Page 63 - Simply Vegetables Winter 2021/22

Southern Branch
MEMBERS 50000 to 59999
Chairman’s Report
That’s it, another year over another year older, but are we any wiser? I think that we have certainly learned a lot over the past 18 months, learned to social distance, to wear masks
to constantly wash our hands but what we have not done is to respect Covid and what it can do to families. Infection rates are on the increase (as I write this at the end of October 2021) but there is a large section of the populace who believe that because Government imposed restrictions that have now been lifted, at least in England, they can act as though Covid has gone away. It has not. We all have a responsibility to others to behave
in a responsible manner. With about 5 million of all adults in the UK not having had even a first jab, they are potentially putting our health service under greater risk than need be, as well as themselves and families. Only time will tell what effect this will have over the winter period.
2021 has not been a good year generally for growing outside of the polytunnel and greenhouse, with wildly fluctuating temperatures and periods of extensive rainfall then almost drought conditions. Our poor plants must have been wondering what the heck (I could have used a stronger noun here) had hit them and it is no wonder that yields and quality were down in 2021. I don’t know what it was like in other regions, but here in Sussex almost everybody that I have spoken to said that they were hit by blight on their potatoes
and outside grown tomatoes. For the first time in many years, I planted my surplus tomatoes outdoors and all
were hit by blight. Fortunately, those
in the polytunnel were not affected and I enjoyed a bumper crop of different varieties.
As have I mentioned previously, I grew long carrots and parsnips for the first time in Canna Coir in 150mm pipes. Generally, I was very happy with the size, but skin quality was not brilliant, especially on the carrots (even though I managed a first for both carrots and parsnips at our local allotment show) I put this down to watering, which was a little erratic at times this year and I now have plans
for an automated watering system for next year, which I will elaborate on another time. I also grew globe beetroot in Canna and managed a second-place card at the allotment show and have further plans for next year.
Not quite sure how it happened
but myself and another Sussex DA member have been roped in as part of a new South of England Agricultural Society (SEAS) Horticultural Committee. The Chair of the Committee resigned in 2019 after which it effectively disbanded, in part due to Covid lockdown and restrictions but it has now been resurrected with planning for the 2022 Ardingly Spring and Autumn shows and the summer South of England (SoE) Show well under way. Finances are tight, so the format of the SoE will be different from previous years. Further details will follow as planning progresses. With the lack of a Horticultural Committee in 2021 the horticultural section of the 2021 Autumn Show
was in doubt. The Sussex DA offered
to help and organise the horticulture show, which was accepted by SEAS. I will not expand any further as a report
is also in the Sussex article in SV.
It has been very satisfying to now be able to attend various shows that
were held over the past few months. For me it started with a visit to the Edenbridge and Oxted Show held over the August bank holiday then our own National Championships in September followed by the Lewes Allotment Show one week later. The Ardingly autumn show was at the beginning of October and culminated in a day on the Surrey NVS stand at the RHS Wisley Taste
of Autumn event. I also officiated
at the National Honey Show held at Sandown Park racecourse from 21st
to 23rd October in my role as their Membership Secretary and so ends the events calendar for 2021.
Planning and preparation on the allotment is now well on its way although I am a little later than in previous years. The polytunnel and greenhouse have still to be cleaned both inside and out, heated sand beds to be re-established together with a whole raft of other things still to be done. As they say, “time and tide waits for no man” so must get a move on. Norman Dickinson
Southern Branch Chairman
Brainteasers Answers
1. A Stamp
2. A Towel
3. Seven (take away the ‘s’ and
it becomes ‘even’).
4. Answer is 25.
Here in the image top right, there are a total of 24 triangles, that are made from the question image and the 25th triangle is in the question.
Spot the Difference Answers circled here...
Simply Vegetables 63