Recent Posts
Welsh Branch Championships of the NVS 1999
There is no doubt that over the past few years
Staging Vegetables on the Show Bench – Peas
Peas are a good example of a vegetable that’s easily
Vermiculite as part of Mixes and for Covering
I have used vermiculite as part of my mixes for both onions and leeks for a few years now and I find that I have
How to Become a Better Grower
A question I’m very often asked when visiting gardening clubs to give a talk on growing vegetables is “How can I become a better vegetable
Demise of Vegetable Varieties
Some of the varieties that I introduced have more than proved themselves as they are still winning today, cultivars such as Buffalo onion, Corrie carrot
Vegetables for Home and Exhibition
For me personally, one man that I never had the honour to meet him, had a profound effect on the way I grow vegetables for
Precision Sowers and Supports for Leeks and Onions
An invention that caught my eye at the Shepton Mallet show was the Precision Seed Sower which allows you, very effectively to pick up the
Excellent Heads of Leek Bulbils
The important thing with such heads is to make sure that the root plate of the young bulbils are clean and white with no sign
Onion & Leek Beds – Problems with Access
The main problem that I have, as those of you who have visited my garden know, is the lack of a rear entrance to get
Winning through Inclement Conditions
This Summer was anything but grower friendly with constant rain wind and very little sun making things rather difficult for the best of us. However
TIme to clean up in earnest
At long last I have some time on my hands to get all the clearing and cleaning completed and start on turning over all the
Carrot and Parsnip Beds
If you have had parsnips this years that were very difficult to clean up as a result of these brown marks and you have been
Amount required in Dishes at Shows
One of the reasons for the Welsh Championships success is the number of vegetables that are required in each dish making it possible even for
Shallots and Cucumbers
The shallots had been started into growth at the end of September, directly into the soil. The early growth gave much better shallots and, as
Transferring Vegetables to the Show
Having spent all that time in nurturing your produce, surely it makes sense to pack them and carry them to the show in strong boxes
End of the Showing Season
The Summer showing season has now come to end for me, culminating in the National Vegetable Society Championships at Harrogate last weekend, my local District
Transferring Vegetables to the Show
Having spent all that time in nurturing your produce, surely it makes sense to pack them and carry them to the show in strong boxes
Bursting Foliage on the Leeks
Bursting of the flags is a devastating blow at any time, but when it happens within a week or two of a show date, renders
Tomatoes and Large Exhibition Onions
My results with tomatoes over the past few years have been variable to say the least as I have striven to change and modify various
The path towards winning the highest awards at the shows is never a smooth one
It’s at this time that the amount of work you put into the preparations earlier on in the year will either reward you with excellent
Onions – White Rot, Botrytis and Thrip
Even though my exhibition onion bed has been ravaged by white rot disease , I was quite pleasantly surprised that I was able to harvest
Judging Seminar for Vegetable Judges
Judging is not and never will be an exact science so that if one group arrived at a slightly different answer to the one Ivor