Welcome to Modern Agriculture!
The place to see vegetables in their prime is in the Great Pavilion where a clutch of seed suppliers put up their product in fascinating display. This is where to find curly gourds, tiny cucamelons, purple-veined Malabar spinach and extra-large vegetables.
This year, prize-vegetable grower and seed supplier Medwyn Williams returns to the show after a nine-year absence and has won Gold for his attention-grabbing arrangement, 50 years after his first show. Medwyn grows the extra large vegetables under “optimum conditions”, carefully managing available heat and light in polytunnels and greenhouses.
The crops are also raised in the equivalent of a feather bed: Canna Coco, a new, specially formulated soilless vegetable growing medium that Medwyn has been trialling for the past eight months. And the secret to perfectly formed carrots and parsnips? “Grow them in a 40-gallon barrel. Remove the bottom so the roots can reach the soil, then fill it with compost.”
Elsewhere in the Great Pavilion, Somerset heritage seed suppliers Pennard Plants recall wartime spirit with a recreation of an Anderson shelter and productive garden.
The stand includes a range of useful varieties from the time, including runner bean ‘Painted Lady’, parsnip ‘Half Long Guernsey’ , onion ‘Southport Red Globe’, earth chestnuts and celery ‘Self Blanching.
Classic English cottage flowers and traditional herbs also indicate the breadth of seed available in the Pennard collection.
Lovers of unusual and exotic vegetables would do well to look at Robinsons, based near Preston and started by William Robinson in 1860. New releases in the 2019 catalogue include wasabi plants, kalettes, purple-fleshed sweet potatoes and ‘Oh Happy Day’ tomatoes that are blight resistant and ideal for slicing.
Among the trade stands on Eastern Avenue and surrounds, find Dobbies Garden Centres, Mr Fothergill’s, Franchi Seeds of Italy for varieties with a European bent. Then pick out all you want for a flower garden in the Alpine Garden Society, the Delphinium Society, and Sarah Raven.
Proof that leafy greens look as good in a vegetable bed as they do in a border comes from several sources.
They thrive in the Montessori Centenary Children’s Garden, where bright colours and imaginative planting are the order of the day.
But the undoubted star of edible gardening is the CAMFED Garden designed by Jilayne Rickards. The rocky, red-soil landscape features edible crops that are vital in helping children to thrive. A permaculture vegetable bed and vitamin- and mineral-enriched vegetables form part of the recreation of a classroom in rural Zimbabwe.
If you’re hungry for more information, read our ultimate guide to Chelsea Flower Show to find out what to expect at the show, how to get tickets and admire notable past displays.
