Preparing Vegetables For Exhibition . . .

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29383, 9 December 1960, Page 13

Preparing Vegetables For Exhibition . . .

The time will shortly be on us when flower shows will be in full swing. The season has started already, but is not yet going full blast. Now is the time to brush up on those schedules which demand 12 peas or six coloured potatoes, and make sure that your season’s tally of prize cards is a little more in keeping with what you believe your worth as a gardener is! Exhibiting vegetables is 50 per cent, good growing, 25 per cent, knowing what is wanted, and 25 per cent, plain, , unadulterated craft. A good grower who is an innocent at exhibiting can quite often be defeated by a less skilled grower who has had some experience, and who knows the rules —and the dodges! There are codes of judging which are used to ensure uniformity between the decisions of different judges, and these can be most useful guides to the keen exhibitor. The Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture has published the code which is normally used in New Zealand, and the Royal Horticultural Society has issued a “Show Handbook”

which ir used in England, although 90 per cent, of it is applicable here. Unfortunately the R.N.Z.I.H. code is out of print, but copies are usually available in public libraries. Some schedules have prepared extracts from these codes, and include them as a guide—the schedules of the Canterbury Horticultural Society, for example, tell you the good and bad points of vegetables and what the judge looks for. Forewarned is forearmed, so the saying goes, and it's certainly true in exhibiting. Uniformity

Perhaps the first thipg to be remembered is the golden word —uniformity. All the specimens in your exhibit should be as similar to each other as possible. Just because you find a real whopper when you are digging your potatoes is no excuse for disregarding this rule. The judge doesn’t regard it as a sign of your super ability as a cultivator —he merely looks on it as a sign that you haven’t any more to choose from!

The size of your specimens should also be comparable with good quality. Don’t choose those giant potatoes with hollow hearts, or the peas that are all pod with nothing inside—or, for that matter, 24-inch runner beans that are fit to be used as a razor strop—and nothing else! Young, fresh vegetables are always preferred by a judge who knows his onions! There is usually a class in most schedules for a pair of marrows. Yet very often, despite the fact that this vegetable is so easily grown, this is a disappointing class. Exhibitors forget that there is a class for the largest marrow—or else put their not-quite-so-big-ones in this class, too. A marrow fit to judge should have the skin sufficiently soft that it can be pierced by the thumb nail. Shape is Important, Too Good quality also extends to aspects which don’t matter when you eat the produce. Factors such as shape are very important. After all, it is six carrots for show, not to send to market, and “show” implies good shape, and worth looking at. Green tops in carrots, or green blotches on tomatoes are both faults which will quickly eliminate an exhibit. Root vegetables such as carrct, beet, or unusual sorts such as salsify or scorzonera should be neatly trimmed to get rid of the bristly root hairs which are produced as well as the tap root at the end of the vegetable. Always treat that root-tip with care—it should not be carelessly broken off flush with the fleshy end of the root. If you grow parsnips in bore Ji<?le£—such is the enthusiasm ot some keen then this will be teaching granny

to suck eggs, but it is a point which could be remembered by many gardeners on the job for the first time.

The bit of “spit and polish” in cleaning up the vegetables is well repaid. It’s not the slightest bit of good growing top-grade carrot or potato and then cleaning it for show with a nail brush. But I’ve seen it done—and every bristle mark shows! Use a soft cloth, and treat them like eggs. If it’s cabbage or lettuce you are showing, then make sure that there are no nice fat slugs lurking under the top leaf—it rather puts the judge off!

There is always some wiseacre who is willing to tell you the dodges of how to put it across the judge. If you have any selfrespect it is better not to try. The judge knows all about those potatoes that Bill Smith lent you, with which he won first prize last week—he can see by their greenness that they’ve sat on more than one show bench! The judge learnt a few dodges himself when he was exhibiting, anyway. There are not many people who can put on the big displays of vegetables which look so attractive, because of the time involved. They require special equipment such as wire cones, baskets, spike boards and spike triangles to show off their vegetables. The illustration shows some of the different sizes of wire cones which are Used to keep the tomatoes, peas and beans so miraculously in the air. The home gardener can get Just as much pleasure and satisfaction out ;bf Kis modest efforts, and that’s what counts.