Vegetable Growing & Showing Articles 1997

Vegetable Growing and Showing Articles from 1997

by Medwyn Williams, MBE FNVS National Chairman of the NVS

These articles 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.

1st January 1997 - Getting Going with the Potatoes

Once you have the potatoes to hand you should then prepare them for chitting, this is a the name given for the process of getting the potatoes to produce shoots which when placed in soil develop into haulms. There is no doubt that the timber box used for carrying tomatoes from the grower to the markets are the best to use for this, but these days they seem to be more difficult to get hold of so you may have to revert to the more modern stiff cardboard type.

15th January 1997 - Geenhouses, Hose Pipes and Water Butts

Freezing conditions, although highly beneficial to the soil outside can bring problems to the greenhouse grower. One of which is the obvious increase in heating costs as we strive to maintain a growing environment above 45°F. Another drawback that I find a nuisance is the fact that my hose pipe inevitably freezes over so that I am unable to easily get access to water.

22nd January 1997 - Artificial Lighting - Exhibition Onions

Prior to using the Philips SGR 200 unit and a SON T Aggro lamp, the plants used to be very weak and drawn at this time of year. The difference in the quality of the plants is remarkable, and I’m still amazed how the plants respond to being given full lights for twenty four hours a day for a six week period without even going to seed.

28th January 1997 - Onion Classes in Shows

Most shows these days have classes for onions eight ounces (227g) or under and are probably one of the most popular of classes as most growers don’t seem to find it too difficult to stage a set. however to stage a winning set at national level, you must start some of them off now so that they have plenty of time to grow as well as allowing plenty of time to harvest them so that they are in their peak condition from around mid August onwards.

29th January 1997 - The Horticultural Show Handbook

The Horticultural Show Handbook is the bible for every vegetable judge but also, in my opinion, a must for every exhibitor because within it's current 152 pages are suggestions to exhibitors regarding how every vegetable should be selected as well as how they should be prepared properly for showing.

12th February 1997 - Heated Greenhouses

It hasn't half cost me some money to keep both my twelve foot by eight foot greenhouses heated so far this year, but when they are all full of plants, some of them destined for Chelsea in May, the commitment has to be maintained. The growing cabinet that I have now constructed from hardboard has certainly been helpful in maintaining temperatures at a reasonable cost, in the main because every hardboard panel has been covered with the silvery reflective material which is bonded onto some thin polystyrene and glued in position.

19th February 1997 - Aiming for Success with Celery

Celery hasn't been one of my vegetable successes over the past few years, in the main because I have trouble with them when growing as mature plants in the five inch square pots. The past two years have been particularly bad with the roots browning off and the young shoots from the heart seemingly sweating and eventually rotting.

26th February 1997 - Parsnips and Tomatoes for the Show Bench

In my opinion there are three good parsnips to grow for the show bench, they are all F1 hybrids and were bred by Dr Peter Dawson of Tozers. The first was Gladiator and many believe this one to be still the best, the next was Javelin followed by Archer. The tomatoes will have to be sown this week and Choice will be my selection, this new shelf life type seems to have done well for most people and possesses a sparkling red colour that stays firm for good while on the plant allowing you to have a wider selection to pick from.

12th March 1997 - Timing Blanch Leeks for Exhibitions

There’s no doubt that every plant comes to it’s peak at a certain time, and leeks though they may well look fine, close inspection will often show that they have gone past their best. If they have gone over the top they may well split, and not just the one layer either, five or six flags can often split open like a carrot which renders the leek useless for exhibiting.

19th March 1997 - Long and Short Carrots - Re-constructing the Beds

I have always had success with long carrots for more years than I care to remember and for most of those years they were grown in steel drums on a bed of sand. This year though everything has changed, mainly because the 36 drums that I had were rusting away badly and with no other source of this particular type available I reconstructed the whole area.

2nd April 1997 - Chitting Parsnips and the Onion "Toughball"

My parsnips this year were sown on the 5th of March, a total of 75 and for the first time in a few years, the seed were first chitted prior to sowing. This is a process that can be very controversial, with some growers firmly believing in it’s merits whilst others (including myself at one point) consider the whole thing a waste of time. The onion Toughball that I'm trying out for the first time this year has really grown well and will be potted up again this weekend from a 3" pot into a 7" pot and this will be the one in which they will grow right through the season.

