Saucy secrets to growing monster veg!
Huge veg growing owes a debt to bras and tights – that’s the best thing I learned at the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show 2017. Pictures by Gary Welford
I’m not going to spoil it for you – you’ll have to get along to star grower Kevin Fortey’s masterclass at the Kitchen Garden Theatre each day to get more secrets about how to grow the surrounding monsters.
And surrounded we were by examples of perfectly matched but huge beauty in the various classes – and the nightmarish gigantic mutants in the heavyweight classes, where anything goes. Read more about the show and peruse the results. Read the review of last year’s show.
Harrogate Autumn Flower Show 2017 – Monster veg slideshow
There is always a flurry of excitement at high noon on Friday, with the National Onion Society weigh-in – although no records were broken this year. The Harrogate shows are magnets for torrential showers. The clouds were black as we left the showground, and it was wet underfoot.
Top tips if you haven’t been before
- Avoid the main indoor eating venues at peak time, as you won’t get a seat. Go for the cooked breakfast at the Yorkshire Cafe as soon as you arrive, then top up mid-afternoon.
- Don’t forget the essentials: waterproofs, sunglasses and comfortable, flat shoes (no heels).
- You can get cash back if you go mad from the information point in the Gardening Hall for a small purchase (the hessian bags are handy).
- The nurseries and companies attending had the usual offers – you can get your entrance fee back in savings. Don’t take a chance and go back later, as it might be gone.
- Use the plant creches run by the charity Perennial, so you don’t have to carry stuff around with you all day.
Postcards from the Hedge
The Postcards from the Hedge exhibits, based around intrepid plant hunters of the past, tied the show together, although the other half was amused at the life-size animals for each continent. I always spend a lot of time in the Plant Nursery Pavilion – that’s where you’ll find the specialist nurseries and their displays. We arrived earlier than usual, so it wasn’t as busy, meaning I could chat to experts and friends, old and new.
Great to see Plantagogo win Best in Show for their Heuchera/Tiarella display (www.plantagogo.com). Harperley Hall Farm Nurseries from County Durham landed premier gold with their alpine/perennials exhibit.
I had a good chat with Vicki from Craig House Cacti, who also won Premier Gold and the Alice Bailey Challenge Trophy at what will be their last Harrogate Show. I so nearly bought that £25 Agave victoriae reginae! (www.craighousecacti.co.uk)
Harrogate Autumn Flower Show 2017 – In the Floral Pavilion
The Floral Pavilion hosts the country’s biggest exhibition by specialist gardening groups, NAFAS (National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies). The highlight was more than 5,000 autumn blooms, including chrysanthemums and dahlias. It’s almost a sensory overload with flowers as big as your head.
My buys this year? I went with tulips in mind buying 90 red and yellow Kaufmanniana and Griegii bulbs for £15. I bought an absolutely huge Orange Sovereign amaryllis bulb for £15, both from Harts Nursery of Congleton, www.hartsnursery.co.uk.
You’ve got to have an impulse buy. Mine was a baby Aloe americana from Pip’s Cactus from East Lothian for a bargain of £4. Yes, I know how big they get. The other half, for his sterling duties as chauffeur and photographer, went on a pie, cake and beer spree in the food hall.
Visit www.flowershow.org.uk for more information on the latest show or to buy tickets.
