There may not be open days but growers can enter produce in virtual shows
Checking on ripening fruit and vegetables has long been a feature of this time of year. Miss a day and that lovely courgette has grown into a vegetable marrow or tender beans have turned tough and stringy. In previous years many plotholders will also have been identifying possible entries for local shows.
This year open days and shows have been cancelled, but hopefully this will be a temporary setback and it’ll be possible to hold them next year, although committees will have to re-think some aspects to comply with changing circumstances. It would be a great shame if the long tradition of shows, some of them going back more than a century, was broken. They are a well-loved milestone in many people’s calendar.
Preparations for an open day are often weather dependent and it’s not possible to set them up in advance. On our site, the morning of an open day is a frenzy of activity, putting up gazebos and tables and sorting fruit and vegetables. We like to have the site looking at its best as visitors will be wandering up and down the plots seeing what we get up to.
Setting up our local horticultural show takes longer and begins the day before, relying on an army of volunteers. There are jobs for all-comers, from polishing the impressive array of silver trophies to carrying rough planks to make the staging. The success of tea stalls, plant sales tables and raffles all hangs on members’ generosity. When the exhibits are in place quiet falls, as the independent judges are left alone to make their decisions. Those of us who exhibit do it for fun and winning a prize is all about honour and glory and not about a large cash prize.
This year the Federation of Edinburgh and District Allotments are holding a virtual show. Edinburgh plotholders can submit photographs of their produce for judging. The schedule of classes has been scaled down but includes many favourites such as carrots, cucumbers, peas and beans. Exhibitors are asked to display their produce just as they would for a real show and include either a £1 coin or a pen, as appropriate, to indicate its size. The National Vegetable Society is also holding a virtual show for its members. Once again, there are fewer classes than normal. The closing date for entries to both these events is 3 September and details are on their websites. ■