Page 8 - Simply Vegetables Autumn 2020

I hope you are all managing to avoid Covid 19 and its affects and are all staying fit
and healthy. You should be fit if you have been out in the garden and / or allotment, the Government is recommending cycling and walking to improve the nation’s fitness, gardening will give you a better all-round fitness as it uses more muscles and plenty of stamina. As well as keeping fit you should have been producing your own vegetables, saving on the increased prices in the shops and eating fresh healthy produce. Providing you are not adding too much salt or sugar to your fresh produce and are cooking using healthy cooking methods you should also be having a healthy diet, another of the Governments aims. Maybe we should write to Boris and tell him we can solve the nation’s problems in one go, join the NVS! Seriously eat healthy, maintain your ideal weight and get some exercise and you are doing your bit for the NHS.
One effect of Covid 19 is we have lost a number of members who for various reasons have not renewed, to remain an active
and vibrant society we need to increase
our membership so if you know any keen growers who are not members please invite them to join. This is easy using the website either the old or new one whichever is working now. If you have an allotment some of your fellow allotmenter’s may be keen to join; or if you are a member of any clubs.
I am extremely pleased to say we have a number of new contributors for this issue which means you will not have too much of me. I would like to give a very big thank
you to all the new writers as it make the magazine more interesting and gives a different perspective. Michael Snowden has sent in a follow up to the article on gardening for the elderly in the last Simply Vegetables and explains some of the techniques
and equipment that he uses. If any other members have methods or equipment they use please send in details; even if only a short letter.
can give good crops if grown well and well worth a try. They can be grown as cordons which take up very little space up against a wall or fence.
Graeme Le Marquand shows us an idea that the prisoners at La Moye Prison on Jersey are using to grow vegetables and it looks very useful for people who do not have much space. Raymond Higgins has a couple of short articles, one in the Irish section the other on health which is very interesting and I agree with the points he makes. Derek Brooks series on Seasonal jobs covers the work you should be doing in the garden or
Kelvin’s Comments
I know peppers have been trendy
for a couple of years and obviously still
are as I received two articles on pepper growing. One by Graham Brickstock on
the germination of the seed
and the second by Kenneth
Lumby on how he grew for
the Harrogate Flower Show.
Simon Smith very kindly
contacted Emma Jesson
an ITV weather presenter
and interviewed her for the
magazine. It is good to see
people like Emma getting
involved in growing. Adrian
Baggaley tells the story of
his watermelons, I would just like to be able to grow watermelons never mind store them so long.
Emily Plumb continues her series on Its Sow Simple and also gives an update on
the July sowings she made and mentioned in the last Simply Vegetables. She has
also persuaded Chris Harris to send an article on his experience of growing under lockdown – thank you Chris. Gerry Edwards continues his series on fruit growing covering gooseberries, they are not widely grown but
allotment over the next three months, there is still work to do if you hope to get good crops next year.
Jim Symonds has sent another article in, I am always pleased to hear from Jim as I know he is still going strong then. He is looking at some of the fungal and virus diseases and has his usual words of wisdom.
I was sent a book to review which is very interesting and may be of interest to some but not all members as it about the effect food production and use is having on climate change which as you will know is a topic close to my heart. Also I have included two articles relevant to this time of the year to keep you busy and active in the garden, the first on winter growing and the second on tree planting and finally an article on veganic growing which may interest some of you especially if you read the book I review, if
not at least you will know what veganic gardening is.
I mentioned above about losing members over lockdown and read recently that the RHS is anticipating losing 25,000 members so we are not alone. To remain a viable society we need to keep our membership up to around the 2000 level so if you know anyone with an interest in vegetable growing please point them in the NVS direction. If any members have ideas on how we could boost membership please contact one of the trustees whose details are on page three and let them know. Covid 19 has resulted
in an increase in the number of people growing their own vegetables so there is a potential membership out there we just need to encourage them to join. The seed and plant supply companies have been doing a roaring trade so we just need to get on the bandwagon.
The government is encouraging the population to keep fit (Boris is setting an
I know peppers have been trendy for a couple of years and obviously still are...
8 Simply Vegetables
KELVIN MASON, NATIONAL MAGAZINE EDITOR