2014 Show season starts here!!!

Hi folks I know its been a while since I last posted.  I've been really busy at work but I've managed to start away some leeks from a Leek I put down to seed from Bert Marshall at Dufftown.  This strain of Leeks have been in Bert's hands for at least 10 years and more likely 15 years.  The original leeks came from A Grey so I would expect them to be "Welsh seedlings".  Anyway I managed to plant up 80 seedlings at the beginning of November and have thinned them down to 15.  As you can see from below they are about 14 inches tall and 2.5 inch to the button.  These plants are getting 9 hrs of light per day and the grow cabinet is not going below 12 degrees C at night. I'm also giving them a weekly spray with SB plant invigorator to help keep any "nasties" at bay.  I'm planning to pot up to 13cm pots in the next week.   

Below is some Shallots that I started away on the 14th of December.  The yellow labels are what is left of my Hative De Niort shallots from 2013.  I had a real disaster and only 6 survived.  Niall Currie came to my rescue and has sent me some up with Dave Mercer which I picked up today. (Still to plant)  The red lables are my own Red Sun saved shallots for local shows.

Well thats all just now I hope to keep everybody up to speed this year with my attemps to obtain a "Red" ticket at the NVS Scottish Branch show.

Dufftown Show Results

Well that's me just back from Dufftown, where I was fortunate enough to have another great day.  This is one of the friendliest shows around and with some quality entries on show. I picked up 5 Firsts, 5 Seconds and a third.  Also Best Exhibit out with collections for my  small potato board.  I also won the cup for the Potato section and the Pea cup (this one rotates round different classes each year) My stumps won the special for best carrots.   

Again I met some cracking people and spent a very enjoyable few hours in their company. 

Results for my First NVS Show

Well I had a great day at Dundee today @ the Scottish Branch NVS Championships.  This is the first time I've been at a "Big" show.  I was absolutely shocked when I picked up two third prize tickets.  One for my "Globo" onions less than 250 gms.  this was out of 18 entries and was the bigest class at the show.  

I also got a third out of 10 for the class 3 x 1 veg.  This was open only to exhibitors who had never won a ticket at ant NVS show.

I met so many other exhibitors and now have a far better understanding of the size and quality of veg I need to grow to compete at this level.  great Day,

NVS Scottish Branch Championships

Well that's me got my three entries sorted for the Scottish Branch show at Dundee over the next three days.  I have never been to a top class show never mid shown at one so I'm very nervous. I have entered three classes.
1) Collection of any three veg from an exhibitor who has never won a ticket at any NVS National or branch show.  As you can see I have a pea pod, a potato and a stump carrot.  (Show perfection, NVS Sherine & Sweet candle.)

2) Onions from set. ( Stur BC 20)

3) Onions less than 250 gms ( Globo)

To be honest if I get any sort of ticket I will be delighted, however it is more so that I can get a feel for the bigger shows and see where I'm at in this learning curve.

Results from Lhanbryde Show

On Saturday it was Lhanbryde Show.  This was the first show I entered some four years ago although it is 20 odd miles from me I like to support it.  However as I have already posted due to work etc I have not paid enough attention to my veg this year and I have not grown much quality veg this year. As I had a cup to return I felt that I should make an effort to give the show an entry.  As I was playing rugby on Saturday I asked the Show manager to bench a plate of onions from set and a plate under 100 gms.  When I went to pick my onions up on Sunday imagine my surprise when I had secured a first for the sets and a second for the 100 gms onions.  I also won the onion cup, Best exhibit in fruit & Veg and runner up to Best in Show.  Absolutely shocked, and delighted.

First Experience of Judging

A few weeks ago my good friend Dave Mercer from Tain called me at work and asked what I was doing on the 17th of August. I was out GPS surveying a large hill paddock at the time and without thinking said"nothing much as far as I know".  Great said Dave I'll put you down to judge the veg at the Tain show that Saturday.

Well the 17th arrived and I duly travelled the 60 miles up to Tain.  I was some what nervous as this was going to be my first attempt at judging and all the little comments I'd heard at show over the last 4 year were flooding back to me.

As with all small village shows there was quite a variation in the quality in some classes, however given the type of growing season we have had there was a number of good quality entries.

After 2 hrs I had come to the conclusion of my judging and a fine set of large onions were awarded the best veg exhibit.

