Medwyn Williams tests tomatoes and parsnips
I’m trying new varieties to see if they’ll be winners on the show bench for me
This year I’ve quite a range of tomatoes growing, with a few new ones I’m trying, mainly in the small fruited category – cherry, or small plum. I usually grow these on the land in the polytunnel, in deep square pots that I sink into the soil so they can root through to the nourishment below. I’m growing ‘Big Mama’ on one side and ‘Red Dragon’ on the other.
‘Big Mama’ is an indeterminate, large, plum-type with thin skin, and is one of my favourites for grilling or slicing on a sandwich. ‘Red Dragon’ should be appearing on the show benches for the first time this summer. It’s a cross between ‘Cedrico’ and ‘Goldstar’, both excellent show types, with ‘Goldstar’ in particular having a wonderful flavour.
The name, ‘Red Dragon’ was submitted to FERA for registration but was turned down, so I asked the breeder to submit the Welsh name of ‘Y Ddraig Goch’. This has been accepted and it’s now the official name for this variety. As far as I’m aware it’s the first time that a vegetable has been officially registered in a Welsh name, and I’m looking forward to the pronunciations that I’m going to hear around the shows!
My parsnips are going well. I’m growing three varieties this year as a trial to see which one performs best, with my money still being on ‘Victor’ F1, which I consider to be top quality.
However, there are two others that have justifiable claims as the top parsnip, namely ‘Panorama’, which has done so well for Marcus Powell on his collections. The other one is still a number (‘9045’), bred by Tozers, which is the company that bred the first F1 hybrid parsnip, ‘Gladiator’.
I have 12 stations of ‘TZ9045’ and the same of ‘Panorama’. It seems that both ‘TZ9045’ and ‘Panorama’ have very white skins that apparently retain their pure colour, even on the show bench. Time will tell!