Page 64 - Simply Vegetables Autumn 2024

Flower and cake heaven
hours to visit. Thanks go to all our members and supporters who grow an abundance
of plants for us to sell, as well as the Dorset Tea van for providing us with free cups of tea in exchange for some plants.
A week after Beaulieu, we held our Wellow plant sale. It amazes
me that our growers
produce enough plants for
Lucy, Moira and Barbara
bacon rolls and other culinary delights that Barbara and Debs serve us throughout the event. Many thanks to all those who made cakes and savouries for us; Ann’s egg sandwiches in particular are a firm favourite.
In July we visited Stem and Green organic flower farm near Winchester.
The weather forecast was dire, with thunderstorms expected just as we arrived. We were lucky though; we were under cover when the heavens opened. James Greig gave his talk on creating the farm, his voice getting progressively louder to
be heard over the heavy rain. Just as he finished, the rain stopped, the sun shone, and we toured the flower fields to see what they were growing. They had only been at that location since the start of the year, so it was incredible to see how much they had achieved. When we had finished looking round, we had tea and the most delicious cake. We had a lovely afternoon, surrounded by lovely scenery and beautiful flowers. Check out www.stemandgreen. co.uk for beautiful British flowers.
Ali Clarke, Secretary Hants DA
both events. David took
control of plant production
by recruiting members
who can grow on a larger
scale. We supplied seeds,
compost and pots, as we
recognise the cost of these
has increased so much. Our
plant sale would not be the same without Ann Hill bringing her wheelbarrow and we love it when parents bring their children along; we gave Manaia & Daithi Trant some free plants to encourage them to garden. Our customers love the quality and variety of plants we produce. They also love the
Manaia & Daithi with free plants at Wellow
Thank you Dorset Tea
We all took along dubious looking plant material for Ray to examine
In June, Ray Broughton came to delight us with “Pests and Diseases Live.” We all took along dubious looking plant material
for Ray to examine. He normally puts it under his microscope and projects it onto a big screen to delight and disgust us. Unfortunately, his software
had corrupted, so he was unable to do that, but examined our plant material with an eye glass exclaiming with delight “Oh look at this!” Which of course we couldn’t but somehow it did not spoil the evening and we all went away with lots of advice, mostly involving the use of SB Plant Invigorator.
Seed Zone – not just for kids
MEETINGS:
Venue: Sherfield English Village Hall, Salisbury Road, Sherfield English, Romsey SO51 6FL, unless otherwise stated.
• 12 Nov – “Gardening and Growing the Soil Food Web Way – Who Really Grows Our Plants” by Eddie Bailey from RhizoPhyllia
• 10 Dec – AGM + entertainment
• 11 Feb – “Summer Flowering Bulbs” by Jo Woodland from Direct Bulbs
64 Simply Vegetables