I stayed on after the judging and had a number of interesting conversations with the exhibitors and from what I could tell no one was too put out by my decisions.  In fact I was asked if I was available to judge two show up that way next year.  There are two ways to look at this, either they thought I had made a reasonable job or they are really hard up for judges!!!!

Anyway I found it fairly enjoyable and will probably attempt some more in the future.    

Black Isle Show results

Sorry I've not been on the blog for a while, due to work commitments.  This has had a detrimental effect on my veg with my Leeks all going to seed and my onions not making much more than 13 inch.  That said I had 7 entries at Black Isle where I got 4 firsts and 2 seconds. 1St:- Peas,Stump Carrots,Beetroot & Salad Trug. 2nds for my onions from set and Parsley.  I'm pleased with these results.

Flowers, Eggs & Veg

Its been a long time since I last up dated my blog, mainly due to work pressures and the cold growing season wehave had up here.  That along with a week when we thought that the Sahara Desert had suddenly come to Morayshire its been fairly trying.  On the up side We now have a nice display of spring bulbs and Primulas in the sheltered part of the garden and Mrs M is delighted.

 

 

I had left a couple of bags off Silva Sand out on our stone seat at the front of the house.  They were particularly wet when I picked them up from the garden center and as the seat gets a lot of sun I thought it would help them dry out.  I went to move them on Sunday and a little birf had set up home where the bag had folded over the stone back of the seat.  Bags are now back in place and I'm looking forward to the eggs hatching.

Here is my Star Burst Celery I'm happy with the 15 plants I have. As you can see they are about 14 in high and growing strongly.  They get watered night and morning and have had one spray of Calciunm Nitrate.  I was speaking to an established grower at the weekend and he indicated that provided I keep them as damp as I am there is no need to use Calcium Nitrate at the moment.  I will be potting int 2 ltr pots this week.

Here are my large onions I think I have kept them in these pots a wee bit too long.  This is mainly because I over watered them in the pot size below this and a number of outer leaves died off.  However the best will be potted into final tubs this week and into the other greenhouse.  I am trying some in 25 ltrs pots and some in 10 ltr pots to see if there is much difference.

 And Finally my potatoes in bags I have used a new mix of 50% Peat & 50% Wool & Bracken Compost to this I have added Nutrimate and potato fertiliser.  I have also for the first time trenched my bags in about 4 inches and added potato fert to the bottom of the trench.  Here's hoping that this will be sucessful.  I am growing Amour.Blue Belle,Kestral & Maxine for coloured classes and Harmony & Sherine for the white classes.  The hope is I will have some good enough for the Scottish Branch NVS show at Dundee in September. I will have a total of 120 bags in by the end of this week.  

I also have my stumps in but they are not doing great, I have Caullies sown (2 lots) and have started some peas off for a few early local shows. 

Onions.Leeks & Celery

Well after watching the rugby yesterday I was more than ready to spend the afternoon in the greenhouse today sorting out my onions, leeks  and celery. I've grown Starburst this year and have 24 plants potted into cells and growing nicely.

Here are my large onions they have about 6 true leaves and vary from 22 to 26 inch long.  I have them in 1 ltr pots and still under lights giving them 12 hrs of light per day.  

Here are my second batch of onions that Helen Vincent sent me up in the post.  They have settled in well now and are growing on strongly.  I was delighted with these onions last year as the had a lovely shape to them so here's hoping they grow the same this year.   

This is my first batch of leeks which I received also from Helen.  I have them in 9 inch collars and as you can see they are stretching away nicely. At least 7 inch to the button and at least 2 inch girth.  

 My second batch of leeks also have 9 inch collars and are about 6.5 inches to the button and probably 1.5 inches round (These were from Alistair Gray)

My third batch have 7 inch collars and are about 6 inch to the button and also about 1.5 inch round.  These I got from David Metcalfe the breeder of the Improved Pendle leek. 

The leeks are also still under lights and I am trying to wnsure that the greenhouse does not fall below 10 degrees at any time.

North Regional Bowl Champions

What a Saturday I had.  Played the full 80 mins in the North Regional Bowl Final for Kinloss Eagles against Moray Rugby Football Club.  It was a great game and we were fortunate enough to come out on top.  This puts us into the National Bowl Semi-finals and only one game away from playing at Murryfield. Such a happy chappie.

