Page 28 - Simple Vegetables Spring 2019 Vol 25 Issue 1

National Vegetable Society National Championships 2018
Held in conjunction with and hosted by The North of England Horticultural Society Autumn Flower Show
The 2018 National Championships were hosted by the Northern Branch and held at the Great Yorkshire Show Ground Harrogate. Oh what a show if you like to see vegetables shown in all their glory this was the place to be! I have been to Nationals and have been involved in the organizing of them for a number of years, but I have never seen such a display.
The bare facts are;119 exhibitors entered of which 113 staged their entries; of these 3 could not make it due to personal reasons. 625 exhibits entered, 419 staged a drop- out rate of 33% which is par for the course. In fact, it was a good job they were not all benched as we had to arrange for three
more rows of benches, i.e. 100ft. of table space, plus addition tables at the end of
the rows and we could still have done with more. This year has been one of the hottest summers on record and with a damp
spring my hopes of filling the benches were low and with the late bank holiday having passed, and very few entries logged, hopes of having a good show had gone. I should not have given up hope so soon the entries arrived and come Thursday night and Friday morning so did the vegetables.
When you go through the entry forms and add up the numbers you think firstly have I room for them all? and the answer is no. Secondly, how many will turn up; some classes you know are put on by the specialist growers like the Collection of six kinds of vegetables i.e. 4 entered and 4 staged, other classes are different, Onions could split skins overnight, roots are in the ground therefore you do not know what is there until you get them out. Who would expect there to be 18 entries in the 20 point vegetable class, likewise 21 sets of 5 parsnips, 14 sets of three cauliflowers
and 30 sets of small fruited tomatoes. These latter veg must be suitable for a class at all shows, large or small. They are the ideal vegetables (fruit) to entice new growers into the show game.
It was nice to see growers attending from the top of Scotland, as far west as Anglesey, down south an entry came from H M Prison
Jersey and in the east from Linclonshire which as members in the North of
England know is not that far. The standout class for quality were the 5
parsnips where Jim Dunnett won the NVS Silver Medal.
Peter Clark's blanched leeks looked as if they had been manufactured from porcelain.
One vegetable which has to have a mention was Graeme Watson’s 5
long beetroot, I have not seen any as good for many years.
We had an additional two sponsored classes this year, one for the heaviest pepper, variety Gogorez,
seed supplied by and sponsored by Marshalls Seeds, and Globe Beetroot, variety Subeto seeds supplied by and sponsored by D.T. Brown, as well as
Winning parsnips, variety, Countess, shown by Jack Dunnett of Jarrow. This dish also won the NVS Silver Medal for best dish in show.
Peter Clark's blanched leeks looked as if they had been manufactured from porcelain
28 simplyvegetables
Winning heaviest pepper, var. Gogorez, Shown by John Lowe of Leighton Buzzard Weighing an impressive 514 grams.