Articles About Growing & Showing Vegetables from Medwyn Williams MBE FNVS Chairman of the National Vegetable Society - 2004

These articles were originally published in 2004

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.

Long Carrots & Leeks from 14th July

One bad fault that I sometimes see in a set of exhibited carrots is a specimen that has developed a side shoot on the crown or shoulder and that's developed into a multi headed carrot. With such multi headed carrots when this happens the shoulder is always more oval than it is round. Take time therefore to have a close look at each carrot and remove any side shoots that you come across. My leeks are currently the best that I have probably had up to now, although I do hasten to add that having a good girth early doesn't always guarantee that you end up with the best leeks ever.

Finding space for some Lettuce from 17th July

There should be some room in your plot by now where the early peas have been harvested or perhaps where a row of early potatoes or shallots were growing. If you do have space where the peas were growing then use that; conveniently peas happen to have some small nodules attached to their roots. These nodules, particularly if the old haulms are simply hoed off, release nitrogen into the soil which is so essential to give lettuce a quick start.

Starburst Trench Celery and other F1 Hybrids from 21st July

The introduction of F1 Hybrids has moved celery growing dramtically forward. Prior to there breeding the only real and reliable exhibition trench celery was 'Ideal" and how good it proved to be as well, dominating the show scene for many years.

Outstanding Large Onions from 28th July

This year I went the extra mile in potting the plants on from my normal relatively small pot into a 5 inch one. The condition of the plants at planting out time was undoubtedly the best that I have ever grown. The were strong bold plants with straight powerful necks that looked every bit as if they were going to do the business for me.

Maximising your crop of Tomatoes and Cucumbers from 31st July

There are two crops inside the greenhouse that need regular attention now if you are to get the optimum crop from them -Tomatoes and Cucumbers. Most gardening books will tell you that to grow tomatoes and cucumbers well they should be grown in separate greenhouses as they require different conditions.

Tomato Troubles and Onions from 4th August

You can never leave your tomatoes for a day before you find there is always something extra that you can do to them. How often I have walked into the greenhouse to find a long side shoot growing straight upwards right behind the main stem.

Start of the showing season with hundreds of flower and vegetable shows being held from now right through to October. from 11th August

With the start of the showing season, one vegetable is giving me cause for concern and that is the celery. It won’t be ready for the Welsh Championships, but it may just make it for the National at Tunbridge Wells. All the other vegetables are really doing well, in fact the leeks were the biggest that I have ever grown.

Growing Your Own Vegetables - Kohl Rabi from 14th August

This plant is easy to grow from seed and will take around ten weeks at this time of year from sowing to harvesting. They are available in green (sometimes called white) or Purple. The Purple skinned varieties are usually hardier and better suited possibly for sowing now but I have found them to be slightly later in maturing.

Gringo Short Carrots from 18th August

The vegetable that gave me most satisfaction last season was undoubtedly my short carrots, or stump carrots, as they are often referred to. The variety was Gringo and this one has almost certainly ruled the roost for many years now. The reason without a doubt is its brilliant skin finish together with it's marvellous uniformity of shape.

Short Carrots - in particular Gringo - and whether or not they should conform to a certain length from 26th August

A cultural problem? I have had numerous people contacting me regarding the length of short carrots and whether or not they should conform to a certain length. There's been a few growers contacting me saying that their Gringo has grown in length to anything between 15 and 21 inches. I have to say that from my experience I have never had one grow anywhere near that sort of length.

Competitive Exhibits on the Show Bench from 9th September

In my opinion it’s been a marvellous growing season and up to now, the standard of exhibits that I have seen around have been certainly on par with any year in the past.

National Vegetable Society Championships 2004 from 15th September

11th - 12th September 2004. The Annual Championships took place this year within the Royal Borough of Tunbridge Wells and by kind invitation of Alan Maynard, chairman of the Hawkenbury Allotment Holders Association, (known fondly as the HAHA show). The wonderful thing about this show is the fact that every penny of profit is given to support local charities within the Tunbridge Wells area.

The Harrogate Show - 17th - 19th September 2004 from 21st September

I have to admit that the Harrogate show certainly takes some beating, it just seems to get better and better every year and this is undoubtedly down to Roger Brownbridge and his hard working team. One of the halls was completely taken over with vegetables, not only was the regular Harrogate section there it also hosted the NVS Northern Branch Championships.

Getting the Balance Right from 22nd September

I immediately removed the polythene and the fleece and was amazed at the temperatures on the outside of the bags. When I pushed my hands inside the bags and into the compost I had to quickly withdraw them as I could barely put up with the searing temperature.

Getting the Harvest In from 25th September

This is the time when we should be thinking about harvesting quite a few vegetables from the garden prior to the Autumn rains spoiling them. If you still have potatoes in the ground then they must be lifted as soon as you possibly can and if you still have onions in the ground they must now be lifted before they start into secondary growth.

The Malvern Autumn Show from 27th September

25th and 26th September 2004. The Malvern Great Autumn show is usually the last big vegetable celebration of the year for most gardeners. With regards to vegetables it has really been two shows in one for the past few years as the Midland Branch of the National Vegetable Society have also held their championships there within the marvellous Harvest marquee.

