Goathland Village Show – 2026

The buzz of the village show started as soon as we got hold of the entry list; there was much debate and conversation around what we would and could enter- would the beetroot finally have its much-awaited growth spurt, would the beans last, would all of our brassicas succumb to flea beetle (more on that later). This year’s show saw us entering more categories than before, and we were so excited to be part of it all once again.

The behind-the-scenes prep for the show is something we juggle alongside our regular day-to-day gardening tasks; still, we were genuinely thrilled to take part and were fuelled with renewed enthusiasm and a healthy dose of caffeine!

As we grow our food for the restaurant kitchen, we had to balance what we were supplying for them with what we needed to hold back as potential prize winners. Being brave enough to keep some of our crops in the ground just that little bit longer than we normally would and hoping they wouldn’t succumb to pigeons, flea beetle or a deer dash and grab.

And as all gardeners know, growing conditions this year have been really challenging across the country with the intense and prolonged heat and long spells without rain. Despite that, most of our vegetables have really flourished, and we were really proud of our entries.

Every surface in the utility room the day before show day was stacked with a mix of raffia, baskets, piles of beautiful crockery and vases, cut flowers, duck-shaped potatoes (self-explanatory of course)and hand-selected vegetables. As the list we had drawn up was extensive this year, keeping track of classes, entrants, and the reels of stickers we had been allocated was interesting!

We entered a beautiful basket of mixed edibles including celeriac, beetroot, our prize-winning onions (it’s official)  and some of our delicious yellow courgettes and this medley won us first prize. Our onions also won first prize in the undressed category and third prize for dressed (I’m not ashamed to admit that some of our time was spent studying YouTube videos on the correct presentation for this). Our yellow courgettes, complete with flower intact (after some careful manoeuvring to the village hall), also won us second prize and a variety of other prizes across the board from our other entries.

The floral side of the village show was wonderful to be part of again, and with the addition of our new dahlia bed this year, we certainly had more to choose from than in previous years.

The marquee for the flowers and edibles is always an absolute joy to wander around; there’s just so much to look at and chat to others about their entries. It’s a riot of colour and a show of some serious hard work and pride. It really sums up the heart of the show for us and a really special village tradition that we love to be part of.

Flea Beetle Apocalypse 2026

This year we like many others up and down the country have been shocked by the increase in the number of the dreaded flea beetle. This tiny little creature has wreaked havoc on our brassicas on a frankly impressive scale. It is not an unfamiliar problem to us in the kitchen garden, but the volume of them this year has been more than we have ever dealt with. We have stopped sowing our very popular oriental brassica salad mix as little to none of it was surviving and looked more like an elaborate lace art installation than a food crop.

We always net our more vulnerable crops with enviromesh to give them protection but this acts as a defence more against moths, carrot root fly and butterflies than flea beetle. This year, we have chosen to use a specific flea beetle nematode, and we will be ordering our second batch any time. These more overcast days will give us more opportunity to apply the nematode treatment and make a dent in the population.

The sheep fleece we collected from our local farmer has also been recruited in the fight against flea beetle, in the hope that it will create a tricky barrier for newly emerging larvae.

On closer inspection of the field recently, the sound effect in the kale area can only be linked to a productive day at a popcorn factory with thousands of the beetle popping and hopping all over our crops with glee. The worst of the crops have been stripped of their affected leaves and have had a heavy mulching with sheep fleece around the bases of the plants to give them the opportunity to recover.

When you face an uphill battle like this and realise that it has just been a really terrible year for flea beetles for most you do have to be realistic about what you can do, accepting some losses, uncovering some kale to be sacrificial whilst protecting and preserving what you can.

However, they do have a more discerning palate than we first gave them credit for; we have found they have a particular penchant for Red Russian and Nero di Toscana kale, and the varieties they turned their noses up at included Redbor, Dwarf Green Curled and Scotch Blue Curled.

We are also planning to increase our companion planting to include Chives and Tagetes. In a desperate attempt to repel some of our latest visitors, we bought 36 very large French Marigold plants and have planted them amongst our brassicas and salad crops. Then we just have to wait with bated breath and see what difference our chosen defences make hoping as the weather cools down, their numbers drop off and allow us to get sowing again.

Have you been at the mercy of the flea beetle this year? Any tips that worked for you?!