9th April 1997 - The Backbone of any Vegetable Stand

Even though I managed to get a Gold medal at Chelsea last year I was disappointed that I was unable to stage what I would normally call the back bone of any vegetable stand, Celery and Large Onions. The latter grew to about twelve inches in circumference which is really not big enough to take centre stage in such a prestigious show as Chelsea.

16th April 1997 - The Back Bone of any Vegetable Display - Celery and Large Onions

Even though I was absolutely thrilled to win a Gold medal at Chelsea last year I was disappointed that I was unable to stage what I would normally call the back bone of any vegetable display, namely Celery and large onions. The latter grew to only about twelve inches in circumference which is really not big enough to take centre stage in such a prestigious show as Chelsea.

23rd April 1997 - Tomatoes and Carrots - Planting Dates

In the past I have planted Tomatoes much earlier but the difference now is that the emphasis has changed to be even stronger on the showing side of growing vegetables so the planting dates are much later. The carrots for the other than long classes will be sown in two stages this year simply because there is a month between the Welsh Championships and the National championships which are being held at the end of September.

14th May 1997 - Multiple Sowing of Celery + Tomatoes

Those of us who want to compete at the August shows will be planting the first sowing of Celery around this time and it should peak from the middle of August towards early September. To expect Celery from an early sowing such as from the end of January towards the middle of February to keep after this date is asking a bit much, hence the need for multiple sowings. My tomato plants are now growing away well and, as I have a few brand new varieties on trial, it's interesting to see how different the growing pattern is, one or two are much taller than the others with plenty of space between the foliage which makes it easy to work around them.

21st May 1997 - Sowing Dates so that Vegetables will be at their peak for a particular show

One would think that growing over ninety percent of my vegetables for the Chelsea show in a large greenhouse with plenty of heat and artificial lights would make it a lot easier to arrive at a perfect sowing date. Unfortunately the weather still holds the Aces and I"m sure that I won’t be able to stage a few items simply because they have matured much too early.

28th May 1997 - Post Chelsea and concentrating on vegetable growing for the National shows in August and September

One very noticeable difference this year has been the early germination of seed. Chris Hewllet for instance from Broughton Hants phoned me to say that his parsnip seeds were all germinated within fourteen days, and that is after directly sowing dry seed without prior chitting. Quite remarkable when you consider that Parsnips are notoriously slow at germinating early on in the year with four to five weeks being the norm and up to seven weeks sometimes being the time span required.

5th June 1997 - Degree of Difficulty in Growing a Perfect Dish

All vegetables that are grown for showing have been awarded points, and the exhibition value of any kind of vegetable is governed by the degree of difficulty in growing a perfect dish. Even though some of the "easier to grow" vegetables may well have low points, they should never be discounted, and a good dish should sometimes be considered as part of your vegetable display instead of a mediocre twenty pointed one.

12th June 1997 - Welsh Seedling Leeks

Two of the three beds in my far polytunnel have been planted up with the Welsh seedling leek whilst the other bed has nine plants of the Ivor Mace new Welsh seedling. When they were first planted up there was hardly any noticeable difference in growth pattern apart from the foliage of the new leek being of a more even and deeper green colour. This is an excellent hint that the new leek is currently free from the range of viruses that can really prevent all leeks from achieving their optimum potential.

19th June 1997 - Peak Growing Period for the Large Exhibition Onions

Depending on the growing conditions each onion could increase in size by anything between 2 to 3 inches in circumference every week and it really is exciting to go into the polytunnel with a tape measure every few days to make a note of their progress.

26th June 1997 - Trying to Grow Cucumbers to Perfection

Cucumbers are an eighteen pointed vegetable, but should always be considered on balance against a twenty pointer, particularly if they have been grown really well.They are not easy to grow to perfection, but if you can manage to get near that term, then they make a striking dish as part of any vegetable display with their flowers being still attached to prove how fast and fresh they have been grown.

2nd July 1997 - Show Carrots and Potatoes

The carrots will be really romping away by now and with the probability that the tap root of the long rooted varieties will have well reached the bottom of the growing medium, all they need to do from now on is to swell out. Show potatoes should be growing away strongly using the new method where they are grown in 12" diameter poly bags filled with peat and fertiliser. Don’t forget if you are prone to the disease blight, spray them right away now using Dithane 945 and covering both the topside as well as the underside of the leaves.

