Articles About Growing & Showing Vegetables from Medwyn Williams MBE FNVS Chairman of the National Vegetable Society - 2003

These articles were originally published in 2003

Ten-times Chelsea gold medal winner Medwyn Williams is an expert vegetable grower with decades of experience. He has kindly allowed the National Vegetable Society to re-publish them.

The individual article links will open a new window with the article on the NVS web site.

Polytunnels, Preservatives and Mixtures from 2nd January

The doors and frames to my polytunnels are not going to last very long unless treated. It really isn't a difficult job as most of the wood preservers are like water and you can easily cover a large area in minutes. Do make sure that whatever preservative you use that it’s harmless to any plants, the last thing you want is your plants to collapse from the paint fumes.

Coping with Winter from 9th January

Frost brings it's own problems, it can particularly put a great deal of load on your electric greenhouse heater. Do make sure that you check everything electrical every evening when there is severe frost about, always remmeber, it"s better to be sure than sorry.

Large Kelsae Onions from 16th January

My own re selected seed of the large Kelsae onions are doing very well at the moment and will very shortly be ready for transplanting. They were sown in Levington F2S compost which has added sand and the germination must have been quick for them to be ready now.

Celery and Parsley from 23rd January

I am not in that much of a hurry to get my celery sown just yet, however if you have an early show from the middle July to mid August then a sowing now will give you some good heads for that time. If your shows are going to be after that date don't be tempted to sow now, you will only get problems later on, the plants will be well over the top and out of condition. In folk lore parsley is said to belong especially to the devil and it was thought that Good Friday was to be the only day of the year on which it could be sown, then only if the moon is rising.

Growing Your Own Vegetables - Shallots from 25th January

Traditionally, Shallots (Allium ascolonium) were always planted on the shortest day, the 21st December and harvested on the longest day, the 21st June. Conditions however are rarely suitable for planting directly outside during late December it's therefore better to plant the first batch indoors.

Madhouse Time in the Greenhouses from 30th January

It's madhouse time over at the greenhouses in Bangor at the moment with everything needing to be done at the same time, seed sowing, transplanting, and potting on being just a few things.

Growing Your Own Vegetables - Salad Material from 1st February

Salading or Salad vegetables are defined in the Royal Horticultural Society Show Handbook as 'A vegetable used in either a raw or cooked state and served in salads as a cold dish' The list is long and includes Beetroot, cabbages, carrots, celeriac celery, chicory, chives, corn salad or lambs lettuce, cress, cucumbers, dandelion (blanched) endive, florence fennel, kohl rabi, lettuces, potatoes, radish, tomatoes and turnips.

Backing up with an F1 Hybrid celery seed for the Chelsea Show. Transplanting young Onion Seedlings from 6th February

Celery - there is nothing worse than having banked on a certain sowing only to find, for some reason or other, that the germination has been poor. Celery of course is the smallest of all vegetable seed and it can be tricky to germinate if you haven’t got the proper facilities for it. Young Onion Seedlings - time to transplant.

Sowing and Growing Parsnips from 13th February

Different growing mixtures, cultivars and timing makes the difference between show winning parsnips and the also ran.

Greenhouse Shelving, Benches and Lighting from 20th February

Have a good think of how you can utilise space within your greenhouse. There are many different designs on shelving that you can now purchase, some are permanent others actually fold away. Another good idea is to utilise the area underneath your greenhouse benching.

Growing Your Own Vegetables - Broad Beans, Peas and Onions from 22nd February

It's time now to turn over the soil for planting Broad beans, Peas and Onion sets directly outdoors. The ground however must be in the right condition for working on, if it"s too wet, then leave alone for the crumb structure to start drying out.

Covers for Carrot Beds and EEC Regulations on Pesticides from 27th February

Might I suggest that you build yourself a temporary cover to go over your carrot beds, both for the long and the short if they are being grown outside. I did this about two years ago over my short carrots (the long ones are inside the polytunnel now) and I have had some excellent results. There are plenty of pesticides/chemical materials out there that the amateur could well do with, but because of EEC regulations that now state you have to review all active ingredients in pesticides, they are fast being withdrawn. If you ask the chemical companies that supply amateur products, they will all tell you that the costs incurred in conducting this revue is far too much to pay for what they say is a small market. In other words, there isn't a sufficient amount of return on their capital invested.

Benefits of under soil heating and artificial lighting from 6th March

When you have the benefit of under soil heating and artificial lighting it certainly extends your growing season considerably. This can happen to such an extent that some growers will have already planted their large onions under the protection of polythene during last month.

Giant Vegetable Growing and an up-date on the Leeks from 13th March

I was invited to have a look at Peter Glazebrook's garden, the giant vegetable grower, just after I had finished judging the North East Derbyshire District Association of the NVS show where Peter had won with a superb dish of Cedrico tomatoes. What did impress me on my visit there was the thinking that goes into growing the large onions that I dwelled on in last weeks issue. In order to try and find out a little more about how the onion develops, the root system in particular, Peter carried out an experiment which would proved to be highly successful.

The Welsh Chelsea- Long Carrots from 20th March

My fathers 'Chelsea' was our local Anglesey County Show and everything he ever grew was timed to be perfect on that day. The show is usually held around the middle of August which is comparatively early so he had to sow most things early as well. Long carrots had to be sown before March went out otherwise they wouldn"t have enough bulk on them.

