Page 8 - Simply Veg 3.21

Welcome to all our new members who have joined since this year, I am told we have had quite an influx, which is good and bodes well for the future of the
society. I hope the new members (in fact
all members) find something of interest
in the magazine and feel it is worth their subscription. Simply Vegetables is written by members for members, so you have an influence on what appears in the magazine. If you would like a particular article on fruit or vegetables (or related topic) please let me know. Even better I would be happy
to receive a letter or article from you – my contact details are at the bottom of page 3. Any member can contribute articles of any length from 100 words to 10,000 words if you fancy and a photograph or two helps but is not essential as we can often source them. Just for guidance the deadlines for the October magazine is the 6th August and the January 2022 magazine is the 2nd November, I look forward to hearing from some of you!
In a previous magazine I mentioned about the mushroom growing kits that can be purchased from garden centres and seed companies and asked if any members had experience at growing them; unfortunately,
I did not get any feedback. But in late April there was a short report on Radio 4 saying that they have become very popular and that sales have increased greatly. Suttons seeds reported a 43% increase in sales and a couple of other companies that market them to garden centres reported a large jump in sales. The unusual types of mushrooms like shiitake and oyster are the most popular but the common button mushrooms are also selling well. If you have tried them, please let us know how you got on and whether you
feel they are value for money. I am not sure whether the mushroom growing is a trend owing to more people growing their own or just a side affect of Covid 19. Its good that people are growing more of their own food.
The advantage of growing mushrooms is that they do not need light so can be grown anywhere such as a cellar, attic, under the stairs in a shed etc. they just need the right temperature, moisture and a food source. Although not really considered a vegetable they are edible and are a healthy and useful food so worth growing if you have the space and they produce a worthwhile crop for the cost. Just to be provocative could they be shown in any other
vegetable?!
food miles very low and helps my bit for climate change.
My sowing is going well although carrot germination has been low possibly owing
to low temperatures even though I covered the area before sowing with polythene and recovered after sowing. I have sown two lots outside and one row in the polytunnel but
all have poor germination. I sowed some in containers in the greenhouse and they have come up like mustard and cress and need heavily thinning. I will sow more when the temperature warms up, but I was hoping to get some early ones this year so am a little disappointed. My other crops are doing fine,
Kelvin’s Comments
By the time you receive
this magazine we will be
halfway through the year,
time seems to go faster
as I get older or is it in the
mind! I hope your vegetable
year is going well, at the
time of writing in late April I
have harvested a couple of
pickings of asparagus and
more should be ready, loads of leeks planted last year, a few small cauliflower from the greenhouse (size seems to be a problem this year), some salad leaves and pea shoots and plenty of rhubarb; although this is rather tart this year for my sweet tooth. I have used all my stored carrots, what few parsnips
I had, the turnips and all my cooking and dessert apples. I still have onions, potatoes, winter radish and artichokes in store and hopefully by the time I have used these my early crops are ready. I am self-sufficient
in vegetables and about 60 to 70% self- sufficient in fruit for the year. This keeps my
I am self-sufficient in vegetables and about 60 to 70% self-sufficient in fruit for the year
the broad beans are in flower, the kale still producing well, lettuce, spring onions and salad leaves have germinated well and have had my first picking with plenty more to follow. Indoors I have sweet corn, tomatoes, aubergines, cucumbers, melons, squash and pumpkins all getting to a size that need planting but it is either too cold outside or
no space in the greenhouse for the tomatoes etc!
Article wise I am very pleased to receive an article on no-dig growing from a student at RHS Gardens Wisley (the RHS receive copies of the magazine) in which she puts a very good case for no-dig growing. You can now consider your options and maybe give no-dig a try. Gerry Edwards has moved up to the slightly exotic fruit of cherries, a very nice fruit but can sometimes be slightly difficult
to grow. It is certainly worth a try in warmer areas and you have good bird defences!
Ron Nutall has put pen to paper again with guidance on growing runner beans for exhibition, maybe some of our newer members might like to give this a go as runners are a fairly easy crop to grow even for exhibition.
Once you have grown your crops the ladies in the kitchen have some good recipes for cooking and eating your produce. If you have any good recipes, please send them
in. Raymond Higgins is looking forward to traveling again and the growing of Japanese vegetables. I have to confess to never
really thinking about Japanese vegetable growing having focused more on the Japanese ornamental gardens. Hopefully once Raymond has been to Japan, he will tell us more about their methods of growing vegetables. Raymond is also conducting
a survey on behalf of the NVS trustees to
get feedback from members on what they
8 Simply Vegetables
KELVIN MASON, NATIONAL MAGAZINE EDITOR