Celery & Onions

We have had a fairly cold week and the ground is frozen again, so not a lot done on the plot.  Saturday we had snow and I was playing rugby in the North Regional Bowl which we were lucky enough to win.  That along with Scotland winning against Ireland has made it a pretty good weekend.  Anyway to garden matters.

As you can see my celery is at a stage where I will prick it out and pot up in 3 inch pots.  Probably do that tomorrow night.   

This is my exhibition onions that I got from Niall Currie from Rothesay. I got these plants on the 2nd of January and they have not looked back since I got them.  The most of the plants have 5 or 6 main leaves and are about 20 inches tall.  I'm really pleased with them.

I have also put 9 inch collars on my most forward leeks (HV) also 9 inch collars on the leeks from Alistair Grey.  My HV leeks are growing on strongly and have nice broad leaves on them so as soon as my 2 ltr pot arrive I'll get them into them.  I gave all my leeks and onions a drench of epsom salts to day this helps with the up take of nutrients and keep the foliage a good dark green colour. (or so i've been told)

Valentine Onions!!!

This week has been variable with sunshine at the start of the week and then snow and frost mid week and sunshine at the weekend. I also received a Valentine's gift from a fellow grower.  I must admit its the first time I've ever received onions on Valentines day.  Helen Vincent my very good fellow grower sent me 24 onions via the postal system.  I potted them up straight away and they are starting to settle in nicely.  If I manage to grow them half as good as last year I'll be delighted.  They are a very nice high necked variety so here's hoping.  I'll post a picture next week once they have settle.

Below is the onions I got on the 2nd January they are growing on strongly, with most now having 5 or 6 true leaves and standing about 16 to 18 inches tall.

Here are Red Barron onions I sowed my self they are coming along nicely and I hope that I'll get a set of three and a set of 5 as one of our shows looks for five large five red and five from set.  This is the first time I've attempted to grow for this class.

Here is some of my BC20 Stur onions from set.  Asyou can see I've started them away in fibre pots.  They are in Levingtons M3 and I the roots are already coming out the sides of the pots. 

 Below are my Hercules onions from set.  They are also coming on nicely with good root structure within the pots.  I've never tried starting sets off in pots before so it will be interesting to find out which one do best between the fibre pots or the actual pots.

Below is one of my most furthest on Leeks.  They are in 1 ltr pots and have 7 inch collars.  At present they are about 6 inch to the button and about 45- 50 mm in circumference.  I'm planning to pot on into 2 ltr pots next week and by that time I'll have 9 inch collars on them.  All my leeks have really started to stretch recently. I have added 7 inch collars to my other two batches as well, however the first batch that I received from Helen are looking really good just now.

Leeks & Rugby

It's been a wee while since I last posted.  we have had some very poor weather and I still have not managed a lot of ground preparation.  Saturday was a decent day but I was away playing rugby in the Regional Bowl semi-final in Aberdeen where we managed a 19-15 away win and now face Moray in a local derby final.  This has added spice for me as I played for them lasst season.

Anyway a quick up date. My onions from sets are starting to sprout and as you can see the Hercules are looking ok and the 20 BC Stur are similar.  I hope to plant out mid to late March depending on the weather.   

 As you can see the celery has germinated.  Not as strong a germination as I would have liked but there will be enough plants for me to get 12 strong ones to plant out for my late July show.

Here are my onions.  These I got as seedling on the 2nd of January. As you can see they are growing on strongly and will soon need potting up to 1 litre pots.  

I re collared my most forward leeks last weekend with 7 inch collars.  The lagging I had was 15 mm which I felt was a wee bit tight round the leaves so put 7 inch 22 mm lagging on today.  The most of these leeks are at least 5 inch to the button and between 40 to 45 mm in circumference round the barrel.  So really pleased with them.  They will be getting potted on into 2 litre pots next week or the week after. 

Celery & Parsley Sown

The weather was a bit better today but we have suffered from snow and hard frost for the last week or so.  Today was spent in the greenhouse re arranging my leeks & onions and sowing my first lot of Celery, I've elected to try Star Burst this year and I'm hoping to have some ready to show On the 31st of July at The Black Isle show, hence why I'm starting so early.  I also sowed my Parsley today in the hope that I'll get some plants for our local shows.  I've sieved my Levingtoms F2 compost then placed the seed trays in water for 5 mins to allow the compost to soak up the water.  Then I sowed the seeds and covered them with fine Vermerculite and placed into my propagator.  