What to do with a four pound Onion! from 27th March

What do you do with an onion that measures over 20 inches in circumference and weighs nearly four pounds?. If you have yards of cling film and a big chunk of cheese then you can keep it in the fridge and make yourself and your friends lots of sandwiches. Well, last year I had the answer when I was asked by a Welsh TV company if they could visit my garden with their Welsh language cooking programme 'Dudley" which is hosted by one of Wales' top chefs, Dudley Newberry.

Moving On to the Leeks from 4th April

As with the onions, the two raised beds that I grow my leeks in were thoroughly prepared during late October and November with plenty of well rotted manure being incorporated. During mid January some 4 ounces of lime was scattered on to the surface and this was well watered in with a sprinkler. When you are preparing beds early on in the year, under the protection of either glass or polythene, it’s important to ensure that the soil is never allowed to dry out.

Tomatoes for Showing from 11th April

Whichever tomato variety you go for it's important that it has established a pedigree on the show bench as otherwise you will find it very hard to make a silk purse from a sows ear. Both Cedrico and Classy have won at the National in the last two years as well as winning many other top flight competitions. Solution is also an excellent variety with good taste, sadly however it will no longer be available after this season as they have ceased to continue with that particular breeding line.

Exhibition Potatoes Part 1 from 18th April

With the growing techniques that we now possess it"s very infrequent that a winning set of potatoes will have been harvested directly from the soil in open rows. They are predominantly today grown in polythene pots or polypots as they are generally called which are 12 inches in diameter and hold 17 litres of compost.

Exhibition Potatoes Part 2 from 25th April

We now come to probably the most important bit, at this stage do not apply any water at all to the bags, hence the importance of making sure that the compost is nice and moist to start with.

Surging ahead in the Sunshine from 1st May

The most important reason is the phenomenal weather that we experienced here in North Wales during March and April. I don't think I can remember such long sunny days, if it wasn"t for the cold snap in the evenings you could easily have mistaken it for mid Summer.

Re-capping on Achievements to Date from 8th May

With the pressure of the impending Chelsa Flower Show now starting to turn into good hype, I am able to concentrate a little more on things at home and there is certainly plenty to be getting on with. To re cap a little on what has so far been achieved in the order in which they were either sown or planted in their final growing positions.

The most shapely Tomatoes are always to be found after the third truss from 2nd July

Having extended the length of the plant, I should now be able to get between nine and ten trusses, provided nothing goes alarmingly wrong. In the commercial world of course they are quite capable of getting at least three times that amount from the very same variety that I am growing, Classy.

Keep the Hoe Moving Regularly from 9th July

There are two main types of hoes, the Dutch hoe is the old traditional type that gets rid quite effectively of the weeds by moving it back and forward. My preference however is for the more modern style which is called a Swoe and is a totally different concept. I bought mine well over 15 years ago and it will probably outlast me.

The time of the year when you really can see your plants growing away. from 16th July

At this time of year you really can see your plants growing away, it's the period when most of the vegetables start to seriously put on some weight. You only have to go away for a few days to notice the difference in growth. The root crops certainly start to expand outwards as well as continuing to put weight above ground as the foliage becomes heavier.

Cauliflowers for Exhibition from 23rd July

Cauliflowers are not easy to grow well and can very often be a disappointment when they are ready too early or even too late. To get a really good selection you therefore need to plant quite a few and sown at different times as well. To grow to their optimum they do need a plenty of room between the plants in the rows as well as between each row.

Crunch Time for the Exhibition Potatoes from 30th July

My potatoes have now been planted for 12 weeks and will more than likely be ready for harvesting. It’s very important to know when to start harvesting the different varieties as you really want them when they are approaching optimum growth.

Success and Failure at the Vegetable Show from 6th August

Reflecting on the success and failures of show growing and this year the large exhibition onions and the blanch leeks have not grown to expectations.

Fighting for the prominence of Vegetables within the Horticultural Sphere from 13th August

If you haven’t grown and eaten your own fresh new potatoes, broad beans and peas straight from the garden, then you really are living in a supermarket world. Although everything there certainly looks fresh and convenient, I can assure you, for taste, they don’t come anywhere near your own freshly grown produce.

Supporting Your Local Show from 30th August

Flower Shows in this country are part of our heritage and must be preserved as much as possible. However they can only be preserved if the likes of you and me compete in them and keep them alive. I can assure you it can be great fun and you will make lots of new friends.

Growing Your Own Vegetables - Early Autumn Sowings from 6th September

It's the period when your onions in storage have finished and the normal Summer crop have yet to mature. It is however important to sow only those varieties that are going to be able to withstand the ravages of the winter months so that they can then be harvested from May through to July.

Tidying and clearing up the Vegetable Plot from 13th September

September is undoubtedly one of my favourite months in the garden, it's a time for reflection and also a time to be thinking about tidying and clearing up the vegetable plot. However, we should still get some nice warm growing days although the evenings will be cooler with a distinct hint of Autumn in the air.

Allotment Articles
Help & Advice

Medwyn Williams said of Vegetable Growing Month by Month:

Forget about any glossy pictures, what’s in this book is solid words of advice, written in plain to understand English from a grower who’s had frustrating years of experience behind him in trying to grow nutritious vegetables, whilst at the same time running a business and raising a family.