Medwyn Williams
Hello. I'm Medwyn Williams – eleven times Gold medal winner at the Chelsea Flower Show, Past Chairman of the Royal Horticultural Society Fruit Vegetable and Herb Committee and President of the National Vegetable Society.
Lifting Long Carrots for Welsh Championships
Friday 31st August 2012
Thankfully it’s a really lovely morning here which makes the job of lifting and washing long carrots a lot easier. I have entered three in the long carrot class at the Welsh Championships which is on tomorrow and Sunday at Bryngarw Country Park Bridgend CF32 8UU, just in case you fancy a run over. My problem this morning is pulling sufficient to get a decent set whilst at the same time being conscious of the fact that I have a big display to put up at Malvern in a month’s time. This of course is a problem we all have as exhibitors as we always seem to have another show just around the corner!
I actually pulled 10 to get a set of three that I think is good enough to take down there. Whether or not their good enough to get one of the four card places is something else. They were just over 8 inches around the shoulder and the longest was 45 inches. One thing was very apparent this year, the sand needs shifting out and clean sand brought in. This is the worst scenario for me as my garden is at the back of the house and everything has to be wheel barrowed up a gradient to the front of the house where I shall put it on a trailer and scatter it over the land. I can tell you now I won’t be doing a lot of it myself, I shall leave that to Alwyn and his friend Del, the younger generation!!
Sand is getting quite expensive these days and I will probably need in the region of 6 to 7 tonnes to fill up all the barrels. The carrots were also starting to get a little rough so I shall also temper my mix a little next year by adding a little more Fine Grade Vermiculite to it. The carrots were sprayed a few times with our Liquid Nutrimate which we have registered as ‘Liquid Gold’ which seems to have helped as the colour was excellent on all of them. We used it this year as well to supplement the slow release fertiliser in our hanging baskets around the house and they have been very florific considering the horrible weather we have experienced on the Island here.
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A good long carrot until you tirn it round 
- Five that didn’t make it
3 thoughts on “Lifting Long Carrots for Welsh Championships”
Keep the articles coming, its a late luch for me today, eating some yesterdays Bucks County show veg in salad as I type this.
Can I ask why you have come to the conclusion that your sand needs changing. How long have you used the same sand?
How do you think the fine vermiculite works in helping improve the carrots?
Finally, will the links to the old articles be restored at some stage? (these make excellent reading and to me as a newcomer its interesting to see how varieties and techniques have evolved over time)
Dear John,
It’s Monday morning and a little tired having arrived back home late last night from the Welsh Championships at Bridgend. The standard for the year was exceptional with Sherie Plumb back to her usual top form with her tremendous Toughball onions being reserve exhibit at the show, probably the best set I have seen for a long time. The sand has mixed accidentally with soil and even though it’s only four years old It’s leaving marks on the parsnips and the carrots were a little on the rough side even though I managed to get second at the Welsh Championships. The Fine Vermiculite helps to cushion the effect of the rougher texture of the sand/peat as well as helping drainage. I wasn’t aware that there were no links to the articles, will have to phone my IT man today to see what the problem is. The intention is to have all these updated in the next few months and add pictures to the gallery from various shows that I have attended.
Thanks Medwyn, I think I am going to grow Toughball next year, I love Vento but I am not a good enough grower to get them to full size by mid July and ripe for Shrewsbury Show whereas I think (hopefully) it will be easier with Toughball. What is you latest thinking on mixes for long carrots and long beet? I would love to grow a decent set of long beet sometime soon.