Page 38 - Simply Vegetables Spring 2023

Letters
Potato varieties of old
The copied pages are taken from the 1938 edition of The Blue Book of Gardening
Catalogue, found in an abandoned shed in not too good a condition but all the pages are readable. This is promoted by Carters Tested Seeds and contains an unused seed order form and addressed envelope for use that year.
This hard backed 425 paged book has just about everything that a gardener at the time would need from seeds, plants, garden tools, chemicals and bee keeping accessories plus an annual programme calendar for planting etc. with photographs and illustrations, some in basic colour, much of the information still useful today.
Not many of the varieties listed are still available in current catalogues but of particular interest to NVS Members, pages 124 and 125 lists many varieties which we do not see readily available today but still interesting to note.
The photographs show the catalogue and order form as found, plus two pages of the listed kinds.
Keith Boxall, Southern Branch
Poems by Nigel Ball
The worms are happy
All the worms are happy that spring is here Wiggling looking after our soil give a cheer
Working on that compost, aerating the ground Trusting that the gardeners are safe and sound.
We are ready with spades and forks in hand To work that soil, and composted land.
So fruit, veg and flowers may grow
And seeds potatoes and shallots all know
The best has been done for them And we know, look after, and when.
The harvest later in the year
May shed a smile, but not a tear.
To a new year my friends
Growing veg is an art you see Experience or amateur it suits me
Vegetables for show or just for fun
In this game there’s room for everyone.
Fresh veg grown the taste you just can’t beat As potatoes dug, roll out and hit your feet 3 show one’s, 2 big ones, others quiet small
I can find use for them all.
I’ve been in horticulture nearly 50 years
Things have gone well, sometimes cost me dear One thing I am proud is to have variety
And be a member of the National Vegetable society.
38 Simply Vegetables