Picking up a few tips on how to grow Kohl Rabi. Might come in useful for the special class at the NVS Championships

Now this is some large insect.

As part of the vegetable trials team at RHS Wisley I was lucky enough to be given free tickets for the show.

There’s no point in hiding Monty, we can see you. Monty Don was filming at the show for the BBC.

The Onion Harvest

My two main show varieties for the 250g class are ‘Vento and Tasco’. Last year I grew the onions under cover in the polytunnel but the excessive heat restricted their growth and none of them made their full potential.

This year they are all growing outside, mainly in raised beds. Thank goodness I made that decision as this summer is even hotter than last year.

This is Phil the mad Welshman on plot one. He is preparing a few of his Stuttgarter onions for our village show.

Onions are one crop in which we are self sufficient. We have them all year round either fresh pulled or from store. I am holding the very last of our overwintered onions. In the bowl are this years onions.

These ‘Vento’s have been stripped back to an unbroken skin. When they measure 10.2” circumference they are lifted.

I measure the onions every morning and evening. Notice that the soil has been removed from the bulbs in the bed. The object is to expose the skin to the light, also we don’t want a stone or a hard piece of earth damaging the skin. At this late stage I pray that we don’t get any rain. That would result in a lot of split skins.

The onions get a rough tidy up on the allotment.

Back home the roots are neatly trimmed and the onions given a good wash. It’s now that you may discover a few imperfections that would exclude them from showing.

The critical moment, the weigh in. At this stage you ideally want an onion around 255g as they will lose a little weight ripening.

Finally the onions are placed on a bed of course sawdust. Those thick looking necks will soon wither back. The best place to ripen the onions is under the bed in the spare room. In the next article I shall be tying the necks with natural raffia ready for the show.

The last of the Douce Provence Peas are Harvested

I hand them on to my wife Sally for shucking.

As this is the tail end of the crop these will be used for pea soup.

The soup will be frozen until needed.

Seed leeks ‘Conway’ ready for transplanting.

The holes are dibbered a good 9” deep. I like to have all the flags facing East to West, that way they get even light. The ‘Conway’s’ have suffered a bit of white tip die back. They have had a feed of Calcium Nitrate and that should now correct the problem.

My neighbour Ann shows off the ‘Aquilon’ french beans from the Real Seed Company. These have been super prolific and one variety that we shall certainly grow again next year.

Now for a bit of a plot round up.

The ‘Bell Boy’ sweet peppers in the allotment greenhouse are producing well.

Unfortunately the hot weather is affecting pollen set especially on the scarlet flowered runner beans. Ideally we need the temperature to drop below 10c at night. The white and the bi coloured varieties do a little better in these conditions.

Now as more ground becomes free, I can get on with planting out the follow on crops. Here is my last broad bean sowing. Once again I am using the ultra reliable Di Monica variety.

Most of my exhibition potato’s grown in polybags have been taken home and now await sorting and grading. That job will be done on the next cool day.

Now don’t forget to keep up the sowing regime. Once a month I sow a few lettuce. Beetroot sown now will be ready in three months. I shall also be sowing carrots Autumn King this week for pulling from October.

In the next article I shall be preparing for the Southern Branch Championships at the New Forest Show.

Plus in-depth news on the exhibition potatoes. Will they be as good as last years? Only time will tell. All will be revealed in the next article.

John Trim