Carrot Masterclass
Sunday July 15th
You
will recall that last week I solved a gardener’s problem about how to
prepare potatoes for the show bench. This week an anxious gardener
from Lychpit writes “what shall I do about my carrots?” Well
the long and short of it is you must choose the correct varieties otherwise,
hard as you try, all you will exhibit are specimens fit for feeding to the
donkeys.
In the Old Basing Village Show there are two carrot classes; long pointed
(class 8) and other than long pointed (class 9). For the uninitiated,
this means short and stumpy. That well known publication “Kitchen
Garden” recommends lifting the carrots the day before the show.
The night before lifting, you should water thoroughly so they will be easier
to pull. The following morning scrape a little soil away from the top
and try and match up the shoulder size. Hopefully, carrots with the
same shoulder diameter will be of the same length. Take hold of the
carrot foliage and gently pull straight up, but at the same time twisting
and rotating as it comes out of the hole. This should help to remove
some of the small hairy side roots.
Occasionally, a root will only be slightly bent and this can sometimes be
straightened, although you must act quickly. Hold it tightly in one
hand, then gently but firmly bend it away from the curve. Keep it in
this position for 2 or 3 minutes and you will be amazed how straight you’ll
have made it, (or so says Andrew Tokely in Feb. 2005 edition of
Kitchen Garden). I am not sure that I will be following that advice
myself at the Manor, but I will bear that technique in mind and maybe it can
be translated to solve other problems that I often come across.
When you have found your matching set of uniform carrots, (and you only need
3 for each class) you need to wash them with a soft sponge in clean water.
Wipe around the roots in a spiral motion and remove any small side hairs
that are left. DO NOT remove the tap root hair at the
bottom. Sometimes a show schedule asks for the tops to be trimmed.
Our schedule is not specific about this.
Once washed put somewhere cool in a polythene bag until you take them to the
show. The judges are looking for a uniform exhibit with clean roots of
good orange rich skin colour. They should be of a good shape and
blemish and pest free. But remember, even if you don’t win, you could
still make a donkey very happy.
A
worried reader from Little Basing writes that she is keen to compete in the
Village show, but is very shy and doesn’t know where to start. Well,
my dear, as I said in the beginning first get a copy of the Show Schedule,
look round your garden and note down how many items you think you can enter.
It is at times like this, that I always think about the Paulet-Halt family
motto, as written on our Coat of Arms - in eo habitis
esse ut vincatis eum. (answers on a postcard to the editor).
Never forget that it is important to read the schedule fully and carefully.
It is a bit like the advice that I have been giving to Marcus recently
regarding his GCSE’s. For example if the schedule asks for 9 cherry
tomatoes not to exceed 35 mm in diameter, make sure that you show 9
cherry tomatoes (not 8 or 10). It seems so obvious, but I
can testify that on the day, your stress levels will be so high that these
simple mistakes can occur. The judge will have a 35mm ring and will
pass each tomato through it. Any which are too big will disqualify your
whole entry. If it says a dish of soft fruit, then you need to bring
the dish. The exception to this is the vases of flowers, classes 22,
and 28-48 where the vases are provided at the show. Similarly, for the
cake section, you need to bring your own plates to display your cakes on.
Some people like to use a paper doily.
The Old Basing Show is conducted under RHS rules, and the RHS Horticultural
Show Handbook is an official guide to organising, judging and competing in a
show. It is priced at £7.95 and can be obtained online at
www.wisley.co.uk .
I must admit that a copy does not yet grace the extensive library shelves at
the Manor, but it is another item on my birthday list for Spencer to think
about.
Finally, on no account be blinded by size to the detriment of other merits
such as colour, uniformity, condition and shape, but remember a good big one
will always beat a good little one. I suppose that goes for many
things in life.
Life carries on apace at the Manor. I have been reliably informed that I am the highest climber in the web page popularity stakes - so come on you readers, tell all your friends, and see if I can make it to number one next week!
Talking
of highest climbers, one of my sunflowers is now over 11 feet tall, but no
sign of a flower head yet (class 31). I have been out watering my
courgettes, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and aubergines twice a day, and on
Friday I took the Bentley into Festival Place and popped into Wilkinsons to
get some liquid seaweed which is supposed to be a good plant feed. I
have had a practice at making lemon curd (class 76), but it wasn’t too
successful, so will need to have another go. Never mind, I will make
another Victoria sandwich, and use this batch of lemon curd to fill it.
I might have a go at making some cheese straws (class 67) this week too, as
this is a thing that I have never made before, and will definitely need a
few goes at to reach perfection.