Page 32 - Simply Vegetables Summer 2022

Letters
Roger Clements from the Midland Branch has been keeping my postman very busy recently with a regular flow of letters, I have set them out below as one long letter on the range of topics which Roger mentions. The first letter was addressed to Ron Nuttall regarding Ron’s carrot article in the previous edition of Simply Vegetables.
Dear Mr Nuttall,
Carrots
Thank you for your excellent article on carrots which I tried to follow to the letter, oh in most details and produce an 8 inch (20cm) deep fine raked bed. I was unable
to sow exactly two seeds at the intervals stated, but perhaps four and I sowed four drills about 4 foot long. I am not sure which variety they were as I am awaiting a delivery of Chantenay and Nantes from D.T. Brown. Regards, Roger Clements, Midland Branch
The above letter was followed a few days later by the one below:
Dear Editor,
Because of insufficient planning and being unlikely to see 29 again I have overdone
it. The crater I dug for the carrots as Mr Nuttall’s instructions resembled the effect of a small explosion from a grenade
leaving large amounts of clods of earth surrounding a hole which is to be the carrot bed; tired I went home. The next day in the chair and tea in hand I assessed the scene. The carrot crater approx. 2 feet by 8 feet (60cm by 240cm) and following weeding with a Chillington hoe (again too heavy) I decided to backfill the hole. Adjacent was the soil I had left from digging the runner bean trench so threw this into the hole
until it was full and level and collapsed into the chair for another cup of tea (good for shock!) then left for home. Throwing spades full of soil is very tiring.
A local store sells reasonable quality compost at £4.99 for 90 litres so two sacks were taken to the allotment to spread over the area. Charles Dowding recommends laying cardboard over grass areas and covering with manure and / or compost and then planting or sowing into this, I may try this sometime.
Comfrey and Nettle Tea
On a recent correspondence course,
I studied there was information about comfrey and nettle tea for feeding plants. They suggested two 2-gallon containers stacked one on top of the other, the top one has three open triangles in the base and this is packed with ideally young comfrey foliage and the other has young nettle foliage. Both are packed tight and weighed down with a brick then 56lbx of
water added. Mine initially collapsed during a strong wind so I moved it to a more sheltered place. They produced 8 gallons of brown liquid which I dilute 1 to 1 for
use on vegetables, I sometimes make the nettle one a bit stronger. Nettles are high in nitrogen, and this can leach out of the soil so needs constant replenishment. Leaching is not good as it goes down into the soil and then rivers and out to sea.
Compost
Doctor Joad was a member of the BBC Brains trust and when a question was asked, he said “it depends on what
you mean by e.g., compost? Which is composed of decayed plants and used to makefertiliserorimprovethesoil”.Followed by fertiliser “a substance added to the soil to improve its fertility”. It appears to be more to it than this, or is there? What has been added to increase fertility? Animal manure and what do animals eat plants! Grass, leaves, straw, and hay. The animals added to the plant material, and this is how it increases the fertility. What properties
are in compost to do this? One teaspoon of soil contains millions of bacteria as also do humans mostly benign although they can go wrong and need treatment with an anti- biotic. Fertile soil is capable of producing good quality young crops but it is too lengthy to examine here on how fertility is increased and the role of bacteria.
No-dig
Why instead of this labour-intensive process of the soil being dug, raked and Growmore added, or chicken pellets do we not just sow into the topsoil? Do cultivars know the difference, and will they detect the artificial ingredients and wait for organic fertiliser or manure? Percy Thrower the well-known television gardener used to say “the answer lies in the soil”.
Recycling
Boxes like many of thousands we use for various materials, and some come in small boxes 18 inches * 8 inches and 1 inch deep (45cm * 20cm * 2.5cm), open these up and they will form a seed tray you just need to Sellotape the corners and they are ready to use, fill with seed compost, sow and water. They will last for one crop.
Carbon
Some garden practices release carbon into the atmosphere as do some treatments
of the soil, perhaps the amount released
is in proportion to the method used e.g.
12 inch (30cm) digging with a spade will release a larger amount than shallow forking or any action that disturbs the soil less. Historically soil was disturbed using wooden ploughs pulled by oxen, but these may not have ploughed to any great depth.
Perhaps garden practices are dwarfed
by the phenomenon of climate change / global warming from the melting of the Russian steppes, smoke from domestic and industrial processes, South American and USA forest fires, motor exhausts and other large releases of carbon dioxide.
Perhaps a scientific analysis could determine a comparison of the amount
of carbon released from various sources and how much is released form a cubic metre of soil and a cubic metre of peat. Mr Guy Barter, Chief Horticulturalist at the RHS advises deep disturbance of the soil releases carbon to the atmosphere and to reduce this pierce the top 3 inches (7.5cm) over the vegetable plot and just hoe and rake to produce the seedbed.
Horticulture and Homicide
In the 1960’s a young man lived with his parents at a remote farm in Wales, the parents disappeared and although strongly suspected the police could not prosecute
as in those days there was a requirement to produce irrefutable evidence of death and no bodies were found during searches. Whilst we was in custody the police searched the farm again and a cabbage patch showed
an area of crop failure, the parents were beneath these and the man was charged and found guilty of double murder.
In the case of Armstrong the Hay on Wye doctor who was convicted of poisoning
his wife with arsenic, years later it was discovered the ground around theirs and other houses was contaminated with arsenic and could have been ingested by Mrs Armstrong but for Doctor Armstrong it was sadly too late.
A wide range of topics so something of interest for all! Roger also asks if it is possible to publish the judge’s exam syllabus? Maybe in Simply Vegetables.
Charlotte my love
I don’t know why I love you, but I do your eyes so appealing
your skin so waxy complexion buttery soft to the lips Charlotte my favourite potato.
You’re like a wheelbarrow
A wheelbarrow
Handles to hold you tight
a wheel to spin around in excitement contains your wonderful produce unloading is easy but sometimes heavy going
You can have a rest, being on your legs you get tipped up in the corner pink, mauve, green in colour lovely meeting you, my friend.
By Nigel Ball
32 Simply Vegetables