Kitchen Garden Forum

Second is a way of saying its not very good, but was the only entry.

Quite so Peter.

Surprised the leeks got that.

There was also beetroot with holes in and carrots with evidence of carrot fly, both got cards

I guess the snag is that if the judge comes down to hard the show organisers may well be fearful the entry numbers will decline even further next year.
Place cards may well encourage others to have a go on basis people may well think they could do better with not much to compete against.

Tht must be one of the ugliest marrows I've ever seen and I think if I,d grown it it would have gone straight onto my compost heap. However it would have gone a lot earlier. I wouldn,t have let it go on using up the soil's fertilitymto get to that stage. As a big old ugly fun it,s OK but more a lesson on what not to grow. I can't see it being used as an example to persuade supermarkets it's ok to sell ugly or wonky veg !

You think that's ugly !!!!!!!

You wait 'til I bring pics back from Malvern Show at end of September, then it will be a case of

The Good
The Bad
and
The Really Really Ugly

Do you think I'm going then Pa Snip.....

OH, I heard it through the grapevine

I think these shows are a good way to encourage people to grow their own veg. When you see what others are brave enough to put on show you feel quite smug and think actually mine are rather good, although they wouldn't come anywhere near the expert growers' displays at the big shows.

I think they should have to name the varieties they enter as it would give you an idea of new veg you might like to grow. Truss of tomatoes or plate of potatoes is a bit vague.

Quite agree Plum, our local show invites you to write the variety name on the back of the class card so that it does not influence the judge through favouritism of a particular variety or recognising handwriting.

However not many bother to do so

Our village show is this Saturday. I do hope we get lots of entries because I hate seeing bare tables. We ourselves are putting in very little this year, especially on the vegetable front, mainly just jams, marmalades, photographs etc. Unfortunately, one of our most prolific exhibitors died last year quite suddenly and all his entries will be sorely missed, though it will give others a chance to win the trophies .......

After all, it's all just for fun, isn't it?

I've made my own exhibit - plate of beautiful tomatoes. They are Eva's Purple Ball and are red with a pink flush but I don't think the colour comes out in the photo. I also had to find another tomato for the plate as I had one in my cheese and tomato sandwich so they don't quite match. Makes you realise how much trouble people go to when showing their produce.

Look good to me PP!

Not heard of that variety but there are so many to try! What are they like PP?

Currently I'm enjoying my beefsteak type ones, so much flavour & with less seeds so you don't get a soggy sandwich! My yellow ones are nice & sharp & I'm very fond of my orange plums but most just get munched in the greenhouse. Shame my Indigo Rose blacks didn't succeed this year as possibly my favourite. My self sown cherries are sweet but loaded with seed so you do have to sieve anything you make with them & as they are producing hundreds I'm going to be an expert! Made my first consommé with them - OK but a bit like watery soup & not worth wasting the cheesecloth to drip them through!

They are well flavoured but not as good as my favourite Double Rich - a gorgeous beefsteak one. They are large with plenty of flesh and not too many seeds. I got them from an American seed swap and have been saving a few seeds every year to keep them.

I grow mainly heritage/non hybrid varieties and usually have a few spare seeds of my favourites if anyone would like to try something different.

Talking about sieving them, I cut them in half or a bit smaller if they are very big and cook them for a few minutes until they break down and are soft enough to whizz round in the mouli sieve with the smallest holes to catch the seeds. It does lots very quickly and extracts the skins and seeds.

I use a stick blender for making tomato soup and any fine versions of tomato purée I need and it zapps any pips, however copious into total oblivion.

I'm doing sieved tomatoes by the bucket full at the moment and freezing it in the smaller size square tubs from Lakeland. They are a good size for two portions of soup, or make a sauce or add to a stew etc.

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!