Here are the two seed trays with Globo seedlings and "Matador" a shallot which I hope to grow for the local shallot from seed classes. The Matador has only been sown 10 days so I'm fairly pleased with the germination.

I've always struggled with my onion seedlings and getting them to stand up straight.  Here is a "Red Barron" seedling with a home made support. These I have just made this year and seem to be doing a job.  

This is an update of my earliest batch of leeks. They have 5 inch collars on them and as you can see they are starting to stretch quite nicely.  I am slightly worried that they have "stalled" a bit this last week but I've re arranged the growing area for them and they now have a tube heater underneath them which I hope will encourage them t continue growing.

This is my second batch of leeks which I have just added 5 inch collars to, They were only recently poted into their 2 ltr pots and I'm hoping they will now grow on. 

I now have all my leeks under the same light with the youngest batch at the front.  These were leeks I got from Dave Metcalfe and appear to have broader leaves than my other ones.  I will pot them up next week.

This is the my onions that I got in plugs on the 2nd of January I'm potting them up into 1 ltrs pots of M3 compost with perlite. They are growing on nicely and the best have 4 or 5 true leaves and 14 inches tall.

Favourite Garden Supplier

It was really cold here today and as I was at home I had a good few hours in the greenhouse. Also took a trip to my favourite garden supplier, (the recycle centre).  Where I got 30 1/2 litre square pots, 20  1 litre square pots and a number of 2 & 3 litre round pots for the princely some of £2.00.



Here are the onions I picked up on 2nd January.  The best of them are about 12 inches tall now and are starting to fill the pots that I put them into.
 

This is 36 Hercules onion sets that I potted up today in 1/2 ltr pots and M3 compost.  I'm hoping some will mature for the onion from set classes for this seasons shows

I also potted up 12 Red Sun Shallots into 1 ltr pots of M3 compost and these will keep the onion sets company in the green house.

Here is my BC 20 Stur onion sets which are also in M3 compost but in fibre pots.  I'm hoping some of these will mature for the NVS branch show at Dundee in September.  I'm looking for them to be about 300 gms.

 And finally I sowed Matador Shallot seed as there are a couple of the bigger shows up here which have a class for shallots from seed.  This is the first time I have tried this shallot and I hve then in a 40 cell tray in along side my Globo onions.

Collared Leeks

Had a busy couple of afternoons in the greenhouse this weekend. On Saturday afternoon I re potted my biggest leeks into 2 ltr pots and also put on their first collars.  These are 5 inch long pipe insulation,. This is put on to encourage the leeks to stretch.  At 5 inch the collar is about 2 inches above the button.  The tallest of  these leeks is about 25 inches to the tip of its flag leave.

I also set up my new light which allows me to give more light to all my plants.  On Sunday I re potted the leeks I got from Dave Metcalfe.  These are now in ltr pots and are roughly 13 to 16 inches to the flag leaf and the barrels are only 2 inch long.

My other leeks from Alistair Gray are closer to 18 inch to the flag left , however they are still quite thin so I'm leaving them without collars for mean time. In the picture above you can see some onions to the left of the leeks. These are settling in nicely and starting to grow on. In the one below shows Alistair's leeks still with out support, I'll put canes in tomorrow

"Globo" Onions Germination at last.  I'll leave them in the cells for a while yet,

First Post of 2013

We have had some reasonably dry weather up here in Morayshire over the pasr week or so with the temp getting up to 12 degrees outside.  I also took delivery of two lots of leeks taken up to me by my good friend Neil Muirhead.  One lot from Helen Vincent and One lot from Alistair Gray.  The first photo shows them the day  I got them 28th Dec.  The leeks from HV ranged in length from 18 to 22 inch with AG leeks younger and ranging from 12 to 13 inches.    

This is a photo taken today of the new leeks now they have settled in.  HV leeks are now ranging from 20 to 24 inches to the flag leaf, with the AG leeks ranging from 13 to 16 inches.  The Dave Metcalfe leeks are between 12 & 14 inches with the Leeks I started myself roughly 9 inches.

I have 20 odd Red Barron onions potted into 2 inch pots and only 6 Globo, I have sown another 40 cells of Globe hoping they will germinate well. I also got some onions from Neil Currie from Bute the other day and have potted them on.

This all means that I've very little room and I'm waiting for my new light to come, hopefully Wednesday  this week. Which will mean I can then move plants around a little.