Village Show

It was my local Horticultural Society’s Summer Show yesterday and we had superb weather at the Village Hall. Whilst the vegetable entries were down understandably, the flower entries and other classes held their own for another successful local show.

After winning the cup for most points in the vegetable classes for the last three years I didn’t want to enter all the individual classes again – and I’d entered a few in last week’s Allotment Association Show, so it was just my shallots and any other veg (marrow) which achieved 1st and 2nd respectively. And I won the top tray although I was the only entry!

In the 4 Dahlia classes I entered I had a 1st (small), 2nd (minature), 1st (5 mixed) and 2nd (3 cactus) which I was pleased with.

And it was great to see some new faces taking prizes and cups which is what it’s all about!

This was my top tray entry of onions (Vento), Runner Beans (Stenner) and Potatoes (Kestrel).

And my shallots (Hative de Niort) – the same set I won with last week.

Finally my winning vase of 5 Dahlias (minimum 3 varieties). The girls entered their classes as well with Chloe taking the prizes for her leaf print picture, picture made from recycled material and play-doh flower. Winning £8 she took home more prize money than I did!

NVS Hampshire D.A. Show

Following on from my last post when I showed you my latest carrot growing success I put the 3 long carrots on the showbench at our NVS Hampshire DA mini-show last night. It was really interesting to hear newly appointed NVS Chairman Barry Newman’s expert judging feedback and he gave my carrots some favourable comments and 2nd place to Mr Blick’s superb set that also took overall best in show. Considering it’s my first attempt and I only had 3 long carrots to choose from I’m pretty happy with that. Pictured below you can see how great Darren’s set is and they would have graced any showbench at any level. No wonder he’s smiling and a nice little trophy for the mantlepiece too! You can follow Darren’s progress over at Blicky’s Blog.

So that’s it for this season. Good luck to all those entering the Midland Championship at Malvern a week on Saturday. Next year it’ll be an all out assault on the NVS Southern Championship at the New Forest & Hampshire County Show for me. I’m going to busy over the winter planning for that!!

Summer Show Results

Yesterday was the annual Winterslow & District Horticultural Society Summer Show and we had over 300 entries at the Village Hall for veg, flowers, jams, cookery, flower arranging and childrens.

I entered the veg for the 3rd year (of course) and Rachel went in for the 5 cookery classes with Chloe entering the three 3-6 year old classes. And here’s the results list:

Vegetables:
Master Gardener (3 veg & flowers) – not entered
Society Top Tray – 1st (3 parsnips, 3 carrots, 3 potatoes)
Onions (larger than 250g) – unplaced
Onions (smaller than 250g) – not entered
6 shallots – 2nd
Truss of Tomatoes – not entered
5 Cherry Tomatoes – 3rd
5 Tomatoes – 1st
Carrots – 1st
5 Potatoes – 1st
5 Salad Potatoes – 1st
Beetroot – 2nd
Any other Root Veg – 1st (parsnips)
6 Runner Beans – 3rd
8 Dwarf Beans – 3rd
8 Climbing Beans – unplaced
2 courgettes – unplaced
2 indoor cucumbers – not entered
2 outdoor cucumbers – not entered
Any other Veg – unplaced (pair of marrows)
Collection of Veg from Garden – 2nd (Carrots, Squash, Celeriac, Chillies, Garlic)
Collection of Salad Veg from Garden – 1st (Lettuce, Cucumber, Beetroot, Tomatoes)
5 culinary herbs – 2nd

Flowers – entered 4 Dahlia classes
Miniture Dahlias – 1st
Small Dahlias – 2nd
3 Cactus Dahlias – 2nd
5 Dahlias – 2nd

Cookery:
5 Savoury Biscuits – 1st (Parmesan & Rosemary)
Summer Fruit Tart – 1st (Raspberry)
5 Sausage Rolls – 2nd
Millionaire’s Shortbread – 3rd
Cake from fruit/veg – 2nd (Courgette Cake)

Childrens:
Potato Face – 1st
Sponge Painting – Highly Commended
Collage of items collected on a summer’s walk – 2nd

For the veg I won the Top Tray shield, the Challenge Bowl for the most points in the roots veg section (were I only dropped one point getting a 2nd for beetroot), and the Joe Kiff Cup for the most points overall in the veg classes. Rachel won the Winterslow Cup for most points in the cookery and Chloe shared the Junior Class with two other children and received a certificate. What a fantastic result!! We were very pleased if a little worn out by the end of the day!

Thanks to all the competitors, the committee, judges, stewards, helpers and our local MP John Glen for presenting the prizes.

Here’s the best of the photos:

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One of these days I gotta get myself organizized

One of my favourite Travis Bickle quotes from one of my all-time favourite films, although not everyones cup of tea I’m sure. It rang true over the last few days with the stress and my own dis-organisation ahead of our Summer Show.

The show would not have been possible without the organisation by the Committee, Stewards and Judges. With over 300 exhibits I am told it took a good hour and a half to make all the decisions.

