The Master of the Onions

Well, thanks to my granddaughter Lianna, I decided I really ought to enter for the show even though the entries had to be in on Wednesday and my sister Rosemary’s funeral was on the Thursday. A regular forced day off on Friday left time to recover from that and Saturday morning saw me rushing around picking and selecting. 

Here is the unexpected result – a second prize to go with my first from last year. This year the onions arrived just days after leaving for holiday and so they sat in a jiffy bag by the back door for nearly three weeks gradually rotting. I decided to plant up what I could and managed to lift around 45 New Fen Globe and 55 Red Baron that were reasonable.

The day of the show and I desperately tried to find three matching onions in reasonable condition and this was the result. Next year may be less daunting and I’ll try to do a better job of whipping the necks.

 

Also unexpected was the third prize for these runner beans – Aintree. They have been erratic but again I managed to find five similar ones to display.

Just to show that everything isn’t always easy, I also entered french beans, courgettes, beetroot, shallots and the longest runner. I was going to enter the cucumber but it was only about 5 inches long and I preferred to let it grow and eat it. 

I also was in trouble as I forgot to enter the novelty potato that we dug. A Desiree shaped like a classic rubber duck.

Next year I might try the “4 veg in a seed tray” to show off the others such as garlic and squash that look and taste so good.

High Summer

 

After last years prize winning pumpkin but less than thrilling squash I am pleasantly surprised by the first Festival squash picked on Monday night. About 5 – 6 inches but aesthetically wonderful. Several more on their way but some time off I think. Other cucurbits are coming along but not photogenic yet. (cucumbers, pumpkins and decorative gourds) 

My sister is very ill and so this and other family issues leave little time for the allotment at the moment but it is still wonderful to be able to sit and think by the chamomile lawn and lavender bush and keep the stress down.  Joan bought an echinacea plant after seeing it on mtp a couple of weeks back but it is in the garden at the moment until I decide exactly where it should go to add to the sense of calm.

It is very reassuring to see that the allotment will produce its bounty even without me attacking the weeds. I just need to remember that I do need to sow or plant first.

Below is a selection of lettuce ( Webbs Wonderful, Lollo Rosso and others), peas (Hurst Green Shaft – not impressed so far), runner beans ( Aintree ), courgettes (Pomodoro and AN Other), beetroot (Chioggia) and carrot thinnings.

The onions will need to be lifted soon as the necks have all gone over. No prizes this year I suspect! 

Summer Selection

I also cut back almost all of my tomatoes in the garden yesterday as the blight had got to them. I’ll try to save those few left but interestingly of the four varieties, only the cherry type ( Red Alert) was least affected. The left over plants that I put in the mini greenhouse look more promising now even though they are still in 4″ pots and on a liquid diet.

New Pickings

Black Red and White currants

Finally decided that I should pick the currents at the weekend.  Not sure about the weight but must be a couple of pounds of blackcurrants.

The Redcurrants were lost at the start of the season. I think the wind got to them or possibly birds right at the beginning. I netted the three bushes quite early and lost very few. I look forward to eating them later.

 

Eschallot Grise

The shallots have dried out nicely so I trimmed them to about 3 ins and will hang them in the string bag. About 1.5 Kg (189 bulbs)  from 12 surviving plants. I lost four to rot and then another before I decided to cut my losses and lift them several weeks ago.

The broad beans plants were all lifted and some left over runner and french beans put in their place as a second crop.

Lollo Rosso and Winter Density lettuces doing well in their nursery between the leeks. Also just sown Webbs Wonderful, Ice King, Mixed Shades and Salad Bowl to give me some later lettuces.

 

Overview

Just to show that there are other things going on – a shot from the North East corner looking up and across the allotment.

In the foreground are Cabbages – Savoy Endeavour, Ruby Perfection and Candice.

