Up and down, up and down, up and down - again

Thank you, OH. This will only be our village's 4th show, following a 25-year gap . Luckily, there are three or four of us who are quite competitive, and I suppose our friendly rivalry does help keep the number of entries up and ensures that there is no one person who is guaranteed to win. Even so, I...

I've just added up how many entries I might have for our show, and it is even more than I thought - I have 16 things for the craft section alone! Then there are eight jars for the preserves section, a couple of decorated eggs for the eggs section, before I even get to the fruit and veg, Of course, I...

We have to enter 5 tomatoes in our show. I must be terrible at growing tomatoes because try as I might, I never have that many ripe ones that match in size. However, i am trying to be optimistic and still hope that this year will be different - only a week to go!

Well done, Monica. Our village show is next weekend, so i will be very busy getting everything ready over this coming week,doing last-minute baking and preparing any veg that are good enough to enter. I have made a lot of things already for the crafts section, and have made jams, chutney, jellies an...

I did more or less what you suggested, Primrose, though used my hand-held zapper rather than the blender. Another beautiful batch of ice cream

I have a question - if using frozen fespberries, should I cook them first or use them raw? Last time, I cooked them before pureeing, but couldn't help wondering ...

Wishing you a very happy birthday, OH. I hope you have had a lovely day

Well done, westi. I might try growing Jazzy myself next year, as i would love to be able to enter some potatoes in our village show, and most varieties seem to get scab in my garden. Still a month to go before our show, so i'm keeping my fingers crossed for a few weeks of decent growing weather betw...

I tried to find out, Westie, but without success. If yours is still growing it could still end up being the winner

I did try pressing around the stem of the melon plant today, Primrose, but I think it might be too late. We were away last weekend, and the plant was wilting when we got back. At the time, I put it down to lack of water because i had left glass panels over as a bit of protection against the cold/wet...

Have a good one

Same here, Robo. I've just removed one, hoping that its successor might grow longer, but don't expect it to. My overgrown courgette is considerably bigger, both in length and circumference. Next year, I will try to get hold of some proper 'giant' marrow seed in hope of producing a winner for our vil...

The moles are back!!! Since the year when I caught 18 of the blighters (two or three years ago), there hasn't been a problem. This year, I dealt with an intruder early in the season, and had no more problems until about three weeks ago, when the neighbour said there was one in his garden. Since then...

I've finally reached the stage where if I want to wear shorts I will. As a teenager, I was too self conscious to display my legs, and by the time I realized that they were my best asset, they were well past their sell-by date. Now, I reckon that if anyone is offended by the varicose veins, they can ...