Size and straightness matter when it comes to displaying your vegetables at the annual show, discovers Steven Desmond
Everyone who has ever admired a winning entry at a vegetable show has, before too long, over heard a voice somewhere nearby assert that they have better at home. Idle talk, of course, and unworthy, but there must always be people who look at the exhibits and wonder what they would have to do to get among the prizes.
In the past, the fraternity of prizewinners always appeared to emanate a conspiracy of silence, as if the secrets of victory could only be divined by the members of a shadowy inner circle. If there ever was any truth in that notion, it has since vanished like the morning dew in the modern spirit of sharing valuable knowledge.
The first step to inevitable victory is a visit to your local vegetable show. Walk quietly along the benches and admire the winning entries. Compare them with the legion of non-winners and it will be obvious why at least some of them didn’t triumph. Some are entirely the wrong vegetable, others are the wrong number of specimens, others are all uneven sizes or rather mucky, and so on.
So far, the judging is easy. However, some are handsome, regular, uniform, neatly set out and apparently prize worthy, yet no coloured card stands by their side. And why has the judge handled some entries so roughly, snapping them in half or cutting them open with a knife? There is more to this than meets the eye.
Having carried out this simple exercise, you will immediately fall into one of two camps. You will either express polite interest and drift off to some other preoccupation— in which case, I refer you to any other article in this issue—or your mind will begin to race and calculate. If it’s the latter, read on.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der August 23, 2017-Ausgabe von Country Life UK.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der August 23, 2017-Ausgabe von Country Life UK.
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Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
