Medwyn Williams is trying a new beetroot for the show bench
Will a new long, white variety prove to be a winner on the show bench?
’ve always had reasonable success with my own selection of long, black beetroot and over the years I’ve constantly reselected it to improve on its condition and shape. The problem with many of the long beetroots is the deep scar where the roots develop from, as well as the spiral and twisting shape which certainly detracts from its form. The best long roots we’ve had to date were shown on our Malvern display last September.
This year I’ve changed the location of the beetroot, and the raised wooden bed they sit on now runs alongside my long polytunnel, with the sunlight hitting the tunnel polythene cover reflecting back nicely on to the drums. There are 20 plastic drums in total, which are filled with coarse grit or concreting sand. I cored three holes in each drum to a depth of over 1.5m (5ft) and filled with a mixture of sand, soil, peat, sulphate of potash, superphosphate, calcified seaweed and lime.
Ten of the drums were sown using my own long, black selection and another eight sown with a brand new long beetroot variety. This was from a root sent to me by a grower in Pembrokeshire, which was long and white with quite a smooth body. I’d never this before so I planted it up in my parsnip glasshouse at home and it produced an abundance of good quality seed. What I don’t know is whether or not the white variety was a sport from a hybrid or was it a straight selection?
I shall look forward to harvesting these, though no doubt my impatience will take over and I’ll remove some of the compost around a few just to see if it still produces white roots.
Follow me on Twitter @ medwynsofangles.