Page 57 - Simply Vegetables Spring 2023

Northern Branch
MEMBERS 20000 TO 29999
Chairman’s report
North East Derbyshire District Association (NEDDA)
The DA report for this edition of the SV Magazine usually contains an over-view of our AGM and
a photograph of the elected committee.
Unfortunately, since the lifting
of the Covid restrictions the DA
has struggled to attract members back to our monthly meetings. The attendance of members has fell to about 65-75% of what we normally attracted, this despite having an array of top-class speakers. Based on the poor support, dwindling numbers and the rising costs of transport etc the committee have decided not to meet all year round. Our revised monthly meetings are February (AGM), March, April, May, October & November.
Meetings are held at ‘Pleasley Miners Welfare,’ Chesterfield Road. NG19 7PD starting around 19:45hrs unless otherwise stated.
DA members have got their
heads together and devised a plan
of attack for growing veg & flower plants to sell which helps with the DA’s running costs and finances. Hopefully, we will have some pictures for the next SV magazine of the plant’s sale.
Our Secretary (Geoff Butterworth) is currently in the process of booking speakers and planning visits for
the coming year, which will be promulgated as soon as they have been finalised.
NEDDAs 44th Open Vegetable Show will be held on Sunday 3rd September 2023 at the Village Centre, Glapwell, Derbyshire S44 5LW. For further show or meeting details contact; DA members, Mick Shipley or Geoff Butterworth. Contact details can be found in the NVS Directory.
Mick Shipley
As I write this report in late January, we are seeing the day lengths stretch out and temperatures keeping cold.
So far, we have not had any snow
settle on the ground and very little rain
this year. This is a massive contrast to the past when I was living in the dales and seeing roads blocked in for days on end, year after year. As gardeners we have to adapt the changes looking at sowing and planting times. This year has brought an added problem with the cost of heating regardless of what type of energy we use. In a discussion about this the other day
I feel that we may be better returning to
the old methods of sowing outside under protection and transplanting from rows
of strong plants. I used to purchase bare rooted brassica wrapped up in newspaper dug out of the ground from local nurseries. My dad also grew all his own this way.
No compost required and no heating,
we protected the seedlings from slugs
and snails with the use of soot from the chimneys which had been stored over year. Glass cloches were used for protection and removed to harden off the plants prior to planting.
At work this year we are using a developing product of peat free compost. so far we are on the third version which is now starting to materialise into a working product for our system. We have had to adapt all areas of the growing from filling,
seeding and watering through to gapping. We are producing plants which are of satisfactory quality at the dispatch stage but this has taken months of work to achieve, with a variety of problems along the way. This is our busy time of year from January through to June as we sow around 15000 trays of seedlings each week in the peak of the season.
The Northern branch is now getting prepared for the events throughout the year and with the National championships being held at the Newby Hall. Harrogate* Autumn flower show in September we look forward to meeting up with some of you at this event. We will be hosting the AGM at the Nationals with a buffet to follow. This year we will not be holding an evening event following the National show as the constitution does not allow us to hold a social event at great expense to the society.
Any new members please look up
on the website for your nearest District Association and events they will be holding this year. This is one way you all can benefit from what the society does for the members.
Good growing and showing for the months ahead
Adrian Read FNVS Chairman Northern branch
* Please check the NVS web pages for detials of local hotels.
North Yorkshire and South Durham DA
We got the New Year underway with our first meeting of 2023 on the 25th January, with a very good turnout. A great evening with Adrian Read giving a short presentation regarding the development of Peat Free Compost available to the Commercial grower.
Afterwards we had our AGM – we were a little low on committee members and our Treasurer Helen Wight was stepping down. Thankfully Deryck Forrest agreed to take over the role of Treasurer and we had two further volunteers to bring the committee up to strength - Angela Graham and Steve Forrest.
So, what does this year hold for our gardeners, well we have a good schedule
of events although it is not yet complete. Our next meeting at the end of February will see Geoff Wilson giving his presentation “Invading the Rootzone”. In March, Our Potato Growing competition is eagerly awaited. The
mini show will take place in September and the
Marrow competition for October. That will
be the last event for the year because of
rising costs and poor turnouts for the
November session we have agreed not
to hold a meeting in November.
Geoff Wilson
Simply Vegetables 57