Page 55 - Simply Vegetables Winter 2021/22

Stewards listening intensely to the judging deliberations
but less hazardous to non-target species than in former times. One notable exception is 2-4-D which is often combined with glyphosate and sold under the Kyleo brand name. Once considered a human health
risk and subsequently banned, it is now available to tackle the increasing resistance shown to other herbicides by invasive plants such as Japanese knotweed and Himalayan balsam.
Hydroponics are used commercially to grow much of the produce we currently buy from our supermarket shelves. For example, 8kg of strawberries per year can normally
be obtained from eight plants placed
in one growbag which is a far greater yield than can be obtained by growing the same number of plants in the
open ground. However, growing in enclosed polytunnels can lead to problems with such things as pests, diseases, pollination, excessive damp, water acidity levels (pH) and lack of trace elements unless appropriate measures are taken, usually with the aid of computer-controlled, automatic monitoring and application technology.
John is a keen and successful showman having won recently at
the NVS National Championships. However, he stressed that it was not necessary to spend huge amounts of money in order to enjoy exhibiting
at vegetable shows and to achieve success, especially at local and regional level. His advice was to target those shows within your reach and capability and to grow accordingly. He grows leeks and onions from his own saved stock plants but sprays the developing seed heads regularly against aphids, the main spreaders of virus diseases. He advised against purchasing seedling plants such as leeks from growers with a history of supplying virus-infected plants since, in his view, a virus- infected plant would never produce a
show-quality specimen.
In conclusion and perhaps
mindful of our upcoming DA Show,
he expressed the view that Show trophies were a nuisance to many exhibitors, particularly those who travelled regularly to numerous shows around the country. A controversial view perhaps but, nonetheless, food for thought and an idea worthy of further discussion by our
raspberries and white strawberries. He covered all aspects of growing
fruit and what temperatures they grew best in. He also covered pests and diseases and how to control them given the minimal pesticides available to the amateur grower. He gave information on pruning fruit, in particular apples which can be pruned at varying times of the year depending on what you are
Committee in due course! After a gap of two
We have now launched our new nvseyda. uk website
trying to control.
One of the highlights
of his talk was the fact that he had brought
free samples! He had several trays of produce, apples in particular, to which we were invited to help ourselves. This provided a chance to
years because of Covid
restrictions, we held an
excellent Annual Show
at Cherry Lane Garden
Centre on Sunday 26th
September 2021. A
total of 21 exhibitors
(including members of West Yorkshire DA) staged 190 exhibits which made
try some of the lesser known apple varieties which are not in the shops.
At the end, there were questions from the audience about pests and pruning which he had not covered during the talk and these were answered fully and knowledgeably.
We have now launched our new nvseyda.uk website (based on the Wordpress format), together with our NVS East Yorkshire Facebook page. We hope that, as time goes on and word gets around, more and more people will develop the confidence to return
to our meetings and events. Reports on our Winter events will feature in the next edition of Simply Vegetables but, in the meantime, our programme of events and current news can be seen on our website http://nvseyda.uk. Covid restrictions permitting, we will resume in 2022 with our AGM in January followed by a selection of those events planned but held over from 2020 and 2021. Our continued aim is to provide a variety of interesting topics throughout the year that will appeal to our existing members, as well as attract new ones. Paul Neve FNVS
a very impressive display on the
day. This year, we dispensed with a formal prize-giving ceremony but the trophies were displayed alongside the appropriate winning exhibits for everyone to admire.
At our October meeting David Allison presented his talk on Growing Fruit. Unfortunately, only 20 people attended and it would appear that
the fear of Covid infection within an indoor setting is still a major concern for many of our members.
David provided a whistle stop tour
of the latest fruit growing techniques highlighting the supermarkets’ requirements for perfect specimens which means that most commercial fruit are grown in soil-free conditions and under protection from the elements. He talked about the new varieties and the interspecific breeding of plums and apricots in particular.
He remarked that new varieties are sometimes non-traditional in colour and flavour e.g. lemon-coloured blackberries tasting of pineapple, black
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