Simply Vegetables Summer 2023

Showing & Judging of Giant Vegetables
PETER GLAZEBROOK
With more interest in growing giant vegetables for showing and increased prize money, it is clear that NVS judges expertise is needed. Sadly, in the judges handbook there is little guidance to help them and I do not think it is covered in our examination.
You might think that no judging is required – clearly, shape/size/uniformity and colour (in most cases) do not apply
but condition and compliance with the show or competition schedule do. I have always said you cannot be critical of giant veg judging (as sometimes happens with exhibition veg.) as in most cases winners are determined by the scales, tape measure or count, however it is clear that mistakes can be made by judges not understanding the basic rules or not applying them.
So, what are the rules? First the show schedule, Village shows may be silent on detail but National events will have more detailed requirements for the exhibitor to comply with.
There are other bodies setting judging requirements on the world stage, such as the EGVGA (European Giant Vegetable Growers Association) of which I have been
a member for many years, and the GPC (Great Pumpkin Commonwealth), Guinness World Records (GWR) try to bring all these into line by issuing specific rules for each vegetable and also more general rules for ‘Largest fruit or vegetable by size records.’ Judges should be aware of these when show schedules are silent or where a record is being claimed.
GWRs honours the NVS by accepting our judge’s confirmation that the record claim meets their rules – unfortunately some appear to have slipped through in the past when the rules were either not known or applied. This weakens the professional standing of everyone and also deters other competitors.
I have heard judges say ‘I do not like giant veg.’ (not a very professional way
to start), or ‘they are not edible’ (some
may be old/tough and not taste good but still basically be edible; others like ripe tomatoes will be excellent - you would not eat some exhibition veg. from the show bench without knowing when or what they had been sprayed with) when they should be considering their condition, by this for instance – it cannot be rotten or have rot/
disease areas/leaking moisture/dried out. It can have holes so long as they are sound, it can have run to seed at some stage so long as this growth is removed. Soft areas are acceptable so long as the skin is intact.
The judge has to determine if it is true
to the specified ‘kind,’ for instance Sweet potatoes are often claimed to be potatoes. So called cucumber melons are claimed
to be cucumbers (both entirely different) beans like the commonly named ‘yard long’ are entered in the longest ‘runner bean’ class.
The NVS may think their judges hardly ever come across giant veg. but this is not the case – most small and large shows
will have a class for the heaviest Marrow, Pumpkin, Sunflower head, Longest Bean or Heaviest Onion – while these may not be World Records they should be judged to a standard.
You may think that the weighing is straight forward, and it should be. Small shows may use dubious kitchen scales and, in most instances, if all entries are weighed on the same scales this is ok, but if weights are being put forward for national or World records only calibrated scales set up by
18 Simply Vegetables