Vegetable Masterclass Events Programme
by Medwyn on August 21, 2010
in General Growing
THE VEGETABLE MASTERCLASS WEEKEND
Friday 12th - Sunday 14th November 2010
THE ROYAL VICTORIA HOTEL LLANBERIS
PROGRAMME OF EVENTS
Friday 12th November
4.00 – 6.30 Arrive at The Royal Victoria Hotel to check in and relax before dinner.
6.30 – 7.50 A four course evening meal will be served (you may order wine at your table)
8.00 – 9.15 The Breeding of Runner Beans and other Vegetables by James Claxton from the seed company Tozers – James lives in Woking Surrey and is the senior plant breeder at Tozer and works on a variety of diverse crops – leeks, Runner Beans, Courgettes, Marrows, Winter Squash, Pumpkins, Brussels sprout, flower sprout and speciality leaf brassicas. James has been at Tozer for 13 years and previously worked at the Scottish Crop Research Institute for two years on powdery scab on potatoes. He has a PhD from the University of Bath, where he worked on crook root disease of watercress (related to club root in brassicas). His Degree was from Sutton Bonington, University of Nottingham, Plant Science.
Jamie will talk about the wide variety of plant breeding techniques used to produce improved novel varieties (both hybrid and open pollinated) of this diverse range of crops, with particular emphasis on Runner Bean breeding which will enlighten us regarding where the future trend lies.
9.15 – 9.30 Question and Answer session.
9.30 - Time to relax after your long journey; share your gardening experiences with some of the speakers, fellow growers and exhibitors. Why not even enjoy a night cap at the bar before retiring.
Saturday 13th November
8.00 - 9.00 Cooked Breakfast
9.00 – 10.15 The Modern Kitchen Garden by Barry Newman FNVS. Barry is a well known Grower, Exhibitor, Lecturer and Judge. He is Chairman of the Southern Region of The National Vegetable Society and serves on its National Executive. As well as being a senior NVS judge, Barry serves on the judging panel of The Royal Horticultural Society and South & South East in Bloom. He is also a member of the South of England Agricultural Society’s Horticultural Committee. Barry was formally trained in horticulture at Pershore, York and Bath Botanical Gardens. Barry lives at Littleworth, near Partridge Green in West Sussex.
This will be a talk in three parts, covering the traditional approach to growing vegetables then moving on to container growing for those with limited space and finally to raised bed cultivation which Barry regards as the modern way ahead for those wishing to grow for the table.
10.15 – 10.30 Question and Answer session
10.30 – 10.45 Coffee / Tea Break
10.45 – 12.00 Poisonous Plants Through the Ages by Dr Peter Cannon FRCP. Dr Peter Cannon FRCP is a retired Consultant Physician and lives in Bangor Gwynedd. Peter specialises in acute general medicine and has had a lifelong interest in the contribution that plants have made to medicine. They have also played a darker role in man’s history since civilisation began.
12.00 – 12.15 Question and Answer session
12.15 – 2.15 A buffet lunch after which you have an opportunity to take a walk around the grounds of the Royal Victoria Hotel or perhaps a walk down to the Snowdon Mountain Railway in the village of Llanberis.
2.15 – 3.30 Growing Carrots other than Long for Exhibition by Ian Simpson. Ian lives in Kinghorn, Fife and is Managing Director of a specialist Electronics company who operate in the field of Packing semi conductors for use in Mobile Phones, TV’s and Computers just to name a few. For Ian growing vegetables for the show bench is a relief from the everyday rigours of the factory. He’s been growing vegetables for the show bench for over 30 years starting like most of us at the local village show.
Ian has progressed so well that over the past five years or so he has won with Peas at the NVS Championships twice as well as winning the National with carrots other long over the last two years with the variety Sweet Candle. His talk will cover every aspect of the growing from starting off with the seed to staging them on the show bench.
3.30 – 3.45 Question and Answer session.
3.45 – 4.00 Coffee / Tea Break
4.00 – 5.15 The Beneficial Use of Artificial Lights on Plants by Andrew Gallimore from Manchester. Andrew has been working in the industry for 12 years and is certainly an expert in the field of indoor horticulture and related hardware. For the past 3 years he’s been store manager for Holland Hydroponics, one of the biggest hydroponic shops in the North West. Due to his extensive experience and interest in working with indoor lighting and related products. His talk will cover Fluorescent lights, T8 and T5 lights as well as High Density Discharge lamps such as metal Halide as well as High pressure Sodium and compact fluorescents. I am sure Andrew will give an enlightening and comprehensive presentation regarding this subject.