The RHS Summer Fruit and Vegetable Show 2004 from 1st October

Hampton Court Flower Show was the venue for the RHS Summer Fruit and Vegetables show held last Saturday and Sunday, the last two days of the show. Having been held for the past few years in a building at the Wisley gardens, there’s do doubt that the home for any Summer Flower show is in a marquee where the dew and the smell of mown grass compliments the fruit and vegetables perfectly.

NVS Welsh Branch Championships 2004 from 1st October

The above Championships, held on the Sunday and Monday of the August Bank holiday was certainly a show of pure quality, the vegetables on display were simply the best of their kind that you could possibly see anywhere in world.

Greenhouses - Types, Suitability, Cleaning, Heating and Lighting from 9th October

There are steel greenhouses as well as plastic, aluminium and wood. My recommendation would be for one of the latter two, they are both excellent but each one have different merits. I find the wooden ones, particularly if made from cedar wood, to have a very warm feel about them whilst the aluminium types will never need any maintenance on them.

Soil - A Priceless Commodity from 23rd October

It is vitally important that we give due regard to the dark brown material that can yield so much food. As with any building, the laying of the first foundation stone is important, so it is with the soil, if you haven’t got the structure right, then you won’t grow vegetables to their optimum.

Covering the Top Vegetable Shows in 2004 from 27th October

The last show for me to report from was the RHS Autumn Fruit and Vegetable Competition which is always a spectacle to see. Just to see the large Lindley Hall in Vincent Square full of quality fruit and vegetables was a truly amazing site. The RHS Garden from Wisley, under the supervision of their fruit Superintendent Jim Arbury, did a phenomenal job of organising the arranging of 200 baskets of fruit to celebrate the RHS Bicentenary year.

Cleaning the Greenhouses from 3rd November

Both greenhouses are high on my list to be completely cleaned out with any plants that are still growing being moved temporarily into one of the polytunnels. Cleaning the greenhouses at the end of the season has always been a job that I have carry out diligently every season. I consider it highly important that you start off your new gardening year with everything as clean as it can possibly be.

Getting Children Involved in Gardening from 6th November

I am always striving to get more children involved in growing and probably more importantly in eating fresh vegetables. It's a well known fact that children love brightly coloured foods and one definite way to make them more appetising is through having a really colourful range.

Mix Up with the Mixes! from 10th November

The requisite bags of Q4, lime, Calcified seaweed etc were placed in the boot of my car and taken to Bangor to prepare for the mixes. Having mixed about 5 mixer fulls the whole lot was brought back home, the bore holes filled with the compost and the seed sown. That evening I went and emptied the boot of the car of all the bags and realised to my horror that the bag I thought was Q4 was in fact Q4 HN (HN meaning high Nitrogen). A bag I thought I had long finished with.

Blight Resistant Potatoes from 20th November

The biggest killer that Ireland has ever seen all started off with our staple diet, the humble potato. It began with a blight of the potato crop that left acre upon acre of Irish farmland covered with a messy black rot. As harvests across Europe failed, the price of food soared. The poor Irish farmers found their food stores rotting in their cellars, the crops they relied on to pay the rent to their landlords totally destroyed.

Seed Catalogues - Potato Lists from 24th November

The potato lists are always an interesting read and I often like to search out some potential newcomers for the show bench. ESP (Exhibition Seed Potatoes) are a new-comer themselves to the potato scene, a company that started selling seed potatoes last year and their insert for 2005 has a few extra varieties to ponder over.

Working in the Heated Greenhouse from 1st December

There is always some work to be getting on with in a warm greenhouse at this time of year. It's also time to get your order for exhibition shallots in, don"t forget the old saying, plant them on the shortest day and harvest on the longest.

Nutrimate and Jet 5 from 8th December

I was very impressed with the performance of Nutrimate last year, I added it to all my final potting mixtures as well as to the beds. The plants at planting out time were unbelievably powerful with the foliage standing bolt upright in their pots. Another product that I used with marvellous results was the horticultural disinfectant, Jet 5. The beds had nothing done to them until two weeks prior to planting. At that time they were roughly forked over and a whole 45 gallon drum full of mixed Jet 5 was soaked into each bed. The onions I had out of the two beds were superb and had I not been too greedy in trying to push for a set over 22 inches around I could have staged some good ones.

Preparing for tenth consecutive Chelsea Gold medal from 15th December

I have just started growing in earnest in my greenhouses at Bangor in an attempt to gain my tenth consecutive Chelsea Gold medal. I do have a few new ideas in mind for the 2005 show and as always they will centre on having as much colour as possible within the display as well as introducing some more difficult specimens to grow.

Kelsae and Toughball Onions from 22nd December

During the course of today I shall I be sowing my own re selected seed of the large Kelsae onion. Onion seed are large enough to be spaced out individually on top of the compost leaving approximately an inch between each one. Using the same flat board that flattened the compost, gently press the seed down into it and cover the seed up to the rim with fine vermiculite. Scrape off the excess using the straight edge and with a fine rose on a hand sprayer, gently water the vermiculite so that it beds itself well around all the seed. Although the onion variety Toughball is no longer available in my 2005 catalogue, since going to print, I have been able to source out some top quality seed from abroad.

Trying to take a break from the Garden! from 29th December

Between Christmas and the New Year I try to give myself a little break from the garden. In the end though I inevitably get involved in carrying out some chore or other as I pop into the garden and greenhouses to make sure everything is on song.

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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.