Kitchen Garden Forum

Good luck with your entries Mouse.
I find it difficult enough to find 3 matching items at times let alone 5 or sometimes 6 that are required in some shows.
I could never be a serious show entrant.

Our little local show is next Saturday (9th).Very much in two minds whether to enter anything but if we don't support it it will disappear.

Agree Pa!

3 or anything is a nightmare but 5? Mind if toms you do have a bit of a window where you can take over a few days & they remain OK & if cherries then much easier.

Do support your local show, Pa Snip! So many village shows have died a death which is a great shame because it's always a great occasion and good fun. Getting rather ancient, I only entered a few things this year, but it was certainly worth it, and I don't mean the trophies.

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 won't know if half the vegetables that I hope to be able to enter are good enough until I lift them, and instead of a four foot parsnip, I might find a six- inch octopus in my barrel.
Oh, and there is the baking section, too. I have already made/half-made several things for that too, and still have a few more planned.
I think I might have gone just a tad over the top!

Dear Mouse, I think the show will be very pleased with all your entries, as it's lack of entries and interest that normally is the finish of these shows....
Hope you do well, with all the effort you have made.

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 know from being on the committee one year that the show would fold without grants from the Parish council and the nearby town council, and sponsorship from a local estate agent.
On Bank Holiday Monday (last week), I discovered that there was a similar show on in nearby Towcester, so went along to have a look. I was expecting it to be a bigger show than ours, so was surprised to see how few entries there were. With such a renewed interest in both grow-your-own and crafts, it really is a huge shame that these shows are not more popular now.

Our village show entries hit a dangerous low about six years ago but we made a great effort to involve the school (they had a gardening club then, alas, folded since then) and that raised the children's interest and they brought along their parents and grandparents. Nowadays we usually have a problem to accommodate all the entries in our large and modern village hall.

Again, good luck for Saturday, Mouse2!

Good Luck Mouse!

Our greatest laugh came from the ugly veg section - some great creations there as you are allowed to add plastic eyes & lips or other adornments to emphasise what you think it looks like. Just a thought if there is an octopus!