The first of this autumn’s harvest celebrations gets underway next weekend at the Malvern Autumn Show, an extravaganza of giant veg and foodie heaven that will have your mouth watering.
The show is a must for anyone who loves growing their own food, as it’s packed with talks and demonstrations from some of the country’s leading grow your own experts from award-winning climate change gardener Mark Diacono to garden writer Alys Fowler.
The highlight, as ever, is set to be the CANNA UK National Giant Vegetables Championship, where records are broken every year with eye-popping giant pumpkins and impossibly long carrots and parsnips. In previous years the show has seen the world’s heaviest red cabbage, at 23.3kg; and the world’s largest onion, weighing in at 8.16kg.
There’s another world record attempt at the Festival of Perry, where growers are celebrating the Perry pear, used for juicing and to make perry – the pear equivalent of cider. Pear farmers from across the Three Counties will be combining forces to attempt the world record to showcase the most varieties of Perry pear, and there’s also the chance to tour the showground’s prized National Collection of Perry Pear Trees.
At the gardening village you can stock up on plants, bulbs and other garden goodies, and in the Floral Marquee, there are displays from over 35 nurseries plus a crack advisory team from the Royal Horticultural Society, on hand to answer all your gardening queries and conundrums.
Renowned floral designer Jonathan Moseley is taking part in the show’s Floral Fiesta alongside more of the country’s top florists and growers; this year the theme for the Floral Art section is ‘For the Love of Colour’.
The Malvern Autumn Show takes place on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th September 2018 at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern, Worcestershire. For more details, visit www.malvernautumn.co.uk.