Runner and French beans – Aintree and Empress

Onions – Red Baron and New Fen Globe,

Potatoes – Desiree

Out of Shot – Parsnips and Celery,

Middle beds from the bottom:

Peas – Hurst green Shaft ( almost ready to pick)

Onions,

Potatoes – Kestrel

Cucumbers – Marketmore and Burpless

Pumpkins - Crown Prince

Decorative gourds ( some of last years still going strong)

Broccoli, Spinach, Swiss Chard

Far beds:

Leeks – Musselburgh

Lettuces – various

Potatoes – Pentland Javelin

Carrots – Early Nantes and Parmex

Beetroot – Chioggia and Wodan,

Sprouts – Berwick and Cromwell

Lettuces

Sweetcorn

At the top is Sweetpeas, Lettuces, Rhubarb, Sunflowers, Courgettes – Gold Rush, Pomodoro and unknown green, Squashes

I can’t remember all the specifics so I’ll update this later!

Bathford Flower & Veg Show – A First

First Prize - Onions

The culmination of a good year so far was being awarded First Prize for Onions in the Bathford Show on Saturday 6th September 2008. I thought they were good with such a golden glow (New Fen Globe) when I lifted them but it is nice to know that the judges agreed. I read up about showing them but discovered on Thursday night that I really should have started preparing them about six weeks ago and not two days before the show. Maybe next year. I was tempted to oil them but settled instead for whipping the ends. I also notice that I should really make the ends a bit shorter. I’m sure I lost a few points for that. I’ve included the other 9 entries below to show that I had some worthy opposition.

The Competition

I also succeeded in taking second place with my cucumber (Marketmore) grown outdoors. I’m not too disheartened as the winner was a greenhouse grown, arrow straight, perfect example.

A lucky dip gave me second place in the “Longest Bean” entries with 18 and a half inches (White Lady).

A final selection based on smaller is better for the Purple French climbing beans (Empress) gave me a surprise third place.

Second Prize - Cucumber

 

I also entered sweetcorn – top not quite ripe but the rest looked wonderful, courgettes – too big, beetroot – too small, runner beans – not good, potatoes – too small.

As a final thought on this – I grow the veg for flavour rather than to look good.  

The beans have been appalling this year, both to get them to grow and then to pick them at the right stage. Almost all of the white onions I grew have rotted but the reds are not too bad.

Yet more surprises

Redcurrants

Blackcurrants

Courgettes

Leeks and Pumpkins

Yet more surprises on Saturday when I spotted these red and blackcurrants hiding at the base of their respective bushes.

Kicked out on Friday night to allow Joan to host her leaving do so I spent an hour or so digging over the beds that had the garlic and broad beans. Saturday morning saw me roto-tilling them and I planted up around 60 leeks (Prizetaker) and some Christmas Charlotte potatoes. There were also some reds that were chitting strongly in the veg rack so I put those in as well to see how they will do. The theory is that although they won’t get the full growing season they should be good enough to lift around Christmas. We’ll see. In between can be seen the pumpkins coming along nicely.

Joan felt that 6 courgette plants weren’t enough so I found a packet with three different types and sowed them a few weeks ago. I sorted the seeds by sight only and all but one came up strongly. I planted out two of each of the three types but have no idea which is which yet. They should be Opal, Gold Rush ( the same as the six in the background) and Zuccini.

The Season Begins (again)

Away at the weekend so not back on the allotment until 5:30 on Monday evening after two hours shredding the vines removed from the trellis. I did manage to get in two 3ft rows of beetroot. Last years worked so well I am trying them again – Detroit 6 Rubidus -  but I also spotted an RHS variety – Wodin – that looks interesting. The books suggest soaking the multigerm seeds before sowing but it became impossible to deal with them so I did it the old way. I did soak them well afterwards

I realised that without some seeds growing I would have nothing to plant later so got to work.

Allowing for slugs and other losses I put 40 sweetcorn – Honeydew, 4 pumpkin – Hundredweight and 10 cucumber – Marketmore – into the propagator.

I also sowed 17 (the whole packet) courgette – Gold Rush, 10 squash – Hunter, 8 runner bean – White Lady, half a tray of leeks – Prizetaker and half a tray of a second parsnip – Hollow Crown.

In the picture above, the Cromwell and Montgomery sprouts are coming along nicely even with the snail attacks and the Panache parsnips are nearly ready to move from their root-training pots into the nicely prepared bed.  (Thanks to Hugh for the mini rotovator that makes the final stages so much easier). The end two rows in the root trainers are the newly planted runner beans.