Tips and Tricks
Sunday July 8th
The question for Ariadne (yes that’s my name!) this week, from a worried
gardener in Old Basing is how do you prepare potatoes for the show bench?
Well I must admit that I haven’t done it before myself, but “Kitchen Garden”
Magazine, which readers of this column know is my latest best book,
recommends that for a September show you should lift the tubers once the
foliage has died down. If it hasn’t died down by mid August then cut
it down 2-3 weeks before the show to ensure the skins have set properly.
Don’t rush lifting and preparing the potatoes for the show. Put the
potatoes in a bucket of water as soon as you lift them to stop them drying
out before you clean them properly. Clean them carefully with a soft
sponge, rubbing each tuber with a circular movement until it is clean and
shiny, taking care not to mark the skin. Pat dry with a soft towel and
wrap each dry tuber in kitchen roll and store somewhere cool and dark until
a few days before the show.
Phew! That sounds like a bit of a palaver, but that is what we all shall be
doing at the Manor in August, if only to give Jeff Owen a run for his
money!! And before you ask, no it doesn’t say anything else in
“Kitchen Garden” about what you do with them after they have been stored
“until a few days before the show”. I think I need to write to the
magazine editor, because there might be some vital procedure that he is not
telling us about, that only Jeff Owen knows.
This week I thought that I should let you into a few of my secrets about
success in the handicraft section. I have always enjoyed making things
which probably stems from my childhood when the whole family used to sit in
the cold a draughty drawing room of my ancestral home, keeping our knees
warm with pieces of tapestry and quilting and the like. Now in the
days of central heating and global warming I suppose the necessity is no
longer there but I expect some of you (like me) have not lost those finely
honed skills of embroidery, rug making and sewing even if you now need a
good light, decent glasses, longer arms or a needle with a bigger eye.
I have always wondered whether any of my handicrafts would be good enough to
enter the Village show. The short answer is no they are not, but actually
you know, it doesn’t really matter because it is the diversity of entries
and skills that makes this section so interesting. So if you can knit
or sew then I say give it a go!
This year I am aiming to produce some patchwork (Class 81). This is
something that I started last year but haven’t quite finished yet, so it
depends just how much time I have. The photo shows one of my previous year’s
efforts. In the past I have entered some of my paintings. I was
quite tempted to submit some from the Paulet-Halt gallery, but suspected
that the Hogarth would be spotted. There is a class for both
watercolours (Class 79) and oils or acrylics (Class 80), and I usually try
to paint these when on holiday at our plantation in the Caribbean, or if the
weather is nice, in our extensive grounds at the Manor here in Old Basing.
Last year Marcus entered a piece of pottery (class 82) that he had made at
school, and yes you have guessed it, he won (see photo). Again my
talents in this area were not recognised by the judges.
One class that everybody here at the Manor will be entering is the
photographic class (class 86). This year the title is “A Flower”.
My husband Spencer fancies himself as a bit of a photographer and is busy
trawling through his catalogue of flower pictures as I write, and my son
(Marcus) has already selected his entry. There is still plenty of time
for all you photographers, young and old to get snapping.
My other main achievement this week has been to make some mint jelly
(class78). This took some doing, I can tell you. I used the jelly bag
that Spencer bought me for my birthday last year (see photo), and resisted
the temptation to squeeze the fruit, as this makes the jelly cloudy.
If any of you eagle-eyed experts are reading this, yes it is an 8oz jar (see
photo). The difficulty I had was getting the mint to sink. I
kept pushing it down with a spoon and it kept coming back up to the top. I
gave up in the end and had a glass of wine instead. That is what you
can see on the photo- I don’t intend to enter the Home made Wine and Beer
section. In any case, as Spencer and I saw on the BBC news, us middle aged
people need to curb our intake of wine consumed in the home.
Unfortunately Spencer has taken to drinking in the garden, as he thinks this
doesn’t count.
Out in the garden, I have been busy watering in our greenhouses, and have
actually picked my first courgette. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be
eligible for the village show because IT IS TOO BIG! (see photo). More
about the rules in next week’s diary. Also I have picked the first of
Violet Elizabeth’s carrots, (class 9) which are “other than long pointed”
(see photo). Again more next week about how to prepare carrots for the
show.