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Show Day 2007RSS feed

Posted: Saturday 8 September, 2007

by Rosemary at 9:24pm in Growing Comments closed

Well, if Dan was up at dawn fixing the fence, I was up too, collecting entries for the local horticultural show. This is the first year I've shown vegetables, although I've entered preserves and home baking before.

I had planned to enter three jams - strawberry, raspberry and blackcurrant, marmalade, a chutney, a fruit loaf, a traybake, muffins and pancakes. In the end, I didn't enter pancakes (no time to make them this morning) or the traybake (the chocolate brownie stuck to the bottom of the tin, much to Dan's delight). In retrospect, I could probably have salvaged four pieces but it won't go to waste.

I was delighted to get first prize for the fruit loaf, the muffins (although I WAS the only entry) and the blackcurrant jam. I was also pleased to get second for the marmalade and third for the strawberry jam. My chutney was unplaced (although that MIGHT have been because I forgot to name it) as was my raspberry jam, which is never great (tastes OK but odd texture)

I wanted to enter a marrow in the weight class. I've never grown marrows and I thought I had two that were a pretty good size. Dan thought they were too small. In the end, we got third, although Dan reckoned first and second were courgettes not marrows.

Our mini tomatoes picked up a first in quite a big class (well, about 8 entries, maybe). They did look lovely! Our three stalks of rhubarb were second (of two) in the quality class - I didn't prepare them properly, but I'll know next year. Our runner beans and coloured potatoes both took third in their classes. The first and second entries in the potatoes were absolutely beautiful. Next year, I'm going to grow some potatoes in pots and see if I can get them as shiny and perfect.

The flower entries were well down, probably due to the weather. Some of the vegetables were stunning - some folk really out a lot of work into them - but again, I thought the entries were down. The floral art and the handicrafts sections also seemed to have fewer entries this year. However, the Society has a new committee, so maybe they will be able to bring about a resurgence.

The show was held this year in the Devonvale Hall, in Tillicoultry.It was built for the community by the family that owned Devonvale papermill (now Sterling Furniture Warehouse). Although owned by Clackmannanshire Council, the Hall is leased to a community trust. It's a lovely hall and seemed to be well run - if the noticeboard was anything to go by, it's busy, too.

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