Basingstoke Flower & Vegetable Show
30th July
Now
the excitement has died down a little, let me tell you about the Basingstoke
Flower and Vegetable show that Spencer alluded to last week. How he
scoffed at my culinary attempts, but he is laughing on the other side of his
face now as I won first place with my cheese scones and came third
with my cheese straws. I was absolutely thrilled.
To
round off a successful afternoon, Violet Elizabeth won a trophy for best
under 12 exhibit and scooped up four first places too. Her summer
garden in a seed tray was apparently the talk of the BBC Question Time team
who were in attendance, and her painting of a flower, a summer flower
arrangement, and the Macaroni penguin made from a vegetable also came first
(see photos). Trophies were presented by Maria Miller MP, and I
managed to have a quick word with her afterwards, about the state of the
country. Marcus also won a first place with his photograph of a wildlife
scene. My rosette and gold medal have pride of place on the mantle
piece in the drawing room.
Friday 3rd August
I have had a couple of questions this week from a gentleman in Old Basing. He asks “should you mount the photographs in Class 86, and what size should they be?” Well our family hasn’t won any prizes in this class before but we have always entered unframed, unmounted 6x4” prints.
He also asks “what does it mean when it says the dahlias/roses should be
from 1 cultivar?” I have always taken this to mean “from the same
plant”, but I think that it could also mean “from the same named plant- so
all the flowers will be the same colour”. For example if you had 3
rose bushes in your garden, all called “Queen Elizabeth”, you could select a
bloom from each to provide the 3 blooms from 1 cultivar (class 43).
This
week I would like talk about flowers - always a popular section in the
Village show. In previous years we Paulet-Halts have had a moderate
amount of success, winning the African marigold (class 28) once and being
placed twice. I have also entered the Sunflowers (class 31), and the
Aster classes (29 and 30).
The secret, I have found is to select and pick your blooms on the morning of the show. Usually I am up before 6am that morning. Choose flowers of a similar size and colour, (although when I won the marigolds, I did enter a yellow, an orange and a dark gold one). Make sure that the foliage looks healthy too. I have never entered the dahlia or rose classes partly because my roses in the Manor’s rose garden all seem to have finished by September, but mainly because I don’t know whether my dahlias are pompom, decorative, ball or cactus because the labels have fallen off. I have always thought that these classes were better left to the experts, but now that I have found out how to navigate the RHS website, maybe I could do some research.
The herbaceous border at the Manor is looking really good, and should be able to provide something for class 35- Herbaceous Perennial flowers. Remember, all the vases are provided on the morning of the show to enable you to stage your entries. It is probably best to keep the stems long, and trim them when you get there.
I remember in 2005, Spencer contrived to be away for a fortnight from the end of August until after the show. He was at some important conference in Reno, California (or so he said).
Not only did I have to get all my entries ready myself and transport them to the Village Hall (it took 3 trips), I also had to get Marcus up a ladder in the orchard to pick the pears for class 27. Regular readers will remember that I was the proud recipient of the RHS Bronze medal for Best Fruit Exhibit in 2003, so there was a lot at stake. Picture the scene. Marcus – who was only 12 at the time – was 15ft up a ladder in the orchard, muttering about Victorian child labour and the like. He didn’t seem to understand that the judges would be looking for uniformity in size and shape, and blemish free fruit. He didn’t appear to take the job very seriously, and when a rather large and heavy specimen hit me bang on the head, I did wonder whether he had done it on purpose. I told him that if he just reached up a little bit higher, he could hang on with one arm and get the pear at the top and round the back of the tree.
The time spent later in casualty at the NHH wasn’t entirely wasted as I managed to finish my knitting exhibit for the handicraft section and also got talking to a chap who was having 15 stitches in his head, about the merits of double digging on his allotment.
Has anybody been watching the excellent series on BBC1, appropriately called the Great British Village Show? We just got back in time last Sunday from the Basingstoke Show to catch the final which was held at Highgrove House where the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall presented the prizes. I have been in contact with the BBC and I understand that the show is going to have another series next year, so maybe we should write in and tell them about Old Basing. I have always wanted to mix with royalty, and who knows, with my recent successes I might just be in with a chance!