Page 14 - Simply Veg Issue 3 2019

For the previous 18 years I had attended the local County show in an official capacity through my work. Like a lot of
county shows I could see it was struggling to maintain attendance levels and felt its days were probably numbered. I thought it would be a shame if it folded and I had done nothing to support it, so gave some thought to which classes I could enter.
I could always try my hand at the cookery classes, but I am more of a fridge stew
sort of chap, you know the sort – see what is short dated and throw it all in together. Hmmm ... perhaps not cookery then.
I have always enjoyed gardening since
I was old enough to fetch and carry in
my parents’ garden. I still grew a few vegetables for the pot so that was the answer - the vegetable classes it was, after all, if I rummaged around, I could surely find something presentable, I mean there can’t be that much to it.
So, I set about a quick internet search on the showing of vegetables. Hmmmmm – not as simple as I had assumed, and I had dived straight in the deep end and entered a county standard show! Perhaps I had better start at a small local show first, just to get an idea of how this all works.
Later that week in the local paper I saw an advert from a local Horticultural Society Open Show – come along and bring some vegetables from your garden. Perfect – just what I was looking for and I had a full week to prepare!
So, armed with various printouts from helpful websites [NVS included] I set about selecting my prize-winners.
The onion sets had done quite well that year so let’s start with those. Ok even size and shape with complete skins. Well the size and shape part was ok but by the time I had removed enough layers to get complete skins they looked more like pickling onions.
Perhaps I will have better luck with potatoes. I mean one spud is very much like
The show committee were very understanding and helpful.
another -right? Just sort out a few evenly sized ones and there you go.
Well who would have imagined the humble potato could find so many ways to resist perfection. Odd shaped, damaged skins, parasite damage and why did I always manage to pierce the skin of the best ones with the fork? Eventually I found a half respectable set, if I put them best sides up,
I don’t think the judges look underneath, do they?
Now long beet, just the class for me. I had a row of Alto F1, they are not round
so they must be long – right? Add in the herb and novelty classes and I was feeling quite bountiful when I arrived at my first local show. Some of the competition looked way bigger and better than mine, this could be embarrassing but too late to pull out now.
The show committee were very understanding and helpful. Staging complete it was back home for a few nervous hours.
Well I quickly learned that NAS does not stand for “Nice And Shiny” but despite that I managed a couple of prize cards and some encouraging comments from the Judge .
I was getting hooked!
I did not fare so well at the county show but a prize card in the novice and novelty classes exceeded my expectations.
Now it was time to get serious. The tiny veg plot at the end of the garden would have to be increased in size. It was time to reclaim some lawn after all, the boys had outgrown garden football and cricket.
Perhaps a less adversarial approach to my garden would be needed. To date it had been a case of dig in the Autumn, rake and plant in one session when the conditions were right in the Spring, with a parting shot of “ Right, I have found time to plant you so you had better get on and grow , but apart from enough water to keep you alive in a dry spell, don’t expect any help from me, I am far too busy” .
In 2015 I duly doubled the number of potatoes, shallots, onion sets, carrots
and runner beans I planted. Just for good measure, I thought I would try to grow a giant marrow for the county show, after all I have got a spare 5x4 foot plot of ground, that should be big enough.
All was going well. The young marrow plant was more vigorous than expected but I managed to train it round and round in a giant helix before it finally overwhelmed me and disappeared off into the potato patch.
That June the local Horticultural Society visited John Branham’s garden. I had never seen anything like it. This was some sort of nirvana.
Somebody asked me when I came out of
In 2017 I thought it was time to try my hand
Confessions of a Novice
Geoff Nash, Midlands Branch
It all started for me in 2014.
John’s onion house “Are you alright Geoff, you look a bit shaken?”
“I never knew gardens like this existed”, I replied.
I was totally hooked!
Later that evening I got home and started weeding the vegetable plot. They were not just harmless weeds any more, they were competition for moisture and nutrients
and could harbour pests and disease. My babies were going to need much better care from now on and I don’t think my Red Sun shallots, Arran Pilot potatoes, Autumn King carrots and Enorma runner beans are going to cut the mustard from now on.
I attended the same county show (the last year it was held). I managed a couple of prize cards including heaviest marrow with an 80lb whopper that I found lurking in the potato plot rather than the fastidiously pollinated and pampered ones I had been attending on the allotted plot.
Perhaps giant vegetables were the way to go.
2016 saw a further reclaiming of lawn. I built myself a greenhouse out of timber and Polycarbonate sheeting. Realising the error of my ways in trying to grow a giant marrow on such a tiny plot, I prepared and heavily manured a plot 10x7m. I saved some seed from last year’s whopper. If I could grow
an 80lb’er on such a tiny plot what could I achieve this year?
I planted 3 self-selected plump seeds from last year’s whopper. They all germinated ok and I nurtured Betty, Bertha and Bella until such time that I had to choose which looked most vigorous and likely to support a monster.
Bertha sneaked it by a whisker, “by heck
that lass had some roots on her”. She was duly planted at one end of the marrow plot under a speciallyconstructed4x2,4mcoldframe. Away she went rooting at every other leaf node, within no time she had filled the whole plot.
Keeping up with removing young marrows became a trip into the jungle, but the chosen few were growing nicely. It then became apparent that they were beginning to round off and fill out at about 2 foot long. No problem, I still had time to set some more. The same thing happened, again and again.
It was only when it was suggested to
me that last year’s marrow must have
X pollinated with another cucurbit that
the penny dropped. I had diligently hand pollinated all of the giant marrows last year apart from the whopper that had got away from me and was hidden in the potato patch. It must have crossed with a squash, which was nearby.
I ended up with 36 18-25 inch-long rounded marrows weighing 30-35 lbs each. Perhaps I would be better sticking with the quality veg classes after all!
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