Sowing Dates for Exhibition Vegetable Growers

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Sowing Dates for Exhibition Vegetable Growers

by Medwyn Williams, MBE FNVS National Chairman of the NVS

Medwyn Williams at Chelsea Flower Show

Medwyn Williams MBE FNVS
National Chairman of the NVS

More Articles from Medwyn

Sowing Dates Used By Showmen - 20/12/2001

Leeks and Onions - 27/12/2001

Sowing Dates from the top Showmen - 03/01/2002

Sowing Dates Used by Exhibitors - 10/01/2002

Greenhouses full in October with Leeks, Onions and Geranium cuttings - 17/01/2002

This article was originally published on 13th December 2001

To continue with the sowing dates and best varieties to use for showing towards the end of August and the end of September. This small series of articles has come about as a result of several phone calls and letters from growers who regularly request information regarding timing their vegetables for certain shows. The growers chosen were selected because they grew an extensive range of vegetables as well as living at different locations throughout the country.

The timings given will obviously vary and if you are located nowhere near any of those selected then you can make a good calculated guess taking the sowing dates from the nearest location to you. You must not of course take any of these dates as gospel, many things can still put a spanner in the works, in particular the great British weather which can be totally unpredictable.

Cauliflowers and Peas for instance do vary greatly with the weather and can often mature weeks earlier than planned for. With cauliflowers in particular it never pays to depend on just the one single sowing as this could be a disaster. To guarantee that you have heads for as given show time, use the dates given by the various growers and then batch sow some more, 7 days before and after their sowing dates, just to be on the safe side.

The third grower to offer his sowing dates is Bob Herbert from Mosborough Derbyshire. Bob is a certainly one of the country’s top growers and has been particularly successful with cauliflower’s and celery having won the NVS Championships on more than one occasion. He is currently Chairman of his local District Association and Vice Chairman of the Northern Branch committee. For his unstinting service to the society he was awarded the Gold Medal this year which is the Societies highest honour.

Bob is well known throughout the country having traveled extensively lecturing on numerous topics to do with vegetables and is always prepared to help any up and coming novice grower with words of wisdom gleaned from years of solid experience. Bob is also a very highly respected National judge.

Here are Bobs’ varieties and their sowing dates for those on the list that he grows:-

Kind	Cultivar	1^st Show Date	2^nd Show Date	Comments
Globe Beet	Pablo	17^th April	7^th July
Long Beet	Regar	8^th April 22^nd April	28^th April 12^th May	Grown in 40 gallon drums
Broad Bean	Jubilee - Hysor	6^th May	One sowing	sown in cold greenhouse in 4 inch pots
Green Cabbage	Marathon	25^th February	17^th March	Sown in cold greenhouse in 40 modules potted on into 4 inch pots in J Innes compost
Red Cabbage	Autoro	11^th February	10^th March	Will hold well in rows
Runner Bean	Stenner selection	6^th May	9^th June	Sow in 4 inch pots in greenhouse
French Bean	The Prince	17^th June	21^st July	Sow in 4 inch pots in greenhouse
Carrots Long	Own Selection New Red	4^th March	7^th April	Grow in 40 gallon drums on top of raised beds filled with sand
Carrots Stump	Gringo and Yukon	8^th April	21^st April	Grown on raised beds filled with sand
Cauliflower	Virgin, Beauty and Mexico	27^th May	16^th June (Amerigo and Virgin)	Sown in Multicell 40s, potted on into 4 inch pots
Trench Celery	Own sel Ideal Evening Star Red Star Morning Star	28^th January 4^th March 4^th March 4^th March	3^rd March 7^th April 7^th April 7^th April	Start them off in a propagator at 70F. Pot on into 4 inch pots using J Innes 1 and then into 5inch pots in J Innes 3
Cucumber	Carmen and Jessica	1^st July	27^th July	Sow in propagator at 70F when germinated pot on into 4 inch pots
Lettuce Butterhead	Nancy	17^th June	21^st July	Sow in Cold greenhouse in Multicell 40s
Table Marrow	Table Dainty	1^st July	29^th July	Sow in propagator at 70F then pot on into 4 inch pots
Onions over 250 gram	Re selected Kelsae	28^th December	one sowing	Sow in propagator at 70F then pot on when at seedling stage
Onions under 250 gram	Buffalo, Bison and Toughball	14^th February	One sowing	Sow in propagator at 70F then pot on when at seedling stage
Parsnips	Gladiator and Javelin	25^th February	11^th March	Grown in 40 gallon drums of sand
Peas	Show Perfection	13^th May	3^rd June	Sow in cold greenhouse in 4 inch pots
Potatoes	Winston Kestrel Maxine Harmony	22^nd April	26^th May	Grow in black polythene bags using peat based compost
Radish	Cherry Bell	15^th July	18^th August	Grow in Gro bags and keep well watered
Tomatoes	Cheetah Goldstar and Typhoon	20^th May	20^th June	Sow in propagator at 70F in Multicell 40s. Transplant young seedlings into 5 inch pots in J Innes 3
Turnips	Purple Milan	1^st July	4^th August

Medwyn

Next >> After the Vegetable Shows, Clearing up the Gardens from 07/11/2002

Previous >> Growing Shallots to a High Standard from 05/01/2000

This article originally appeared on Medwyn's of Anglesey the web site of Medwyn Williams which includes an online shop where you can buy his vegetable seeds, books and sundries.

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