It’s time to get busy potting up
April is probably the busiest month if you’re growing vegetables for exhibition. There’s plenty to do in the greenhouse and polytunnel and with the extended evening hours, there’s plenty to do outdoors, too.
The problem this year has been the continuous rain we’ve had. Nitrogen is one of the first nutrients that leaches out of your soil with excessive rain, so it will pay to check the NPK levels in your soil and possibly increase the nitrogen, particularly where brassicas are concerned.
My blanch celery is growing quite well and ready for its final 2L pot using Humax multi-purpose original compost that contains sand and Nutrimate. The variety I’m growing is ‘Evening Star’, but it’s taking longer to germinate than normal.
The celery will be potted up towards the middle of May; this year I’m growing it in 30L pots. This was very successful when I grew it for my Malvern display a few years ago, but you have to make sure you never let the pots dry out. It’s also important to spray the plant around the base and into the heart using calcium nitrate or Calmag to try to control and prevent the dreaded heart rot. The RHS Autumn Show is being held at Hyde Hall during the first weekend of October and is certainly gaining in popularity. Considering it’s held quite late in the season, the quality and quantity of exhibits are excellent, with many entries on the increase in both fruit and vegetables. Last year, Trevor Last from Drayton in Norwich had two beautiful heads of celery ‘Evening Star’ which were awarded the best dish in show and were of superb quality, particularly for that time of year. Trevor has won with celery many times over the years and was a winner some years ago with the variety ‘Red Star’ F1 that was one of the original crosses but is now discontinued.
I’ll be sowing cucumber seed around the middle of next month and the one for exhibition is ‘Carmen’ F1 that’s been winning on the show bench for many years now. There’s also a new variety in our current catalogue called ‘Batallon’ F1 and this is definitely on a par with ‘Carmen’ and well worth a try. I’ll be making further sowings through the season as well. Tomatoes are still in pots and will be planted out at the end of April. Since I’ve been growing very successfully using the AutoPot system, I like to have the
plants in deep pots so that when they’re planted up, the roots will be close to the bottom of the AutoPot, thereby gaining access to nutrients immediately.
Follow me on X throughout the season as I grow a range of different vegetables for exhibition –@medwynsofangles