The Irish DA are delighted with the response to its Virtual” Vegetable competition 2021. Our members cover all parts of Ireland and with no shows again, our aim was to promote and encourage the growing of quality vegetables during these unprecedented times, connect with our members and encourage others to join the NVS. Entrants were asked to record their garden as the vegetable’s seeds were sown, during the growing season, just before harvest and photograph four varieties of vegetables harvested, washed and presented. This competition was confined to residents of Ireland with prizes for first, second and third along with two special awards for best garden and best display of vegetables.
The rules were posted online on our Facebook page in April and later published in Simply Vegetables. Entries closed on September 1st, 2021. Supportive text was required with each entry including naming of the variety of vegetable.
Results
After a close competition Margaret Prendergast, Co. Mayo came out on top. Margaret’s garden is a beautiful maintained, traditional kitchen garden in which she grows organic vegetables, fruit and herbs all year around. Margaret presented a beautiful display of her four varieties of vegetables; it is truly amazing the colour palate just four different types of vegetables can provide when cleaned and presented. Second Prize was awarded to Kieran O’Keefe, Co. Waterford. Third prize to Ken Hall, Co. Antrim. Ken grows all his vegetables in his back garden and submitted a quality display of carrots, cauliflowers, potatoes and celery. Highly Commend was awarded to John Warren, Co. Dublin and Commend to Anna, Andrzej and Alicja Watras, Co. Roscommon.
Best display of vegetables was awarded to Kieran O’Keefe. He produced a top-quality collection of vegetables and his carrots, onions, potatoes and parsnips were of the highest standard. In addition, Kieran also submitted a beautifully presented display of various varieties of vegetables grown in his garden. The “Best Garden” was awarded to Noel Cavanagh, Co. Dublin. His allotment was attractively maintained with a great variety of quality vegetables.
The Irish DA would like to thank everyone for participating in the competition. The photographs entered showed the amount of sheer hard work and dedication that goes into producing quality vegetable exhibits and the pride our members take in maintaining their gardens.
A full video of the winning gardens and displays has been posted to our Facebook page. Congratulations to our winners.