Who knew that the ‘fun’ village show could be so stressful?
This morning began with me furtling around the garden in my pyjamas, harvesting my top veggies. All the runner beans of a decent size came off, the spuds and onions came out of hiding from the shed, and I also picked a couple of courgettes, a couple of tomatoes and a mahoosive cucumber that I’ve grown.
I thought it was going to be an easy task, but sorting through the beans was actually hard work. Laying them out in size order, I discovered that finding four the same was going to be pretty tricky. Some were too curly, some were odd shapes, and some were perfect, but had a kink in them. I straightened them out best I could, and these were the pick of the crop. Mine are on the orange card… hopefully they will jump out at judging time.
Runner beans at the show
Next up was my 5 a day display. Basically, a collection of five different things you’ve grown. I went for a marrow, cucumber, courgettes, onions and tomatoes. Purely because they looked half decent and they were brightly coloured.
Mine’s the big basket at the front:
5 a day display at the village vegetable show
The potatoes were next – finding four identical ones was near on impossible. After I’d washed them, some were a bit scabby and not fit to enter. I weighed the rest: three came in at bang on 87 grams – and one was 95. I decided to sneak it in anyway, and hope they wouldn’t notice.
Finally, I displayed my longest runner bean and took my two cross stitch pictures across to the stage – where there were LOADS of entries.
I hadn’t realised the show would be so competitive. Everywhere I looked, people were nudging their veggies into prime positions, with serious faces all round. I naively thought I’d take my stuff down, slap it on a bit of card, and saunter back home with a fist full of prizes and a smug look on my face.
Anyway, the jury’s out and judging was at 12 noon: public viewing from 2 til 4. I’ll nip down at 3 to see how they got on… I can hardly contain myself!
