Page 62 - ALG Issue 1 2020

Southern
Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire and Hampshire
Welcome to our new members...
Ash Allotment Association
Cripley Meadow Allotment Association Little Rissington Parish Council
South Oxfordshire District Council Vale of White Horse District Council Hook with Warsash C of E Academy
21 individual members
REPRESENTATIVE
Mrs Jenny Crawford
0845 013 0335 southernregionrep@gmail.com
MENTOR
Paul Neary
South East
0845 313 8422 pneary.nas@gmail.com
Potato Days in and around the Southern Region 2020
January
Sun 5th Sat 11th Thu16th Sat 18th Sat 18th Sat 25th Sun26th
February
Sat 8th Sun 9th Sat22nd Sun23rd
March
Sun 1st Sun 8th
Oxford Potato Day
(with Pennard Plants) Swindon Potato Day
(with Pennard Plants) PetersfieldPotatoAfternoon (with Pennard Plants) Marshfield Potato Day
(with Pennard Plants)
Fleet Seed Potato Day
(with Charlton Garden Centre) Urchfont Potato Day
(with Pennard Plants) BlandfordPotatoDay
(with Pennard Plants)
Codford Potato Day (with Pennard Plants) London Potato Fair (with Pennard Plants) PewseyPotatoDay (with Pennard Plants) FromePotatoDay (with Pennard Plants)
Garden Museum, London, Potato Day (with Pennard Plants)
Damerham Potato Day
(with Pennard Plants)
The Southern Region will have a stand at the Frome Potato Day & Seed Swap that will be held on Sunday 23rd February between 10am & 2pm at the Cheese & Grain, in Market Yard, BA11 1BE. It is an opportunity for gardeners to buy all kinds of garden and allotment products, from spring flowers to seed potatoes, as well as gardening equipment, many different kinds of seeds, onion sets, garlic, fruit trees and bushes etc. and to join in the Seed Swap to exchange the seeds they have saved or have left over, with other gardeners.
The Southern Region’s Stand
Royal County of Berkshire Show 2019
Mike Cantillon
The last of the large agricultural shows in the Southern Region – locally known as the Newbury Show – regularly
takes place over the third weekend in September and brings an end to our attendance at shows for 2019. This year, the organisers made major changes
to the layout of the showground, with the flower tent moving to the opposite side of the site, and also with a reduced entry of plants stallholders, the organisers incorporated a catwalk to promote wedding attire at one end of the marquee. Regular show visitors who headed for the previous location of the flower tent found themselves in the sheep tent and discovered that there were far more breeds of sheep than they had thought!
Whilst the entry of stallholders was reduced, there were the regular entries to the Grow Your Own competition and
Pumpkins!
Grow your own!
the intervillage section. More entries to the Grow Your Own competition would, however, be welcomed. The home produce section displayed many ‘mouth-watering’ entries.
Throughout the two days of the Show, we had a steady flow of visitors to our stand, many relating their experiences over the growing season and others seeking advice on numerous diverse problems. We again displayed some cucamelons on the stand. They attracted and facilitated us to interact with numerous visitors, many who had grown them. Some loved their taste, but others had differing views; the general consensus was that they would be ideal in cocktails! It gave us the opportunity to promote the Society and the benefits of membership, from an individual and Association viewpoint.
62 Allotment and Leisure Gardener
An intervillage entry