Autumn has stolen in – again!
History is created at the Malvern Autumn Show as World Records for giant veg are smashed, reports Ian Hodgson
There is a distinct chill in the morning air, and who suddenly decided it should get dark quite so early in the evening? Every single year the onset of autumn catches me by surprise – maybe more than ever this year after the summer we’ve had. After all, it’s only a couple of months since the mercury hit 40C and we were doing everything we could to stay cool!
Once things finally settled down later in August, the garden came back to life and now there are several plants in full flower that had become dormant in July. An osteospermum that I was sure had actually died is now blooming away!
And yet I must confess the garden needs some attention. This weekend I’m planning a serious tidy-up just so I can see what areas needs attention the most – in one corner a Solanum
crispum has got rather out of hand and is in danger of swamping all around it, so needs a serious chop! As ever, there’s plenty to do.
In this issue of GN we’ve got a great feature on growing acers, which are such popular plants. They look fabulous in the autumn so turn to page 22 for advice on getting the very best from them.
We’ve also looked out the best new perennial plants on the market (page 16) so you don’t have to! Hopefully we can give you a little inspiration on fresh plants for your plot, and there are some absolute crackers in there, too.
So even though it’s a bit colder and darker, we can still enjoy our plots. Have a great gardening week.
World Records for 11 of the longest, biggest and heaviest veg astounded judges at the Canna UK National Giant Vegetables Championships, held at the Malvern Autumn Show. The astonishing tally broke all previous Malvern Autumn Show records, doubling the number of Guinness World Records set at the 2021 show.
The feat is even more astounding given this year’s challenging growing conditions, with recordbreaking temperatures and widespread drought. “This year was like no other,” said South Wales-based giant veg grower Kevin Fortey, who bagged his seventh record, this time for the world’s tallest potato plant. “A cold start to the season meant we put back our planting dates. The record-breaking weather brought giant fruit and veg on very quickly, but some ripened too soon or shut down in the heat.
We did manage to keep our potato plants growing, even when temperatures in the greenhouse reached 50C!”
First-time winner Lee Herrington, who won World Records for both the heaviest and longest runner bean, was shocked by his success. “At one point I didn’t think I had a runner bean long enough. Lengths of runner beans across the country were lower this year. Many growers told me they had problems setting pods, with flowers falling, leaving an empty truss. My seed, set later, pollinated more successfully in cooler weather. I’m under no illusion it won’t take long before these records are broken, but for now they’re mine. I’ll take that. That’s kind of special.”