5.15 – 5.30 Question and Answer session.
5.30 – 6.15 Time to relax and do your own thing before your evening meal, you may even feel the need to enjoy a drink at the bar!!
6.15 – 7.30 Time to indulge yourself in a four course evening meal. (you can order your wine at the table from the Victorias’ reasonably priced selection)
7.30 – 8.45 From The Back Bedroom To The Allotment and Back Again by John Bebbington FNVS, Crewe. John is an NVS Judge and a tremendously keen vegetable grower from his allotment at Crewe. Over the past few years he has really broken through to the top with quality vegetables to win at the NVS National Championships. It’s never easy to win at the Highest level even if the vegetables are growing in you back garden. When you have to grow them on an allotment it makes it increasingly difficult. John will tell us how he manages to get around all the difficulties this entails. His presentation will be through the medium of Power Point.
8.45 – 9.00 Question and Answer session.
9.00 - For the next hour or so as you will be entertained, the entertainment has yet to be finalised.
Sunday 14th November
8.00 – 9.00 Cooked breakfast
9.00 – 9.15 Photo call, bring your camera along and take a group photo as a memento of the occasion.
9.15 – 10.45 Growing Giant Onions for the Heaviest Onion Competitions by Peter Glazebrook, Halam, Newark. Peter has been growing and showing top quality vegetables for 28 years, eventually winning with a range of vegetables from ‘Carrots other than long’ to ‘Large Collections at National Level. His love however over the past 15 years has been in growing the largest, the longest or the heaviest vegetable specimens.
When visiting Peter a few years ago I was amazed at the range of vegetables that he grew towards winning the heaviest or the longest in various categories. Over the past 15 years or so he has seriously been concentrating on growing Giant Vegetables and he is now the one that everyone else has to beat. Peter has broken 11 World records – two of which he still holds. He has also won the ‘Best Overall Grower and Trophy’ at the Giant Vegetable Championships for the last 11 years. Winning the ‘Heaviest Onion’ at the Harrogate Autumn Show for the last two years has been the most satisfying for Peter. His commitment to his hobby is total and I know there’s nothing he’d like better than to break the world record for the heaviest onion that currently stands at 16lb 8½oz (468g).
10.45 – 11.00 Question and Answer session.
11.00 – 11.15 Coffee / Tea Break
11.15 – 12.30 Gardeners Question time with the Speakers. A roundup of the weekend. It doesn’t matter how well you listened to the talks, there’s always that gardening problem or question that you forgot to ask that may be still bothering you. It allows you the opportunity to ask the speakers further questions on vegetable growing that may not even be related to any subject discussed during the seminar – why not challenge them with a problem that’s been a source of worry to you for so long .
12.30 – Traditional Welsh Sunday Lunch before departing .
*Please note that the time limit allowed for each speaker will have to be adhered to but may have to vary to suit circumstances outside my control*
2011 Seminar will be from the 11th to the 13th November.
Medwyn Williams.
The downloadable booking form is available here
Vegetable Masterclass Course 2010
by Medwyn on August 21, 2010
in General Growing
THE VEGETABLE MASTERCLASS WEEKEND
ROYAL VICTORIA HOTEL LLANBERIS GWYNEDD
Friday 12th November – Sunday 14th November 2010
Dear Friends,
This will be my 14th Gardening Weekend for vegetable growers and, as usual, I have tried to make it as interesting as possible whilst at the same time taxing our brains a little. I’m convinced it’s going to be every bit as good as all the others we have enjoyed in the past. Although very challenging and time consuming, I have had great fun formulating every weekend over the years and I really never thought that I would organise fourteen of them, where have all the years gone! The great thing about this weekend is meeting up with old friends as well as making new ones together with the added bonus of learning something new about our favourite pastime.
The Royal Victoria Hotel is unique for North Wales, nowhere else will you find a Hostelry amid such a spectacular part of Snowdonia, within the very heart of North Wales. It’s located between the twin lakes of Llyn Padarn and Llyn Peris, surrounded by an established oak forest and positioned at the base of Snowdon within easy walking distance of the Snowdon Mountain Railway. The hotel has 114 bedrooms all with a bath or shower en suite.
