Medwyn Williams puts new vegetables on trial
I’m growing a new leek and an okra this year for the show bench
I‘ve two new vegetable varieties
rowing this year that should hopefully be on my display at the Malvern Show during the last weekend in September.
The first is a new F1 hybrid leek called ‘Anglesey Leek F1’ bred by Tozer Seeds, which is a cross from the Welsh seedling leek with a giant, long, Bulgarian leek. Tozer is renowned for its hybrid leeks, with ‘Snowdon’, in particular, being an excellent variety for all round use, including for the show bench.
I sowed the seed early on December 12 last year and the growth has been quite phenomenal, with a natural pulling habit that seems to imply that I’ll get a good length on the barrel. The foliage is very dark green and stands bolt upright on the plant with no sign of any viruses.
The other thing I like about this new ‘Anglesey’ leek is the absence of any bulbing around the base, it’s perfectly parallel.
The second new vegetable I’m growing is an okra (also known as lady’s fingers or gumbo) called ‘Baby Bubba’. This is a hybrid that has half the height of other okras but still produces fullsized plump pods. The fruit, or pods, develop from the flower and you’d have to search far and wide to see a prettier specimen. Okra is a frost tender plant that relishes plenty of sunshine.
I’ve already carried out a few sowings and I’ll sow the last seeds today so I should have a couple of plants ready towards the end of September. I’ll keep these plants in my greenhouse throughout, regularly potting on so that they’ll eventually end up in a 7 litre pot. Okra needs ample water and for the pods to be edible they must be harvested when immature, usually within a week after pollination. If they’re allowed to grow to their full size they’ll be very fibrous and totally inedible.