[drmoonshine]

hi all

Im interested in showing my veg next year at my local show it has all sorts of things there. as well as a horticulture show. ive been 2 times in 2009 and 2010 and took grate interest in the veg/fruit on show and what the winning veg looked like.....

like i said i would be very interested in giving this ago, the show is in the middle of july. the past times i have been there has been a 3veg comp where you ''i think'' pick your own 3 veg and show them and also there ''i think'' is like an individual veg/fruid where you just show one kind of veg/fruid or maybe a few of them together i should say.

now for the questions

1. does the show pick what veg/fruit they want showing or is that down to you. and then its down to the judges to pick from them. it just strikes me as odd if there is only one person who is showing toms and everyone else is showing something else does this matter at all?

2. i always see the veg set in a very neat way with string around the top of the onions and so forth. im guessing this is a must with different veg needing different things doing them to make them show worthy. could come one point me in the right direction on tips tricks and how to's for this?

3 do shows run all year round? of course ones in certin months will only be showing some times of veg as some would not be in season......

4. if i want to take part in the bigger shows ''i mean proper veg/fruit shows that are held just for this would i be able to do that? do i need to registor before hand? like this year? pay a fee or do anything? or just sort it closer the date and turn up and put my veg out on the table?

sorry for all the questions im very new to gardening never mind showing veg

thank you to all
dave

[Trillium]

You'll find some information here: http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?board=44.0

[DD.]

I'll move this thread there.

[Jamie Butterworth]

1. does the show pick what veg/fruit they want showing or is that down to you. and then its down to the judges to pick from them. it just strikes me as odd if there is only one person who is showing toms and everyone else is showing something else does this matter at all?

There are classes for you to enter the veg into, the socitey/show will choose which classes but they are all very similiar, such as 3 stumped carrots, 3 long carrots, 5 onions, heaviest onion, 3 leeks etc. There is an option for a plate of 3 of 5 mixed veg aswell.

2. i always see the veg set in a very neat way with string around the top of the onions and so forth. im guessing this is a must with different veg needing different things doing them to make them show worthy. could come one point me in the right direction on tips tricks and how to's for this?

The 'string' around the top of the onions i actually raffia, it is advised that you dress your veg to give them that extra edge against other exhibitors. Other things like making sure that your veg is properly washed and clean also helps.

3: do shows run all year round? of course ones in certin months will only be showing some times of veg as some would not be in season......

Typically, the shows are normally through summer, and normally towards the end of summer at that, the national vegetable society site is a good one for lists of dates and everything else you could need to point you in the right direction:

http://www.nvsuk.org.uk/horticultural_show/Horticultural-Show-2010-England.php

:quote: 4. if i want to take part in the bigger shows ''i mean proper veg/fruit shows that are held just for this would i be able to do that? do i need to registor before hand? like this year? pay a fee or do anything? or just sort it closer the date and turn up and put my veg out on the table? :quote:

Im guessing that by bigger shows you are reffering to national shows such as harrogate etc. Im not sure if you have to register before hand.

[drmoonshine]

thank you Jamie Butterworth for taking the time out to reply thank you for the link Trillium and sorry DD had a quick scan through to see if there was some where more fitting for my post must have skipped over it

thanks

dave

[DD.]

No problems, it's not immediately obvious from the forum home page, it's shown as a child board of GYO.

[Debz]

Gardeners World on Friday night was all about Joe Swift growing veg for showing.  If you can watch it in the internet, you might be able to get some pointers.  I only saw a little bit of it but they were talking about dressing onions and different carrots.

[drmoonshine]

just watched it on iplayer was a very good watch and gave a good insite on what happens and all of the hard work that goes into it. poor joe did not do to well with his his veg did he. he did good enough to be able to enter things i guess but the people who he was against where far better with there veg. thumbs up to joe for his first time though shame he said he wont be doing it again

another question/s i have

is there anything i should be doing now? veg wise.... i just got a gift of my wifes aunt some runner beans (enorma) are these doing ok in the shows?

the local agriculture shows website has no info on the type of things that will be shown next year (no info filled in yet).... can i expect one or two things to deffo be there? onions (class)250g? and shallots (class)?

regarding onions i am planting sets this month for next year i take it maybe these will not be ok as i always see the showers planting onion seeds? is there a big difference?

think the main thing i am stuck on is timings what to plant also what type of said veg to plant that is best for showing.

last question for this post

should your lets say 5 250g onions last for all of the events? i can see the onions and such lasting but when it comes down to toms there abit more in my eyes easy to keep for an extanding amount of time taking to different events?

thank you
dave