The cost for the whole weekend this year £205.00. per person. Should you be bringing a wife or partner, who will not be attending the lectures, the cost will be £150.00. If you intend to participate, please send a deposit of £65 per person with the downloadable booking form, as soon as possible, to guarantee your reservation.
Should you have any queries please don’t hesitate to give me a ring and I look forward to seeing you for another great and unique Masterclass Weekend on Vegetables. You can find the Programme of Events Here
Yours Sincerely
Medwyn Williams MBE AHRHS
Masterclass Gardening Weekend
by Medwyn on October 19, 2009
in General Growing
Medwyns of Anglesey
THE VEGETABLE MASTERCLASS WEEKEND
Friday 6th - Sunday 8th November 2009
THE ROYAL VICTORIA HOTEL LLANBERIS
PROGRAMME OF EVENTS
Friday 6th November
4.00 - 6.30 Arrive at The Royal Victoria Hotel to check in and relax.
6.30 – 7.50 A four course evening meal will be served (you may order wine at your table)
8.00 – 9.15 The Sex Life of Plants by Ben Emmett (Entomologist) Bramhope, Leeds. Entomologist with N.A.A.S., (National Agricultural Advisory Service) and A.D.A.S., (The development and advisory service that replaced it) from 1960 to 1997 when he retired. Worked first at Wye on pest identification and pollination of fruit crops (also runner beans). Moved to ADAS Cambridge to advise and run experiments on control of vegetable pests, and later to Leeds on arable, veg and protected crops as Deputy and later Regional Entomologist, running Labs at Leeds and Newcastle. Wrote advisory bulletins, identification keys and scientific papers (on e.g. cutworms, pea moth, cabbage root fly, onion fly and various caterpillars) and contributed chapters to books on crop pests.
Since 1997, Ben has been with Vitacress Salads Ltd., working on the reduction of pests and contaminants in leafy salad crops grown for supermarkets, in the UK, Iberia and Kenya. Ben has a Defra Licence to keep live ’alien’ insects so that we can learn more about habits and life-cycles of ‘new’ and poorly-understood species. The talk on ‘The Sex Life of Plants ‘ is an illustrated description of how plants are adapted to insect pollination and some of the mechanisms involved. It’s an informal, non-technical talk covering their sexual techniques under such headings as ‘taboos’, ‘exhibitionism’, ‘bondage-and-cruelty’, ‘birth control’, ‘midwifery’ etc:! It is basically intended to make people think about the relationships between plants and their pollinators. Should be very interesting
9.15 – 9.30 Question and Answer session.
9.30 - Time to relax after your long journey; share your gardening experiences with some of the speakers, fellow growers and exhibitors. Why not even enjoy a night cap at the bar before retiring.
Saturday 7th November
8.00 - 9.00 Cooked Breakfast
9.00 – 10.15 Compost Mixes, their ingredients and uses by Steve Hughes from The Scotts Co UK Ltd, Pershore, Worcestershire. Steve studied at Brooksby Agricultural College Melton Mowbray where he had several Diploma’s in general agriculture and farm business management. He served 18 years in farm management in Wiltshire on 4 different farms. Beef Arable and Dairy; 200 – 2500 acre farms. Steve moved into Agricultural Sales with Dalgety Agriculture for 5 years and moved to Pershore Worcestershire. He worked in Horticultural sales with Shamrock Horticulture for 2 years, then Levington Horticulture when they took over Shamrock followed by Scotts for 5 years after they took over Levington. Later on he moved to Humax Horticulture for 4.5 years until they were taken over by Scotts in October 2008.
Steve is now Area Sales Manager for Scotts Professional in the Midlands and South of England advising and selling Scotts Professional products such as, Levington, Shamrock and Humax Growing Mediums. Osomocote, Peters Feeds, Universol Feeds, plus Scotts Pesticides for the Professional markets. He is BASIS and FACTS registered. Steve is well qualified to talk about the range of composts available, the different mixes, introduction of peat free products as well as a look at the future of growing mediums.
10.15 – 10.30 Question and Answer session
10.30 – 10.45 Coffee / Tea Break
10.45 – 12.00 The use of Spectral filter films in Polytunnels by Les Lane, Ottery St. Mary, Devon. Les Lane is the person responsible for much of the research that has taken place in the U.K. over the past 10 or so years on new spectral filter films. In December 2006 he bought out his partners in Opico and was joined by his two sons in XL Horticulture Ltd. Les will talk about the spectral transmission of greenhouse covering materials and how the modified spectral transmissions can give you an IPM in pest and disease control and how a modified spectrum can affect the growth of plants.
