Down on the Allotment

Matron grows vegetables and fruit in a Hampshire garden. I've been growing veggies since I was knee high to a grasshopper. Some traditional varieties and old favourites as well as new ideas. I share my garden with my allotment assistant Daisy the Labrador. On Twitter as @MatronsVeggies

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Welcome to Matron's Worldwide Veggie Show 2009

I've had an amazing response from many bloggers to Matron's Worldwide Veggie Show 2009. THANK YOU! So many pictures, I would love to have posted them all but I would be here all night! So I chose my favourites so I chose a variety of edibles.

To get us off to a wonderful start, this fantastic plate of peas from Dan at Urban Veggie Garden in Canada. Fantastic Dan!

What a wonderful picture of six perfectly sized veggies from Amanda in Ontario, Canada at Someone Elses Kitchen. It is a bit early in the season there, but she made a fantastic entry! Maureen at My Lottie Heaven sent me this wonderful picture of her Siamese Courgette! (should this be conjoined courgettes?...)This brings back memories of lots of rude shapes vegetables I used to smile at as a child. Actually I still do! Thanks Maureen! These are Loganberries from Rob at A Plot Too Far. I have also had a great crop this year, they make a wonderful addition to Summer Pudding! Yum! From my dear blogmentor Stan at Naive Zebra who grew these at the end of the runway at the airport at Farnborough! These are Sicilian Long White and Yellow Crookneck squash. ..Can I book my place for this year's airshow please Stan? What a wonderful display of peas from Carrie at Grow our Own. You can see the bloom on these, they are so fresh! These lovely broad beans are red epicure grown by Cat of Stripes in France. This is a variety I must try to grow next year. I shall look out for some seeds. This beautiful photo is from Michelle at Veg Plotting. It looks like you could turn it into an apple sundial! I just love featuring unusual or slightly less common veggies. We should all give them a try! Here are some Rats Tails Radish from RR in Neulichimgarten in Germany. This lovely Kale is from Emily at Greens and Jeans. I just love brassicas! This entry is from Stephen at My Veggie Patch at the Bottom of the Garden - this must be one of the longest blog titles! These are Kelvedon wonder. Hey! that's weird.. I was driving through Kelvedon this afternoon - it is in Essex (not Suffolk)! Matron's SMILE award goes to two bloggers. This is from Karen at Greenwalks in Seattle. These Cascadia sugar snap peas show imagination and appeals to my vanity! M for Matron! Matron's SMILE award also goes to Kath from Veg Heaven. These red epicure broad beans are smiling at me! *******************
The very special MATRON'S JUDGE'S DISCRETIONARY AWARD goes to a junior entry, little Sweetpea from Washington State. Sweetpea is the daughter of Catherine from A gardener in Progress. It really warms my heart to see the next generation of veggie gardeners enjoying themselves with veggies! Atta-girl! The BRONZE award goes to KitsapFG at the Modern Victory Garden. A lovely plate of carrots, beautifully presented!

The SILVER award goes to Gintonio from Jardim com Gatos in Portugal. Evenly sized and coloured and beautifully photographed.
DRUMROLL ***

Finally the GOLD award for spectacular veggies, beautifully photographed goes to Celia at Purple Podded Peas. Simply stunning!
Once again, a HUGE Thank You to everyone who sent me photographs. I am sorry I can't post all of them (there were about a hundred in all!!!)

22 Comments:

At 9:08 PM, Blogger Amanda said...

Those globe artichokes are absolutely beautiful! Glad you got such a great response - it's a great show!

 
At 9:10 PM, Blogger RobD said...

Well I'm honoured to get a mention in amongst those entries! Will you be having an Autumn 'harvest festival' competition or will we have to wait until next year? ;>)

 
At 9:29 PM, Blogger VP said...

A fantastic response Matron :)

It was fun taking part and seeing how inventive everyone's been with their veggie photos!

 
At 10:31 PM, Blogger Ribbit said...

What a great show, Matron! It's even more impressive that you got entries from around the world. I'm very impressed.

 
At 10:53 PM, Blogger miss m said...

Fantastic show! Well done all.
Congrats Celia, those artichokes are stunners!
Cheers Matron, for hosting such fun events. :)

 
At 11:11 PM, Blogger Carrie said...

WOW, thank you for choosing my pea entry! This was a fabulous idea and great to be part of, plus the peas tasted so good. Look forward to next year xx

 
At 11:15 PM, Blogger Emily said...

What beautiful fruits and vegetables. Thanks for organizing a great way to celebrate what we're growing.

 
At 2:29 AM, Blogger Dan said...

What a nice show, everyone had great entries. I really like the silver medal one, those tomatoes are amazing! Maybe you should host another show next month when all the warm season crops are producing.

 
At 2:53 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Everyone's having fun. Love the artichoke globes:)

 
At 3:39 AM, Blogger Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

What a great show this was. It's fun seeing what other people grow, some things I've never heard of. Congrats to the winners and I know Sweetpea will be excited to see her peas here :)

 
At 4:03 AM, Anonymous kitsapFG said...

Thanks for hosting this Matron, it was certainly a lot of fun for all of us that participated and what a great collection of entries you had to choose from!

 
At 8:31 AM, Anonymous Marian(LondonUK) said...

Hi Matron, I really enjoyed looking through these fantastic pictures and entries from fellow veggie growers around the world.

Brilliant!
Marian (LondonUK)

 
At 9:18 AM, Blogger Kath said...

Grand show Matron! Those globe artichokes are nothing short of Art.

 
At 9:34 AM, Blogger Wild Mood Swings said...

I'm just chuffed I made it amongst such hardy growers as a newbie I 'm really chuffed.

Stan

 
At 11:04 AM, Blogger The Oil said...

Hi Matron! What a stunning array of vegetables! As I scrolled down through all the fabulous photos I had no idea that my artichokes and peas would be at the end - and awarded gold!!! Wow, thank you!!! I think every one of them deserved a prize.

Minutes after I took the photo those artichokes were divested of their spiky leaves and chokes and cooked in water with lemon and a clove of garkic. Then they were sliced and added to some olive oil, shallots and anchovies in a pan with a slosh of Chardonay, to make a delicious sauce for spaghetti. Heavenly food!

Celia

 
At 11:54 AM, Blogger gintoino said...

What great vegetable show! Thanks for thinking about it and hosting it Matron. And thank you for the silver award. Every one sent such beautiful pictures, congratulations!

 
At 7:16 PM, Blogger Shaheen said...

Such a great idea Matron.

And a great way to read about other vegetable growers from all over the world!

 
At 10:44 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Sorry to be picky, but Kelvedon is in Essex, not Suffolk - The many varieties which have that in their name (peas, sweetcorn etc.) come from Kings Seeds in Kelvedon.

 
At 6:57 AM, Anonymous Karen said...

What a fun "event"! I know my photo was not the best quality (camera/computer issues) but I'm glad it made you smile anyway. :) Wow, I need to check out all of these blogs and see what else people are up to. Rat's tail radishes and purple podded peas?! The coolest!

 
At 9:02 AM, Blogger Matron said...

Doug - you are right! I was driving past Kelvedon up on my way to Suffolk.

 
At 3:57 PM, Anonymous Judy said...

Love all the photos submitted! Thanks to everyone who shared their veggies with us!

 
At 1:48 PM, Blogger tina said...

I had TOTALLY planned on entering some gooseberries but I don't think I would've stood a chance with all these wonderful entries-and you only posted a few? They are splendid, every one of them. I like your smile award too.

 

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