Harrogate The BBC and More

After staging at Harrogate last night and finally getting to the Wedding that I had been invited to it was a long wait till this morning to find out If I had won any cards and more importantly who had won the challenge in the 6 x1 collection  between Smithy veg Dan and myself named the BBC. I had staged Onion ,Leek,Potato,Stump carrot,Runner bean and Celery.The idea was to stage as many 20 point veg as possible,if I am honest I had used all my best veg in my local shows and did not think I would be anywhere near although after seeing Dan stage his collection I thought it may be pretty even as he also did not have enough 20 point veg,Smithy did not turn up to stage till after we had left but had indicated what he would be staging. If any of my veg were going to let me down it would be my Celery which was small and not well blanched but I had to go with it as the caulis one of which i had planned to stage had gone over a week ago and all my Parsnips had suffered from canker and where un show-able.
I also managed to stage in another 18 classes in the hope of any kind of card at Harrogate and still did not hold out much hope.
This morning I left home at 9 am it was not long before the phone rang it was Smithy asking where we were Linda answered as I was driving and did not want to know the results till I got there. Upon arrival I made my way to the section where the collections were staged I first checked mine and Dan's to discover I had narrowly beaten Dan,I then went in search of Smithys exhibit which consisted of Leek Celery Potato long carrot parsnip and runner bean. the points were as follows Smithy 79.5 pts Me 75.5.  Dan 74.5 so it was fairly close and as predicted my Celery let me down only scoring 10 to Simon's 13 I've included a photo below of the 3 of us with our medals expertly taken by Linda you may have seen it before.

Now to the rest of my exhibits In total I managed to get 19 on the table Dan was stressing over about 6. 
Classes entered 
Chard , Lettuce,Rhubarb,Trug,salad potatoes,6x1 collection,3x2 collection,collection of 4 veg under 16 points giant marrow,longest runner bean, heaviest onion, french bean other than green,runner bean ,stump carrots,onions under 250g,jar of mixed herbs,cherry toms,White potatoes and Garlic.
out of all the above I managed 7 cards 
I did not think i would get any,My best achievement was a fourth in the northern branch championships out of 10 exhibits for a dish of Vento Onions

the rest were in the North of England Horticultural  Society Championships and were as follows
Second, Beans other than green
Third, Herbs,chard ,lettuce,rhubarb,
Fifth,for heaviest marrow  
I have officially grown an onion which when trimmed to world record spec weighed 10lb 6.5oz it was the 12th heaviest at the championships and puts me in the 10lb club all in all I surpassed all my expectations and will be back next year in search of a Red card.dream on. lol.another strange thing is that I had a couple of people come up to me and say hello Paul I have no idea who they were but can only think they may follow this blog thanks for the support. 
will post more pics on Sunday
Oh I was on Calendar news as I was stood next to Peter Glazebrook when His onion was weighed and beat the world record well done Peter,I had just bought a packet of giant onion seeds from him they must be worth a fortune now,timing is everything. link below


http://www.itv.com/yorkshire/harrogate-flower-show24599/