Medwyn's Vegetable Masterclass Weekend
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Rather than wait until the end of the month to publish news of
this prestigous meeting of some of the best vegetable growers in
the UK, I can't wait that long to share it with you. It was the
16th consecutive year that this event had been staged at The Royal
Victoria Hotel in Llanberis, North Wales
The fabulous setting of the hotel
It was a fantastic weekend in every respect: the setting, hotel.
quality of the speakers, the warmth of the welcome and willingness
of all delegates to share their knowldge and experience over 3
intensive days with lectures staring at 9 am and not finishing
until 9 pm (with some breaks for food etc in between!). I
learnt a great deal and marvelled at the skill and dedication of
those delegates (many of them current or past National Champions in
a wide variety of classes) who grow exhibition quality
vegetables. Even in a poor year like 2012 they somehow overcame the
vagaries of the weather to bring quality crops to the table and
show benches.
An advertising board with lots of free advice leaflets
that were much appreciated!
It was a well balanced programme of talks ranging from
beneficial soil biology, growing vegetables under straw, giant veg.
and talks on individual vegetable varieties like parsnips,
long rooted carrots and beetroot.
An interesting talk in session on growing long parsnips
for the showbench by Ian Stocks all the way from Scotland. There
were lots of delegates from the north of England as well as
Scotland. Other areas were well represented too!
Also in the programme was my humble talk on growing veg for the
table. Although I am not an expert like the other speakers I was
generally pleased how my talk went and I received some favourable
comments afterwards. I tried to replicate the type of talk I have
given to garden clubs during the last 5 years and the raffle of
some of my plants was good fun. In particular the taste test on the
Rosada tomatoes I shared with the delegates went down well and only
one of them had ever previously grown them. The tomatoes met with a
very favourable response for their fine well balanced flavour, firm
texture, long cropping period, and truss size. I think there will
be a few more growing them next year!!
Medwyn was at the heart of everything that went on and his
organisation of the event was exemplary. He is widely respected and
his good humour and humility made everyone feel at ease in his
company (and he put on a fine display of dancing during the evening
entertainment on the Saturday night!!) He remains unaffected by all
his success over the years and he still strives for perfection but
settles for excellence and long may it continue. His wife Gwenda is
an integral part of the business and had a high profile throughout
the weekend. She organised a raffle on behalf of the Stroke
Association for which she is a fervent campaigner, and her parting
gift of Welshcakes for all delegates was much appreciated.
Medwyn's closing session
Just time for a couple of pics. This one of the
assembled delegates
And this one of some of the speakers including yours
truly and the "Main Man" who is the good looking one on the
right!!
For more information about the weekend, his product range and
his blog please visit his website at www.medwynsofanglesey.co.uk