Page 8 - Simply Veg 1 2024

A Happy New Year to all members
and a good growing year may all your vegetables crop well and are winners at shows!
This Kelvin’s Comments should be shorter than the previous one as I have received articles from both new and regular contributors so little room for rants. A very great thank you to new and regular contributors as receiving articles make my job easier and I would still be very pleased to receive more articles in the future so don’t be shy. They can be about growing specific crops, growing methods, improving quality and or yields, unusual crops etc. in fact anything vegetable related including recipes. It does not matter how short or long they are I can fit them in.
In previous S.V’s I have mentioned recycling as an important thing to do and still believe it is, but on the radio the other week there was a professor from Sheffield University who was saying it was better
to reduce our use and purchasing of new items as this avoids using the resources
in the first place. A very good point to
bear in mind before buying something or doing some retail therapy! It pays to be self-sufficient where possible, grow your own plant supports using hazel or willow or even bamboo will grow in the U.K. anything that reduces the use of resources especially if imported will be worth while as the least it will do is reduce your carbon footprint and effect on climate change.
Whilst on the topic of climate change I will selfishly plug my book ‘A Gardener’s Guide to Climate Adaptive Gardening’ there is little on vegetable growing but plenty on gardening in a way to reduce your effect on the climate; the more we all do the better for the planet.
some of these are feasible for green house heating, do any member have knowledge or experience of using any of these for heating? Heat pumps are being pushed by the government for home heating but are I think too expensive for greenhouse heating.
I recently read about an organisation called Enrich the Earth which aims to cut carbon emissions and conserve peat bogs by promoting composting. They are
Kelvin’s Comments
In my younger days we had Plant a Tree in 73, Plant some more in 74; now we should have plant a tree in 23 and plant some more in 24! There
is still time to plant any
type of tree during the
dormant season up to
March. Bare-root trees are
very good value for money
whether fruit or ornamental.
Fruit trees on dwarfing
rootstocks take up little
space and start to fruit in a
couple of years so not long
to wait. As well as trees
bush, and cane fruit can
also be planted so try to
find some space and grow
as much fruit as possible to go with your veg. aim to be self-sufficient in both!
Vegetables can be preserved by freezing, bottling, canning (if you have the equipment) and drying but it is nice to have fresh vegetables for most of the year. One method of achieving this is by starting crops early in greenhouses, polytunnels or cold frames and this is even better if they are heated in some way. In the early days of the last century when energy was cheap the large estates heated their greenhouses using coal or later on oil or gas fired boilers. They would produce a wide range of crops including melons, pineapple other early fruit vegetables.
With the current energy costs heating greenhouse and polytunnels is neither viable or sustainable and is unlikely to be for the foreseeable future. So what are the alternatives? One sustainable method is using hotbeds which heat the bed area and raise the air temperature a little. The bed area is usually warm enough to germinate seeds and grow on to pricking out when space becomes tight. Hotbeds are easy
to make although needs a bit of physical effort to barrow in the material to produce the heat.
Other alternatives are small wind generators, solar panels with a battery for night heating, wood burners and methane gas from anaerobic digestors. I am sure
doing a trial project in the Northeast of England so some of our Northern members may be aware of them. Their website at enrichtheearth.co.uk is worth a look.
At the time of typing these comments it is raining fairly heavily and is forecast to continue for a few more days yet having been on and off for a week now. It is not as bad as Storm Babet
in the Northeast of Scotland and there is no flooding but the soil is pretty wet now. I am filling every container I can to give me plenty of water for next year and have managed to repair a couple of water butts which is pleasing. The winter period is the time to get new water butts and get them filled by the winter rains, collecting roof water also helps to reduce flooding so is well worth while.
Looking back to last year crops were slow getting started and I thought it might be a bit of a disaster but I managed good crops of potatoes, onions, grapes, melons and reasonable crops of carrots, sweet corn, tomatoes, cucumbers and in the end cauliflowers which were about 3 months late!
Recently there have been items on the radio about healthy eating and eating more fresh food and less highly processed food which is not good for our diet or health. Yet another reason to grow our own. The same point was made in a couple of magazine articles I read recently along with keeping fit and regular exercise which gardening will do!
Looking at the articles in this magazine we have a wide range so hopefully something for everyone. Vanessa Jones gives a warning about the Asian Hornet which could devastate some of our native insects especially bees so please keep an
With the current energy costs heating greenhouse and polytunnels is neither viable or sustainable
Potato ‘Sarpo Blue Danube’
8 Simply Vegetables
KELVIN MASON FNVS, NATIONAL MAGAZINE EDITOR