9th July 1997 - Quality of Vegetables that are currently being grown all over the Country

This season will be one of those that will produce the best all round vegetables that we have seen in years. One keen grower from Scotland phoned me up to say that he had the best looking vegetables ever, he believed that his produce were at least a month earlier than other seasons and in an area where they would normally have lots of late frosts.

16th July 1997 - When Does a Hobby cease to be a Hobby and become an Obsession?

Undoubtedly growing vegetables for exhibition is a wonderful pastime or hobby and from which I have not only derived hundreds of happy hours, I have also made many good friends. However when does a hobby cease to be a hobby and becomes an obsession to the extent that winning that red card is the only thing that's important?

23rd July 1997 - Growing Celery for Showing

I've three different sowings of celery this year. The first one will be for the County Show here in Anglesey, the second for Welsh Championships and the last for the NVS Championships at Malvern.

30th July 1997 - Onions - Winning that elusive Red Card

Growing onions for exhibition is undoubtedly a fascinating hobby but the art of growing them is really only the first stage of the story, preparing them for exhibition and winning that elusive red card completes the whole cycle.

6th August 1997 - Blanch Leeks

I have to say that the dull weather we experienced throughout June certainly helped towards having a more even growth rate as well as preventing the foliage from being burnt. This is a general problem with the Welsh leek as the thick foliage seems to part in two with the rippling and bubbling of the upper layer making the thin epidermis or cuticle very vulnerable to the direct rays of the sun.

13th August 1997 - Up-dating the RHS Show Handbook in readiness for the Millenium

The RHS show handbook sub committee have a very extensive task on their hands as they try and bring the current show handbook up to date so that it will be ready for judges to use by the year 2000. There have been already some drastic change to the constitution of dishes.

20th August 1997 - Do's and Dont's for Exhibitors

We are now probably right in the middle of showing and many of us will be travelling up and down the country to exhibit our vegetables. These will be specimens that we have literally spent hours of tender loving care over so that they could be shown at their optimum of freshness and quality. Why therefore do some growers simply not take enough care at show time so that in tight situations they loose points because of a very simple fault that need not have happened.

27th August 1997 - Planning for Next Year - Onion Beds

It may appear to be early days yet for planning for next year but time will soon catch up as the evenings draw in and, for those who work during the day, it means that they have only the weekends to complete everything in preparation for next year. My first task will be to clear the onion beds.

3rd September 1997 - Weight of Onions for different Shows

The art of knowing when to pull the onions is important so that when they have completely dried up, they will hit the scales at whatever weight you desire. One thing to bear in mind is that they will loose a fair bit of moisture as the dry up, as much as an ounce depending on the size of the neck etc.

10th September 1997 - Potato Growing in Polythene Pots and Bags

Three varieties were planted, Kestrel, Mona Lisa and Winston and they grew away almost immediately with very strong haulms. As soon as they were growing away strongly, four foot canes were pushed into the soil behind every bag and attached to a wire running the length of the row. Every haulm was then tied individually and loosely to the canes and they really made an impressive sight when at their full growth.

17th September 1997 - Avoiding Celery Heart Rot

For the past few years celery has been one vegetable that I have failed to exhibit at any of the top shows, the main reason being that it had inevitably succumbed to the dreaded heart rot condition. When staging collections it really helps towards giving it a sense of balance if you can have leeks and celery together on the backboard as they seem to complement each other so well.

24th September 1997 - A Late Date for the NVS Championships

The National Vegetable Society Championships have always been the highlight of my exhibiting season but they have never to my knowledge been held as late as this year. This coming weekend the show will be held as part of the Malvern Autumn Show and it will be very interesting indeed to find out what sort of quality the vegetables are going to be in general.

1st October 1997 - Cleanliness in the Exhibition Garden

It’s important that all the beds in the garden whether they be onion, leeks, carrots, parsnips etc. are well and truly cleaned up of any dying foliage so that the risk if disease spreading can be kept to a minimum.

8th October 1997 - Any other kind of vegetable not mentioned in the schedule

Many shows throughout the country have a class for "Any other kind of vegetable not mentioned in their schedule" and very often such classes attract quite a number of entries which can vary from a twenty pointed vegetable such as celery down to a 10 pointed one such as Courgettes.

