So… off I went down to the village show hall after the judging had taken place, and my friend and I meandered around looking at all the entries and the results.
And do you know what? Instead of the fistful of winning tickets I’d envisaged, my entries had won nothing. Yes! Nothing AT ALL!
This vegetable show malarkey is obviously a tad more technical than I thought, but I had an interesting chat with a chap there, who let me in on a few trade secrets.
The runner beans should all be picked on the same day – they can tell if they’re not. Mine were, but there was some stiff competition out there, and quite a few entries. A closer look at my spuds revealed a minuscule hole in the back of one – again, a complete no no.
My 5 a day basket – which I thought was my trump card – didn’t win because the entries were judged on how balanced a diet they were (I think I had too many curcubits) – and get this – they also looked at the vitamin and mineral content in there!
Never mind thought – it was a great little village event, and as they say, “It’s the taking part that counts”.
Although I didn’t come away completely empty handed. After I wrote about everything being scoffed by caterpillars in last week’s Hinckley Times, a very kind Gent gave me a sachet of a natural caterpillar killer.