In 1993 Les went into partnership with Opico Ltd. designing and marketing poly tunnel covers. They originally had them manufactured for in the USA. They were the first ones to sell a diffused film with a 4 year guarantee. They eventually moved to a manufacturer in France, Belgium and finally in 1996 in Crete. They now have all of their films made to their specification and over the years have developed the spectral filter films which have the ability to control pests and diseases, affect the growth characteristics of plants. This will certainly be a talk to help all those growers of leeks and onions in Polytunnels.
2.00 – 12.15 Question and Answer session
12.15 – 2.15 A buffet lunch after which you have an opportunity to take a walk around the grounds of the Royal Victoria Hotel or perhaps a walk down to the Snowdon Mountain Railway in the village of Llanberis.
2.15 – 3.30 Developing a new Vegetable Exhibitors Garden and growing quality onions Hydroponically by Jim Thompson Caldicot Gwent. Jim Thompson is well known as a top exhibitor of vegetables at National Level. Three years ago he was given the perfect opportunity to re create an exhibitors garden when he moved to a new house in a little hamlet called Undy in Caldicot Gwent. When Jim started on the garden it must have been daunting as it was original a 60 year old orchard. Jim will give us an insight into his ongoing new garden as well as the way he has grown exhibition quality onions, to over 24 inches in circumference hydroponically. Jim was inspired to have a go with this method after a talk given at this seminar in 2006 by Gerald Treweek and Simon Spinks.
3.30 – 3.45 Question and Answer session.
3.45 – 4.00 Coffee / Tea Break
4.00 – 5.15 What’s up Doc? – Current Vegetable and Fruit problems by Dr Stephen Reynolds – Dr Stephen Reynolds (Steve to all his gardening friends) is one of Shropshire and the West Midland region’s experts on plant problems. With nearly 40 years experience as a Research Plant Scientist and senior University academic, he retired a few years ago to complete a massive database on plant health care. A very popular speaker on the circuit, he has given talks on stage at Gardeners’ World Live, Southport and the Royal Welsh Shows. A frequent panellist on Question Times at Llangollen and Midlands Gardening Shows, Steve also runs What’s Up, Doc clinics throughout the UK.
This weekend he’ll hopefully be ironing out a few of your pest, disease and disorder problems. Steve takes a closer look at some of the topical questions put to his advisory clinics during the past year. Adopting a ‘know your enemy’ approach, the weak links in pest and disease, life cycles will be exposed leading to possible control measures. To conclude, what of the future ? We’ll discuss the likely changing climate effects upon vegetable growing problems in the UK.
5.15 – 5.30 Question and Answer session.
5.30 – 6.15 Time to relax and do your own thing before your evening meal, you may even feel the need to enjoy a drink at the bar!!
6.15 – 7.30 Time to indulge yourself in a four course evening meal. (you can order your wine at the table from the Victorias’ reasonably priced selection)
7.30 – 8.45 Vegetables for the table all the year round by John Branham Wingrave, Aylesbury. John is undoubtedly one of the leading exhibitors of show quality vegetables in this country and has won many accolades at the highest level. This will be Johns’ third talk at my Seminar and on this occasion he will show the cultivation skills required to grow vegetables all year round. Not a day goes by that John hasn’t got access to fresh home grown fruit and vegetables from his own large garden, and that takes planning and a lot of passion. Indeed it’s many years since John, or his wife Gill, has actually bought any vegetables and how many of us can say that. John will bring with him a wide range of vegetables that will be available from his garden at this time of year. A talk sure to be educational as well as filling us all with envy.
8.45 – 9.00 Question and Answer session.
9.00 - For the next hour or so as you will be entertained, the entertainment has yet to be finalised.
Sunday 8th November
8.00 – 9.00 Cooked breakfast
9.00 – 9.15 Photo call, bring your camera along and take a group photo as a memento of the occasion.
9.15 – 10.45 Growing Runner Beans for Exhibition by Sherie Plumb, Althorne, Essex. After Sherie gave her well received talk on growing potatoes for exhibition at my Seminar in 2004, I have been trying ever since to get her back! Sherie over the past few years, without a shadow of doubt, has truly mastered the art of growing Runner Beans for the show bench. The quality of her exhibits defy normal cultivation techniques but I’m sure all will become clear as she explains how she grows them so phenomenally well.