15th October 1997 - Judging Collections

The collections I'm referring to are those such as the ones for six kinds of vegetables three of each kind where the leeks and celery are normally displayed vertically at the back of the collection and are real show stoppers from anywhere within the marquee. There are other kinds of collections as well that are normally staged on the flat within permitted parameters, such a collection is our own Garden News Top tray and the British Tap Root Competition held by the Welsh branch of the NVS.

22nd October 1997 - Preparing the Vegetable Beds for Next Year

Now is the perfect time to be getting on with preparing the beds for next year. Before you rush out though and start digging, have a good think about this years results, were you happy with what you achieved and if not where did you go wrong?

29th October 1997 - Advances in Potatoes and Tips on Growing them

One vegetable that I feel has improved immensely over the past few years is the potato, the standard which is being set at national level now is absolutely superb. One reason for this vast improvement in general has been the introduction by the breeders of newer and better varieties. Early ordering of your seed potatoes means that you'll have ample time to chit them - the process of breaking the potatoes dormancy is important in order to have strong shoots ready at planting time.

5th November 1997 - Greenhouse Electrics & Growing Cabinet

Both greenhouses are connected to the mains electricity with 3 KW heaters in each as well as bench heating and artificial lights so there is a real load on the cables when everything happens to be on at the same time. Before you purchase anything or carry out any work, consult a qualified electrical engineer. Explain to him fully what your intentions are so that he can work out the loading on the system in order to specify the correct cable as well as the correct fuses and all the other necessary fittings.

12th November 1997 - The Garden News Top Tray

The competition is for a display of three types of vegetables from the following list of eight, the quantity of each vegetable required for the display is as follows- 3 Carrots, 2 cauliflower, 3 onions, 3 parsnips, 6 peas, 3 potatoes, 6 runner beans and 6 tomatoes. Each type of vegetable will be judged out of a total of 20 points which are then split into three sections as follows, 7 points for size, shape and colour, 7 points for condition and 6 points for uniformity, the overall mark is therefore out of a total of 20 points.

19th November 1997 - Blanched Leeks from Bulbils, Pips or Grass

Blanched Leeks for vegetable displays are very rarely grown from seed. If you are to have any chance at all of growing such super specimens then you must have them as rooted young plants that have been started off as bulbils, pips or grass. These are names that have been given to the young growth that shoots up from the head of a leek that was re planted the previous season.

26th November 1997 - Pointing System in Classes of Mixed Entries

A few weeks ago I wrote about the percentage judging system where a top quality dish of the lower pointed vegetable has an equal chance of winning against a higher pointed poor quality cultivar in the "Any other vegetable class". I have received numerous letters regarding this item and I have to say that the vast majority of them was in favour of adopting this system.

3rd December 1997 - Quality of Judging

There doesn't appear to be many topics that can stir so much emotions at show time than perceived poor judging with many normally sensible people being worked up to a frenzy. Too often they do seem to have a case as the judge appears to the onlooker (as the onlooker obviously can't handle the exhibits) to have made a big mistake.

10th December 1997 - Competing with Blanch Leeks

All of the blanch leeks that win at the highest level are grown from bulbils or pips and rarely from seed. If therefore you haven't got any of these then there's plenty of rooted bulbils or pips to be had from top growers who regularly advertise at the rear of Garden News.

17th December 1997 - Selecting Onion Bulbs for Seed Production

There is no doubt that if you are to improve on the quality and consistent shape of your onions for exhibition, then the selection of bulbs for seed production is very important. Select a healthy bulb of good shape with high shoulders and a rounded bottom as against a flat one. You don’t of necessity need artificial heat to produce the seed, it is certainly advantageous but not absolutely essential.

24th December 1997 - He certainly knows his Onions!

Onions need a long season to grow to their optimum size as well as getting a sufficient period to ripen up properly so that you have every chance of storing them well into the following new year, sowing right now from seed is therefore essential. Large onions for the heavy classes and for exhibition to be sown now to the end of January include Kelsae, Ailsa Craig Selected, Robinsons Mammoth, Beacon, Lancastrian, Bedfordshire Champion and Unwins Exhibition.

31st December 1997 - Failures and Successes

Thiis week I would like to look back over the year highlighting some of my failures as well as the odd success and in so do doing, some of you might learn from my mistakes. It's still unbelievable to me at times after the number of years that I have been growing vegetables how I still manage to drop a clanger!

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