Our local MP, John Glen, kindly presented the prizes. Now I must admit John I switched off when you started talking about David Cameron’s Big Society, but I appreciate you giving up your Saturday to present the prizes for our Society. You don’t need to waste your words on us John, your Salisbury seat is as safe as houses (even in these toxic debt times!).

Then there’s the clean-up, the garden looks like a storm has been through, discarded veg trimmings all over the place. So that’s the first job, a good tidy.

And lastly to look ahead, as summer draws to a close, what do I need to sow to guarantee a continuation of crops? What will overwinter? Two years ago with a relatively mild winter my onions, garlic and shallots did well and got a good head start but would they have survived last winter if I’d have done the same? So many decisions to make.

Finally I’ve started to dig up the main crop spuds. The Desiree look good.

This is your last chance to enter my free Land’s End Gift Voucher and Seed giveaway. All you have to do is leave a comment on the post, just click here. I’ll be drawing the gift voucher winners and despatching the seeds this weekend.

100 Not Out – Summer Show Results

Two things to celebrate this weekend, my 100th post and the results of the Winterslow & District Horticultural Society’s Summer Show which took place this afternoon. For 2009’s results click here.

The village hall was full of exhibits in the vegetable, flower, homecraft, fruit, flower arranging and children’s categories. I spent Friday afternoon and evening preparing and was up early to get to the staging at 8.15am. Two hours later I left the hall after staging 40 odd exhibits pretty exhausted and then returned at 3pm for the results:

Master Gardener Shield for three veg and vase of flowers
Joe Kiff Bowl for most points overall vegetables
RHS Banksian Medal for most points overall vegetables & flowers
Tomato Cup – joint winner
Lindsay Edwards Cup for most points in non-root vegetables classes 14-19
Chloe won the Juniors Certificate and prize for most points in the under 5s

I was really pleased that all my efforts paid off and the trophies look great. As part of their affiliation the society applies to the RHS for one Banksian medal per year which they present as their top prize and I’m allowed to keep it.

Other Veg results:
Society Top Tray (3 veg) – 2nd, Shallots – 2nd, Small/Cherry Tomatoes – 1st, Carrots – 2nd, Potatoes – 3rd, Salad Potatoes – 2nd, Dwarf French Beans – 1st, Climbing French Beans – 1st, Cucumber – 2nd, Any Other Non-Root Vegetable – 1st, Vegetables from my garden – 3rd, Salad Vegetables – 1st, Herbs – 3rd.

Flowers: 3 small Dahlias (one variety) – 1st, 3 minature Dahlias (one variety) – 2nd, 5 Dahlias (3 varieties) – 1st, 3 Cactus Dahlias – 2nd, Gladioli – 1st, Asters – 3rd, Vase of flowers (pink and white) – 3rd.

You’ll remember from this post that Rach was busily preparing for the homecraft section. She did very well narrowly missing out on the trophy for baking: Jam (stoned fruit) – 2nd (Plum), Selection of 3 preserves – 3rd, Carrot Cake – 2nd, Sponge Fruit Flan – 3rd, Malt Loaf – 2nd, Mince Pies – 2nd, Cornish Pasties – 1st, Fudge – 1st. I came 2nd in the Men’s baking class with an Apple Cake.

Chloe won a 1st for her Cardboard Clockface and a 1st for her drawing of a house.

I shared the Tomato Cup with two others, we each won 1st in one of the three tomato classes.

I can’t believe I’ve reached my 100th post! What started in November last year tentatively as a journal has picked up pace over the last 6 months with 6000 views and the discovery of a community of like-minded people to share the high and lows of this sometimes frustrating, but mainly rewarding pastime of ours. Thanks for following my progress and I hope you’ve found the site enjoyable. And roll on next years show!!

Pre-Show Checks

Well the countdown to the village show run by my local Horticultural Society has well and truly begun. It’s 6 days away so I’m going around the garden checking on progress and seeing what I think will be ready for the big day. For last years write-up click here.

The main classes are Master Gardener and Society Top Tray.

Master Gardener (display space 24″ x 24″) – One vase of flowers and 3 vegetables from the list. One from Sweet Peas – 9 of any variety, Gladioli – 2 of any variety, Dahlias – 3 of any variety, or Perrenials – 9 of any variety. And 3 from Runner Beans – 6, Cabbages – 2, Cauliflower – 1, Carrots – 3, Onions – 3, Peas – 6 (pods), Potatoes – 6 (one variety), Tomatoes – 6.

I didn’t enter this class last year as I wasn’t growing any flowers, it’s most likely going to be glads or dahlias with runners, carrots and potatoes I think. Or I don’t enter again this year and pool my best veg in the other classes. Decisions, decisions…..