On a personal note, every time I see her well staged exhibits I immediately think of a dish of Beans that the legendary Brython Stenner staged at the NVS Championships at Southport many years ago. Also the exquisite dish of 18 beans that Charlie Maisey staged at the NVS Championships at Wisley. How does she manage to grow and stage such superb quality beans from early July right through to October? All will be revealed.
10.45 – 11.00 Question and Answer session.
11.00 – 11.15 Coffee / Tea Break
11.15 – 12.30 Gardeners Question time with the Speakers. A roundup of the weekend. It doesn’t matter how well you listened to the talks, there’s always that gardening problem or question that you forgot to ask that may be still bothering you. It allows you the opportunity to ask the speakers further questions on vegetable growing that may not even be related to any subject discussed during the seminar – why not challenge them with a problem that’s been a source of worry to you for so long .
12.30 – Traditional Welsh Sunday Lunch before departing .
The weekend all in cost is £195.00
*Please note that the time limit allowed for each speaker will have to be adhered to but may have to vary to suit circumstances outside my control*
Next Year’s Seminar will be from the 12th to the 14th November.
Medwyn Williams.
Photo Call at the 2008 Seminar
The Speakers taking part in the November Seminar last year Last years attendees during one of the lectures.
Welcome to My Blog
This is my first post.
What crazy weather we had during July, I have never seen so much rain in all my life. I built my house 35 years ago and one afternoon during early July, the rain was so heavy that it was within a whisker of coming in through the back door, and our house is nearly on top of a hill!! The humidity that followed the rain has certainly caused havoc and I have never seen potato blight so bad.
Hampton Court
A number of growers who came on to my display stand at Hampton Court were all devastated by both Blight on their potatoes and Downey mildew on their onions. The latter is becoming a major problem for the amateur grower as there are is no effective fungicide treatment that can be used. The former however can be controlled, to some extent, by spraying quite regularly with Dithane 945. I have never had the need to spray potatoes in my garden at all as I never had any blight. This year however I was well and truly caught out as were a dozen rows that I had in my field.
Once you have been caught out with the blight there is only one thing you can do and that is to remove the haulms as soon as possible after the leaves show signs of it. To really get the best information available on this I phoned Dr David Shaw from Bangor University who is accepted as a world authority on blight. David’s advice is to remove the haulms and leave the potatoes in the ground for a three week period before lifting them. This will allow the skin on the potatoes to set and prevent any blight spores from entering the potato through any fine scratches into the flesh.
David has been working for a number of years now with the Sarpo family in Czechoslovakia on blight resistant potato varieties and I am certainly going to plant these in my field next year. This year will also be a real test on his varieties to see how well they do stand up against the ravages of this disease. The Sarvari Trust that operates from Bangor, and controls the Blight free potato material, are holding an open day there tomorrow so I am looking forward tremendously to that visit and I shall be writing a report to Garden News about it.
What crazy weather we had during July, I have never seen so much rain in all my life. I built my house 35 years ago and one afternoon during early July, the rain was so heavy that it was within a whisker of coming in through the back door, and our house is nearly on top of a hill!! The humidity that followed the rain has certainly caused havoc and I have never seen potato blight so bad.
A number of growers who came on to my display stand at Hampton Court were all devastated by both Blight on their potatoes and Downey mildew on their onions. The latter is becoming a major problem for the amateur grower as there are is no effective fungicide treatment that can be used. The former however can be controlled, to some extent, by spraying quite regularly with Dithane 945. I have never had the need to spray potatoes in my garden at all as I never had any blight. This year however I was well and truly caught out as were a dozen rows that I had in my field.
Once you have been caught out with the blight there is only one thing you can do and that is to remove the haulms as soon as possible after the leaves show signs of it. To really get the best information available on this I phoned Dr David Shaw from Bangor University who is accepted as a world authority on blight. David’s advice is to remove the haulms and leave the potatoes in the ground for a three week period before lifting them. This will allow the skin on the potatoes to set and prevent any blight spores from entering the potato through any fine scratches into the flesh.
David has been working for a number of years now with the Sarpo family in Czechoslovakia on blight resistant potato varieties and I am certainly going to plant these in my field next year. This year will also be a real test on his varieties to see how well they do stand up against the ravages of this disease. The Sarvari Trust that operates from Bangor, and controls the Blight free potato material, are holding an open day there tomorrow so I am looking forward tremendously to that visit and I shall be writing a report to Garden News about it.
