Kitchen Garden Forum

what fabulous pictures PaSnip! thankyou ever so much for taking the time to post them

Lovely photos, Pa Snip! Also gave me some presentation tips for our village show tomorrow!

I love these pics from the shows! They both overwhelm & inspire me to try harder. Generally there is always a display that I think I could beat even as it is (never with a card mind), & that encourages me to put stuff in the lottie show. Didn't get to put anything in this year as otherwise engaged with visitors - rumours abound on the site that everyone is not happy! Beans not cracked, jam not tasted & best in show was a cupcake?? Hmm! Think I've chosen the right year to be otherwise engaged - & didn't have anything to put in but cherry tomatoes anyway!

I've never entered a competition it's not my style , I used to do a lot of sea fishing competitions and I won a few bob but once I witnessed the cheating that was me finished

Great pictures/produce - inspiring or depressing? Difficult! I don't show but eat well, surfeit of plums this week.

robo wrote:I've never entered a competition it's not my style , I used to do a lot of sea fishing competitions and I won a few bob but once I witnessed the cheating that was me finished

I know, these shows are rife with cheating, just look at how many enhanced carrots there are that have fake carotan applied by the bottle load

I like to look round the veg tents at shows but have never been impressed with the giant veg. I can't see the point. They're too big for a meal and are pumped full of nitrogen and goodness knows what else, which makes them tough and probably dodgy to eat. Give me small tender veg any time.

We had a grand village show today. Apparently, the entries were greatly up and it showed - not a bit of space left on the tables. I picked up a few prizes, but the important thing is to take part. For the first time, the show was extended into a village fete on the adjacent field and, not least because of the gorgeous weather, crowds of people enjoyed live music, fancy dress, races and cycle races for the children and other jollifications.

Well done Monika and hopefully the larger range of show entries reflects an increased interest in growing your own as well as the better weather we've had. I enjoy these village affairs where everybody makes an effort to enhance the community spirit.
What did you get your prizes for ?

Thank you, Primrose. I got Firsts for six shallots, four coloured potatoes, a vegetable and a flower (leek and giant sunflower head), a photograph and a knitted 'twiddlemuff' (for dementia patients), a Second for strawberry jam and a Second and a Third for my marmalades. There was tough competition. Some of the garden produce trays were a sight to behold, especially the fruit, because we are not in a good fruit growing area.

Quite a collection of awards. I just think it's great that in this day and age when most people rely on a supermarket for all their food products, some people still cultivate the art of growing and preserving their food.

We had to defrost our fully packed tall garage freezer this morning at short notice when we noticed that accumulated ice had built up so much it was actually starting to force the door open. I noticed to my shame that I must have accumulated about 15 lbs of redcurrants in there, in addition to several containers of frozen fruit syrup. I confess that in desperation I had to unload some of the older wizened ones onto the compost heap. At least they will be of some use there, albeit in a different form !

I defrosted and sorted my large chest freezer a couple of weeks ago. There was definitely more space without all the ice. I also jettisoned some very old things onto the compost heap and have been using up some more before I add any more of this year's harvest, although there are rather a lot of this year's sieved tomatoes already.

Wow, I am impressed by those show entries. I am almost too embarrassed to enter some of my own produce in Sunday's show now, in case the standard turns out to be as high as that!!

It's the taking part that counts, Mouse2, not the winning! Lots of my entries well below the standard of the winning ones, but they all contributed to the overall show which the public wants to see. We were very lucky with the weather last Saturday and our village hall and adjoining field were packed with visitors.