Allotments Stuff

Worthing and District Allotments and Gardens Association

Affiliated to the Royal Horticultural Society and the National Vegetable Society

Growing for Showing

Most of us enjoy our gardening, be it flowers and shrubs or edible crops, without ever feeling the need to display the fruits of our labours to anyone except a few friends but there are others for whom showing can become a bit of a passion once they have been bitten by the bug and picked up that first red card.

This page is for all you growers who would like to give it a go. You may not feel you are good enough but bear in mind everyone has to start somewhere. You may feel you wouldn't know where to begin but once again the tips on this page will get you off to a good start and once you meet a few other exhibitors you'll discover what a friendly helpful bunch most of them are, only too willing to pass on their tips and experience.

Much of the advice in these features comes from our own Association showman, Peter Webb, who has picked up trophies all over the place so you can rely on what he says. Once you've done your first show it's hard to stop. Go on, give it a go!

Just like your crops this page is continually growing

Click on the category of your choice

General

Carrots

Potatoes

GENERAL

Remember: when it comes to showing, uniformity and quality are more important than size although there are some exceptions here: longest runner bean, heaviest marrow,etc. For an up-to-date show schedule click here.

CARROTS

Disfigured, maggoty, muddy, stunted carrots - does that ring a bell with your experience of growing carrots? That was certainly my experience a lot of the time whilst growing carrots at the allotment, which I found frustrating to say the least. But growing carrots for show can be extremely rewarding.

For me there is no reward that can replace the sheer joy of pulling a near perfect specimen carrot from a bin or container with good colour accompanied by good length in proportion to its weight. Equally I have had some depressing times, struggling to pull what I would call any decent carrots, but they still taste good. Which reminds me - it is a total fallacy that you cannot eat show vegetables.

Early April is the time to be thinking about sowing carrot seed. I grow my carrots in containers (large plastic drums 4ft high). Others grow theirs in 4 or 6 inch drain pipes (3 or 4ft long). Both can be effective and sometimes I try both. You will need some good quality sieved soil, preferably sterilised but I have had some good results from using soil from the allotment (1 bucket), Moss peat (2 buckets) and horticultural or silver sand (1 bucket). The fertiliser elements are Superphosphate (50g), Sulphate of Potash (50g), Lime (100g) and Calcified seaweed (50g).

To achieve good results you need to pass all the soil and peat through a quarter of an inch sieve, and the fertilisers through a finer mesh such as a kitchen sieve, but don't tell my wife! All of the soil, peat, sand and fertiliser is thoroughly mixed together and then put into the containers, and allowed to settle prior to sowing, which normally takes place during March or early April.

Growing carrots in containers is no different from growing them in open ground. Make small drills in the growing medium about half an inch deep, thinly sow the carrot seed along the drills, fill in the drills and water using a watering can with a fine rose. The carrot seed takes about 7/10 days to germinate. After the carrots have germinated and are about 25mm tall start the thinning process. Remember: if growing for showing then you need to allow a lot more space between each carrot.

The varieties best for showing are Sweet Candle (stump) and Javelot (Long). But the above method can be used for most varieties, and there are many to choose from.

If you are looking at planting carrots in large amounts then the above is probably not for you. But if you have only a small area to grow vegetables, then carrots are great for growing in containers. In large round pots you can harvest between 30-40 carrots and in the larger square and rectangular plant containers you can produce many more. I have an old bath tub on my allotment which I have grown carrots in so any type of container will do - so why not have a go?

Peter Webb

POTATOES

Ideally you will require a 17 litre 12 inch polythene pot or an equivalent container of similar proportions with good drainage holes.

The best growing medium is Shamrock Peat to which 4 ounces of both Vitax Q4 fertilizer and calcified seaweed should be added per 17 litre pot. Fill the container to a depth of 3 to 4 inches and plant one seed potato in each pot. Ideally the seed potato should be the size of a duck egg and each seed potato should have no more than 2 to 3 shoots. It is important to remove or rub off any excess shoots. Fill each pot or container to within 1 inch of the rim.

Dig over the ground the container is to stand on; fork in potato fertilizer at 3 to 4 ounces per square yard. Dig out a trench 3 to 4 inches deep to suit the container base, set the container in the trench and spread around a few slug pellets.

Once the potatoes show strong growth feed weekly with Maxicrop. Water if necessary between feeds if signs of drying out appear. In summer it is worth considering spraying every two weeks with Dithane 945 against blight. Introduce 4 foot canes adjacent to the pot or container to which to tie the haulms. At 14 to 16 weeks after planting cut the haulms down to ground level and leave the potatoes in situ for 10 days for skins to harden. Remove potatoes carefully from the soil taking care not to damage skin. Wash in cold water, dry and grade for size; ideally what you are seeking is five potatoes of equal size and shape and about 8 ounces in weight. Wrap in tissue paper and store in a cool dark place ready for the show.

The varieties best for showing are WINSTON (white) and KESTREL (coloured).

Peter Webb