Society Top Tray (display space 18″ x 24″) – 3 vegetables from the list:- Carrots – 3, Onions – 3, Parnsips – 3, Peas – 6 pods, Potatoes – 3 one variety, Runner Beans – 6, Tomatoes – 6. I’ll probably be relying on parsnips, runners and spuds for this one, possibly carrots if I have enough decent ones.

The Dahlia bed is looking good. I should be able to enter some of these into the show. The varieties I’m growing are Shooting Star, My Love, Firebird, Hayley Jane, Kennermaland, Vancouver, Black Cat, Le Baron and Pompon Flow Mix (various small ball types). In containers I have Bristol Stripe, Babylon Bronze, Atika, Kenora, Purple Gem and Kelvin Floodlight. For more Dahlia posts click here, here and here.

This is Shooting Star.

Hayley Jane.

Le Baron.

Black Cat.

The Gladioli are looking good, should have some ready at the right time.

Courgettes are a tricky class as I need three around 6″ long with flowers.

I need two cucumbers, they have their own class and can go into the salad veg selection.

The squash will go into the any other veg and selection of veg from my garden categories.

Peppers will go into the selection of veg category. Possibly some of the aubergines and chillies too.

The pumpkins are doing well. I’ve grown a couple of plants from the seeds Maureen sent me, the variety is Rouge Vif d’etamps.

And Chloe and I were in the garden harvesting the plum tree which produces hundreds of these tiny plums. Chloe loves them!

Don’t forget my free Land’s End Gift Voucher and Seed giveaway that I launched earlier this month. All you have to do is leave a comment on the post, just click here. I’ll be drawing the gift voucher winners and despatching the seeds towards the end of the month.

Domestic Goddess

Well not me obviously but Rach has been going mad in the kitchen ahead of the Summer Show next Saturday. So far I have sampled, and given verdict on, Carrot Cake (all gone), Malt Loaf, Lemon Curd, Plum and Strawberry jam. All very good and I can’t wait to try batch 2 of the cakes after the show. Still to come are sponge fruit flan, mince pies, cornish pasties and home made fudge. Oh and the pile of chutney we made last summer. This tasting job is hard work!

Spring Show……The results are in!

Today was the Winterslow & District Horticultural Society’s Spring Show and the local village hall was full of flowers and other exhibits. I couldn’t go last year and this year the entries are significantly down so I can only imagine what it would be like on a good year.

I managed to get one entry in, 5 daffodils (3 varieties), but now I’ve seen the categories I could have entered 3 or 4 more classes. I won 2nd prize! Rach entered a Victoria sponge, although had a bit of a disaster with the edge of one half breaking away slightly but she managed to patch it up and also won a 2nd prize! That will go down nicely later with a cup of tea! So not bad considering we weren’t going to enter anything just before the deadline.

My daffodil varieties were St. Keverne, Ice Follies, and an unknown variety I planted a couple of years ago.

Entries were 50% down this year due to the harsh winter putting the spring flowers back so far.

First and second prize in the flowering shrub went to a Mahonia Japonica (should have entered mine!).

Nice collections of spring flowers.

The baking section.

This flower arrangement won a first prize in the “arrangement for Easter” class.

This arrangement took second prize.

This arrangement won the “fun without flowers” class.

Last, but not least, were the children’s entries, decorated eggs, welly boots, Easter hats and bunnies!

I’ll definitely be trying some more classes next year and can’t wait for the summer show now as I did really well last year.

First though I’ve got my sights on the Salisbury Community showin early July. The schedule is out now so if you live around Salisbury why not give it a go? See you there!

Spring Show……I give up!

It turns out I don’t know my trumpets from my doubles, my multi-headed from my large cup, the list goes on! I didn’t realise that showing spring flowers was so complicated. Add the fact that only a couple of the 100 or so daffs I planted in Autumn are starting to show themselves and apparently I should have already cut them in preparation for Saturday’s show. To heap misery on the situation the tulips are weeks away and I don’t even grow hellebores or container primulas. I give up!

So I will just be a spectator come Saturday afternoon rather than in the running for a 1st or a cup. I’ll have to wait for the Summer show to take on my local rivals!

Looking back – 2009 Summer Show

2009 was my first show, the Winterslow & District Horticultural Society Summer Show no less. I decided to enter as much of the veg categories as possible and was really chuffed with the results, 6 1sts, 6 2nds and 5 3rds. I won 3 cups, joint winner of the Singer Cup (Onions), winner of Challenge Bowl (root veg) and winner of the Joe Kiff Bowl (most points vegetables). I came 2nd in the Society Top Tray and didn’t enter the Master Gardener category as this is for veg & flowers (maybe 2010). All in all pretty successful for my first attempt!!

2nd prize for the Society Top Tray, Parsnips, Onions & Runner Beans.

1st prize for Onions up to 250g.

1st prize for Salad Potatoes, Anya.

1st prize for any other veg – summer squash.

1st prize for root veg.

1st prize for selection of salad veg.

1st prize for a selection of vegetables.

The Joe Kiff Bowl for Winner overall vegetables.