Page 9 - Simply Vegetables Autumn 2020

example!) and take more exercise and to eat better to reduce obesity, at least they were the other week! It’s been a bit quiet this last week, perhaps the exercise was too much for them! Growing your own is good exercise so you are doing your bit. I was reading the other week that Professor Tim Lang from one of the London Universities is predicting food prices rises so another reason to grow your own.
companies, it will give them a better understanding of the cultivars.
I know many of you have missed the shows and D.A meetings since the spring especially the exhibiting. The NVS will re-start D.A meetings as soon as it is safe to do so and conditions allow, this will be announced on the website and the various D.A websites so keep your eyes open.
As we are approaching the end of the year (although I am writing this in early August!) I thought I would review some of it. Weather wise it has been interesting, a
beans, plenty of lettuce and beetroot. The cucumbers in the greenhouse are cropping their hearts out, it is a new cultivar from Johnsons called Swing and is a good cropper so far. Tomatoes have been slow and I have only picked my first this week,
yet in the same greenhouse peppers have been brilliant. I did something I tell others not too and brought some very cheap seed as
I could not find my packet, it is mixed and they are producing loads.
Carrots have been a disaster, I think owing to the dry weather every time I sow or could be slugs, unkind members may say poor sowing! I have sowed four times and at present have no more than twenty carrots. The French and runner beans were a bit late going in as they were a bit of an afterthought but are making good growth now. Sweet corn transplanted very well even with only one watering and is growing fairly well
but has started to flower too early so I am doubtful if the cobs will be full size.
Early potatoes have been interesting, there are not many but some are the size
of bakers so I am using them as jacket potatoes which by this time of the year I like a change from. The maincrop seem to be coming on well.
Fruit wise the tayberreies (I think) have cropped well, wineberries as usual doing very well, and the early raspberries have been fairly good, although the autumn do not look so good. I am eating some of my early apples now and had a few plums and cherries which were very nice. The remaining apples and pears are doing well and I should have thinned more, which I fail to do each year. The birds sampled my strawberries, I must net them next year!
I have rambled on long enough now so will wish you well, stay safe and enjoy your growing.
The trustees have recently held two meetings by zoom owing to the Covid 19 crisis, this was an interesting experience
and on the plus side saved
a lot of travelling so good
for the climate and less
expense for the NVS. As
members will know the
trustees are implementing a
development plan and are
making steady progress but
have been slightly delayed
owing to the Covid crisis.
Once things have settled
down the trustees will risk assess the plan and make sure it is still appropriate and make any changes required. Obviously increasing membership will be important and the trustees will develop a recovery plan for next year.
D.T.Brown gave the NVS 200 bottles of liquid plant tonic which were divided up 40 to each branch. If you were lucky enough to get a bottle please send your feedback to D.T.Brown as they will be very interested to hear from you as that is why they gave the bottles to the NVS. It would be nice to hear the feedback so it could be passed onto other members.
Also both D.T.Brown and Marshalls included a packet of seeds in the April edition of the magazine, again please send your feedback / comments to the
very wet end to last year and start of this so most soils were at field capacity (holding the maximum amount of water possible). This was followed by a mild spell and then a glorious spring and early summer which was very enjoyable. It is at this point my brain clicks in and I release not all
of the UK had the same weather as down here in the south. From listening to the weather forecasts I believe parts of the North West and Scotland had quite a bit of rain.
I emptied all my water butts, got a partial refill and then emptied them again so having to use some tap water. Thank you to the member who read my comments on water butts in the last SV and sent a post card saying she had loads of water butts as well, I hope they kept you going. The last week has been warm but cloudy, it is forecast to be hot and sunny for a couple more days now and I am not sure what is coming later in the month.
Moving onto crops, despite the dry weather I have had good crops of cauliflower although a month late which messed up
my crop plans, fairly good pea and broad
The cucumbers in the greenhouse are cropping their hearts out...
Simply Vegetables 9