More Tips for the Village Show

Village show – tips for entering the produce classes.See the Schedule here:https://tattenhallgardensociety.co.uk/the-village-show-2023It tells you how many of each variety should be shown together and they should all be the same variety. Pay attention to the sizes asked for. Pot size = diameter across the top.

Produce: Fruit, Flowers & Pot Plants, Vegetables

Produce should be as close to perfect as possible for the variety exhibited. That is why we ask you to name the variety, if you can, as it helps the Judge to compare different varieties fairly. This can be a simple label, you don't get extra points for fancy handwriting!

Where more than 1 is called for, try to get them as closely matched as possible ie for stage of development, size, colour, shape.

Flowers should be all just fully open but not 'blown'. As the Hall can get warm, a perfectionist will take into account that some flowers may open more fully before judging. Most of us aren't up to this and just enter our best blooms and hope! Dahlias should still have a few closed over petals in the centre.

You have to provide your own vases, containers, plates & dishes but there's no need to go to town – paper plates, saucers, milk bottles, jugs, paper napkins, etc are all acceptable. It's good to keep the container in proportion to what's being exhibited. We do provide miniature glass bottles for class 11 – 6No. fuchsia flowers.

Don't polish off the 'bloom' on plums, damsons, etc. but you can polish apples.

Straight beans are preferred to wonky ones. Wonky beans can be straightened to some extent by picking the day before, wrapping them in a damp tea towel and laying them out flat overnight.

Leave the hulls on soft fruit and leaves on root vegs.

Class 34 – it's up to you how many pieces of fruit are included but they must fit in the dish! Dish size is up to you.

Pot plants: tidy up the plants after staging to remove any stems, leaves or flowers that got damaged in transit. Turn the plant 'best side to front'. The Judges may well turn the pots, if not too heavy, to check for overall balance, but it's always worth attempting to disguise any minor defects!

Creative flowers: the materials used for these classes should be arranged for effect, so it's less about the perfection of the individual stems and more about the design and creativity that's gone into the whole thing. There are no size limits, so as small or large as you like.

Tomorrow: tips for crafts & cookery classes

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