Lets get ahead of the game

I grew my stump carrots in containers this year and they were so rubbish I pulled all of them before the St Bees show. I emptied all the sand into a dumpy bag and decided to get ahead and build the stump bed for next year. It was easier than expected actually and I got it finished over the weekend and a couple of days this week.
A bit more prep to do on it and it`s ready for the sand to go back in. Then I`m moving onto the long carrot house / tunnel / greenhouse type thing. Not sure how it`s going to look yet but I`ll post photos when I get started.

St Bees show

 Top tray. I got a bollocking for the parsnips !

Some pics of my local show which was held last weekend. There was some great stuff on display despite the crap weather and a good turnout also. The flower exhibits were fantastic and my favourite was the Gladioli dispaly from Mark Hewertson shown above.
I entered a few classes and managed 3 red cards for top tray, parsnips and long carrots. The carrots won best veg exhibit in the show which was really pleasing. It means I`m doing something right. The parsnips were a bit ropey but I fancy a proper shot at them next year. I emptied out the containers for the stump carrots and I`m gonna start to build the stump bed for next year. This is going to be a blockwork bed with room for a bout 60 stumps. I`m also going to build something to house the long carrot barrels in for next year. I`m gonna call it a greenhouse but it will have open sides with a wind suppressing membrane and a plastic top. I think it will help to protect the carrots but will have good ventillation.Not much else to report ! I have a few long carrots left which look really good and a lot better than the set which won at St Bees.

It`s Showtime !

This time next week I will have staged my exhibits for a local show at St Bees in Cumbria. This was the 1st show I entered last year and remember crapping myself when I walked in the place. There were a few old codgers giving me the eye and probably wondering, "who the bloody ell is THAT !" But I ended up winning a couple of classes and it`s given me the confidence to take it more seriously this year although it`s been hard with the crap weather.
We have an NVS judge this year so I`m looking forward to some honest appraisals of my stuff. More pics of the show to follow.

Holidays, Olympics and Carrots (in that order)

Just back from a brill holiday cruising in the Baltic (which was bloody warm as it turned out) with my two favourite people. Had a fab time and visited loads of interesting places including Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki and St Petersburg. Got back just in time to see her Maj jumping out of a helicopter to open the games. She`s a tough old bird !
The lotty was a bloody disgrace after 2 weeks away but I managed to get things sorted in a couple of days but it`s been a difficult 1st year of having a proper go at things. My stumps have been a bit crap actually and loads of them have gone to seed. The long carrots have done better but I would say they are a month behind what they should be.

I have a local show in a couple of weeks so I`m gonna do my best to bench something but I might have to be a bit creative to say the least !