Page 61 - Simply Veg 4 2022

Kent District Association
I’m pleased to say that it has been ‘business as usual’ so far this year at
the Kent DA with a good programme of meetings. In May we were at the West Kent Garden and Craft Show, a two-day event, where we had our plant sale.
The previous two events didn’t happen because of Covid, and this year’s show was smaller than usual. On the Saturday, the hot sunny weather brought in a good number of visitors who kept us busy all day. Sunday was wet and the footfall much less. However, overall, we did very well with the sale. Many of you put in a lot of hard work to make the plant sale
a success. A big thank you to all who grew and supplied the plants and to all who were involved with setting up and running the stand.
In May and June, we had meetings
at Bridge Village Hall with Vanessa
Jones presenting a very interesting and enlightening talk ‘Starting Over – Leaving One Garden for a New One’ which was based on a recent house and garden move. Biologist and environmental educator, Clive Nuttman gave a talk entitled ‘Plants have Feelings Too!’ Clive’s talk focussed on the extraordinary ways in which plants respond to the environment and how closely these responses compare with our human five senses. The attendance at the monthly meetings has been a bit low compared to pre-Covid times. It would be good to see
a few more of you there. Remember that our meetings are open to all and so you are welcome to bring friends along too.
Another challenging year weatherwise, we’ve had the driest July since records began and record high temperatures with it. I’ve been busy setting up more water butts at home and on the allotment, but
Plant sale stand
we’ve had no rain to fill them yet! I’m writing this in early August and Southeast Water have just announced a hosepipe ban for Kent and Sussex. This comes after the driest first half of a year since 1976
and the long term forecast for August
and September is for similar weather. Some crops have suffered while others have thrived. Runner beans have been particularly disappointing with poor pod set. Notably, the white flowered variety Moonlight have done much better for me than Stenner. Despite the lack of rain, all on the allotments are reporting good potato crops. Other good performing vegetables have been early carrots, beetroot, onions, French beans, sweet corn and of course, we all have too many courgettes!
Chris and Di Spree both did well with their exhibits at the New Forest Show in July. Chris entered several classes in the Southern Branch Championships and Di entered classes in the New Forest Open Show. Well done Di for winning the Master Gardener Class. In the Southern Branch
Championships Chris gained second with exhibition onions and cabbages and third with onions under 250g, tomatoes and cucumbers.
By the time you read this we would have had our Annual Show at Wingham Village Hall in September. A report to follow in the next edition of SV.
The Kent DA meetings are held at Bridge Village Hall, CT4 5JZ on the second Wednesday of each month from March to October (except July). Meetings commence at 7:30pm and are open to all.
Meeting at Bridge Village Hall, Wednesday 12th October, speaker TBA (at time of writing). See the NVS website for updates.
For more information about the Kent DA please contact Chris Passey, Secretary, on 01732 352707 or email chris.passey52@ gmail.com
Chris Passey
Chris Spree Onion exhibit
Di Spree Master Gardener exhibit
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