Sowing Dates Used By Showmen

This is my fourth article on the sowing dates that top showmen use in different parts of the country for a given show date. The dates selected were to coincide with two major shows in the country that these growers have competed in.

This is my fourth article on the sowing dates that top showmen use in different parts of the country for a given show date. The dates selected were to coincide with two major shows in the country that these growers have competed in. The first date was the 26^th August 2002 which is the timing for the Welsh Branch championships at Margam Park South Wales. The second sowing date is the 29^th September, this being the sowing date for the National Vegetable Society Championships which are held next year as part of the Malvern Autumn Show.

The growers chosen were selected because they grow an extensive range of vegetables as well as living at different locations throughout the Country. We have already had the sowing dates from John Branham who lives in Aylesbury, Jim Kirkness who lives on the Scottish Borders and Bob Herbert who lives in Derbyshire. This week we are back again in Scotland with Jim Williams who lives in Pathhead Midlothian on the Eastern side of Scotland.

Midlothian doesn’t have too high a rainfall like most other areas of Scotland and consequently they don’t suffer with too much snow either. However they do have to put up with some quite low temperatures which means that any early growing has to be started off under glass or covers. Jim is a trained biologist and is currently working on Animal diseases. He must have received some of his love of gardening from his father who was a trained nurseryman. Though Jim looked after his garden and kept it neat and tidy after he got married, it was during the seventies that he really got the showing bug. A friend took him along to one of the local shows and he soon had his first card, a third with stump carrots, a cultivar that Jim still does very well with.

He is very well known throughout Scotland being their NVS National Chairman and has been their Newsletter Editor for the past 13 years which shows the level of his commitment to the Society.  Jim has traveled extensively all over the UK, in particular wherever the National Championships are held. Jim has won at the highest level at both the National and Branch level and is always willing to help his local shows by entering his quality produce in many of their classes.

Here are Jims’ varieties and their sowing dates for those on the list that he grows:-