Page 60 - Simply Vegetables Autumn 2021

Southern Branch
Chairman’s Report
The lack of optimism that I felt when penning my report for the Summer Edition of SV seems to have progressed through to the report that I am now compiling for the Autumn Edition, with no huge improvement in the weather, in fact looking outside it
is decidedly wet and overcast with temperatures around 19-20’C, not what we should be expecting in August.
I did get a very good harvest of strawberries grown in the polytunnel, and just as well because the heavy rains that we had in May absolutely devastated my outside crop. Normally I can expect in the region of 35-40kg of strawberries with all sorts of delicious food stuff being made from them, including jam, but this year I was lucky to get 3kg. Ah well, there
is always next year. Fortunately, the polytunnel strawbs have provided me with enough runners for 30 plants
to be grown in the
tunnel for next year’s
early harvest and also
to replace half of the
outside plants, as I do
tend to replace them all
over a three-year cycle.
Show took place towards the end of July, replacing the cancelled New Forest and Hampshire Show, with 80 class entries and over 170 photographs for me to sort, rename and put up into the cloud for our judges to deliberate over. I will not say any more on this
as Ali Clarke will be doing a report for this edition.
The South of England Agricultural Society (SEAS) were debating whether or not to hold the horticultural competition as part of this year’s Autumn Show and Game Fair on 2nd & 3rd October 2021, as the key person who ran previous competitions had left the Society. The Sussex DA stepped in and offered to run the competition on behalf of SEAS and it has been agreed at a meeting today, 5th August between SEAS and the Sussex DA that we will run the competition on their behalf, so we look forward to receiving
Sussex DA
There is not a lot to say this time, although I am pleased to say that it has been good to see that some shows have managed to go ahead in the flesh so to speak and I have managed to get some judging in. It was also an honour to be one of the judges for the ‘Virtual’ Southern Branch Championships which took place online in July. It was
a different sort of challenge judging this way, but it was very interesting and good to do. It was also a challenge for all those who entered as well, not only having to grow the exhibits but also mastering the art of photographing them for judging. Let’s hope we will be back to normal next year.
At the time of writing this we are still planning to have our mini show in September, and I will report on that next time. We are also planning to have a presence at the Autumn Show at Ardingly where we will be assisting the organisers running the vegetable competition. Again, I will report on this next time.
The 10th of November sees our talks resume and we will be welcoming Chris Stewart who will be coming along to talk all about ‘The Earthworm.’
Sadly, even though we have had ‘freedom’ Monday there are still shows being cancelled as show committees and hall organisers are still coming to terms with what is the new normal. Let’s hope we all get the chance to show and judge in the coming months and can start planning with confidence for the future.
Marion Neden FNVS
Here in Lewes, we
have been badly hit
with blight with nearly
all of the allotment plot
holders suffering from
it. My potatoes have
now been topped and I
hope will have saved the
tubers and the excess
of tomato plants which
were planted outside, have now all been destroyed. The tomatoes in the polytunnel though are still looking healthy and appear to have escaped from the dreaded blight.
I shall be off to Mr Fothergills / D.T.Brown field trial day on 11th August, and if it is anything like the day that we had in 2019 (hopefully without the rain) it will be most interesting. I will put together an article with some photos that should appear in the Winter Edition of SV as the deadline for the Autumn Edition will have passed by the time of the visit.
The first Southern Branch Virtual
Here in Lewes, we have been badly hit with blight with nearly all of the allotment plot holders suffering from it
a bumper crop of entries. The final version of the schedule and entry form will shortly be on the NVS Events page of the website, and it can be found when selecting either the Sussex DA or Southern Branch event categories.
By the time that you read this, the NVS National Championships held on 11th and 12th September 2021 at the Atcham Memorial Hall will be a distant memory
and as Secretary for the Show I hope that I did not make too many Boo- Boos and that all had a most enjoyable time. I have developed the organising spreadsheet to such an extent that most of it is fully automated and require minimal input now. Extensive testing had been carried out using the 2019 entries with just a minority of errors appearing, so hopefully it will be alright on the night, as they say.
Stay safe, enjoy your gardening and I hope to see some of you in the not too distant future.
Norman Dickinson
Southern Branch Chairman
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