Chelsea Fringe, which coincides and overlaps with the RHS Chelsea Flower Show (but independent of it), is now in it’s third year. For one reason or another I’ve yet to be able to attend any Fringe events (nor the Flower Show in recent years), but in true Chelsea Fringe style it can also be experienced online. And in fact you can take part even if you don’t get to London!
Michelle over at Veg Plotting has organised a second annual ‘virtual’ event; this year the theme is Shows of Hands. The idea is to submit a picture of hands in a garden, or in the act of gardening or some sort of garden-related activity. Visit Michelle’s blogpost Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands for full details of this event and how to take part.
My contribution is titled: Brassica #showsofhands
Photos taken: 17th May 2014
Place: my garden, Sheffield, UK
Photographer: Kevin Meaney
I’m a fan of the Brassica family, which includes vegetable delights from purple sprouting broccoli and cauliflower, to brussels sprout and kale. Show time for brassicas can be all year around. My contribution focuses on showing curly kale, which I’m planting now just as Chelsea Fringe commences, and it can be harvested from late summer through winter and into the following spring.
In these photos I’m getting ready to plant out some Dwarf Curly Kale. In the first photo I have separated out a seedling, and the second photo presents the seedling, and the hands that will plant, tend and harvest the resulting produce, in more detail.
If you use Twitter, post photos and links to your blogs etc using the hashtag #showsofhands and #chelseafringe, as Michelle (@Malvernmeet) will be creating a map of all participants with links to our posts and tweets, at the end of the project.
Thanks to Michelle for hosting this virtual Chelsea Fringe event. It’s great to be able to take part from here in Sheffield, and I’m looking forward to seeing #showsofhands from other gardeners throughout the UK, and beyond. Thanks must of course go to my partner Kevin, for taking the photographs that enabled me to take part.
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Take part: Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands
This is great Gwenfar, thank you. I'm really pleased to see a vegetable related post and some suitably dirty fingernails 😉
Enabling people to take part no matter where they might be was one of the key reasons why I started my virtual events. I love the Fringe and its ethos, it's a really inclusive and positive event to take part in and such a good advert for horticulture!
A most enjoyable post and pictures. There's nothing quite like getting dirt under your fingernails as you have here.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting on my 'Show of Hands' post. Happy gardening. Flighty xx
Perfect, my butcher commented that I must have been gardening the other day, and he was right, I had forgotten I needed to pick up the chicken. How did he know? My hands, with their filthy nails! I've largely given up on brassicas, I am sick of them getting munched, but it is great to see your hands working on producing great stuff to eat, a rather nice counterpoint to the bling that is Chelsea.