This years attempt at hopefully growing some exhibition quality veg for showing.
This coming year as well as growing my usual Show onions and now Long and Stump show carrots,I've decided to have a go at trying some more veg specifically for showing.
At the moment I'm going to concentrate on some show shallots, potatoes and maybe some of the show peas if I can manage to get hold of the seed.
December 22nd.
Well,It all starts today folks.
I decided to plant the shallots into pots today as this is generally regarded as the ideal time.
These were some kindly supplied to me by "Smithyveg" and are probably originally from the Hative de Niort variety.
Anyway the first thing to do was to trim the tops a bit so the emerging shoots aren't constricted.
Then I simply planted each one in a pre watered 5" pot of compost.
These will be put into my polytunnel once the snow's gone and really just left to their own accord for a while.
Hopefully quite soon they should send out some roots and start to sprout.
Jan 10th.
Well,It was about time the shallots were put into the polytunnel since they've been in my porch since planting due to me being unable to get to the plot due to the snow.
As you can see they're all sprouting now
The night time temps aren't as harsh as they have been of late (-17 c the other night !!) so the shock shouldn't be too great for them being shoved into the tunnel..
Jan 21st.
My seed potatoes arrived today so I needed to "Chit" them.
Chitting is really just a way of preserving them until planting time because if you were to just leave them in the bag in the dark then all you'd get is long spindly shoots appearing which are of no use.
This way by standing the spuds eyed end upwards in either a seed tray or egg box and then placing them in a cool,frost free,bright place you end up with small dark green shoots which help the plant to grow away faster when it comes to planting.
The varieties I'm trying are Winston,a white potato and Kestrel a purple eyed variety.
