Page 65 - Simply Vegetables Spring 2022

Kent District Association
At the time of writing (early February)
I remind myself that you will not be reading this until April, by which time we would have had our AGM in March and a presentation by Lucy Cozens from the horticultural supplier Fargro.
It was really frustrating back in January not being able to find some of the more popular show varieties of potatoes. It appears that there were some poor yields of seed crops due to the dry Summer last year. Some missing favourites were Bonnie, Amour and Blue Belle (not seen for a couple of years now). I shall be aiming to have all my potatoes planted out before the end of April.
The Spring is probably the busiest time of the year on the veg plot for us all with loads of things to be sown and planted both on the outdoor plot and in the greenhouse. Managing the space in my 10ft x 8ft greenhouse is tricky at the best of times but now it will be overflowing with plants for our plant sale in May.
The Kent DA meetings are held at
Bridge Village Hall, CT4 5JZ on the second Wednesday of each month from March to October (except July). Meetings commence at 7:30pm and are open to NVS members and visitors. We normally will have a guest speaker and some refreshments are offered (tea and cake!). Some dates for your diary are listed below.
Meetings at Bridge Village Hall:
Wednesday 13th April
Harry James with a talk on ‘No- Dig Market Gardening – Principles, Techniques and Getting Started.’
Wednesday 11th May
Vanessa Jones with a talk entitled ‘Starting Over – Leaving One Garden for a New One’
Wednesday 8th June
Clive Nuttman with a talk entitled ‘Plants Have Feelings Too!’
Other Kent DA Events:
Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th May Plant Sale, West Kent Garden and Craft Show at Tonbridge Angels Football Club, Longmead Stadium, Darenth Avenue, Tonbridge, TN10 3JF. Help required please.
Other Kent Events:
Sunday 26th June, 1:45pm
The Kent Federation of Horticultural Societies Summer Show at Ditton Community Centre, Ditton, Aylesford, Kent, ME20 6AH
Details for future events will be reported in the next issue of Simply Vegetables and posted on the NVS website when available.
For more information about the Kent DA or any of the above events please contact Chris Passey on 01732 352707 or email chris.passey52@gmail.com
Chris Passey
Surrey DA
The Surrey DA are looking forward to a better 2022 with a full programme of speaker meetings, we have held our AGM and the committee were re- elected to sit for another year.
My thanks to all of them for the work they have put in over the last year. Members are looking forward
to attending their local shows and garden club events. We hope to attend external events at RHS
Wisley including the Plants Societies Weekend on the 18th & 19th June and Flower Festival in early September.
Future Events
April 13th. 8pm start. Growing in
the Autopot system. REDHILL METHODIST CHURCH.
May 11th. 8pm start. Hot Beds. Growing better vegetables. Tom Maskell.
14th Sept. 8pm start. Growing Apples & Pears on the Allotment. Gerry Edwards 12th Oct. 8pm start. Alliums for the Garden. Jackie Currie
9th Nov. 8pm start. The Modern Kitchen Garden. Mark Dobell
Venues
East Horsley Village Hall. Kingston Avenue, East Horsley, Leatherhead, Surrey, KT24 6QT
Redhill Methodist Church, Gloucester Road, Redhill, RH1 1BP
Welsh Branch
The next Welsh Branch committee meeting will be at 11am on 19th March at the Lamb & Flag Rhayader Powys, followed by the AGM at 2pm.
Our main focus will be our annual show planned for Wrexham on the 20th & 21st August. We are hoping for 3rd time lucky as the hall, which is local authority owned, was used as a covid testing centre, which meant we had to cancel our show in 2020 and 2021.
We are also getting ourselves organised to put up a 15ft display at the Royal Welsh Show in July. I must say the last two
years have been hell. We’ve missed the interaction with the public, and the fun and feeling of satisfaction we get from creating a great display. I must say from a personal perspective I’ve taken great satisfaction
in looking after my leeks and onions this year, and I hope to get them big enough to exhibit in late July.
Since Christmas it’s been unusually dry in South Wales, this has enabled me to catch up with jobs in the garden. The more you can do in the winter the easier it is
in the spring. Jobs I want to do next is to
go and get some old well-rotted manure and spread it on the garden and allow the elements to wash it into the top spit. My garden has not had any organic matter
for the last two years, Covid restrictions stopped me getting it, so this year a special effort to get some. I’ve grown vegetables continually in the rear garden behind
my house for 52 years and unfortunately club root has taken hold. Quite how it came in heaven only knows. I must say
the cauliflower Clapton and the Brussels Sprout Crispus have both been wonderful with their club root resistance and given me good crops.
Throughout the covid episode I’ve enjoyed my visits to the National Botanic
Garden of Wales. Mondays and Fridays we can walk the dog there too. Even though its winter, it’s nice to see that work goes on there. On my visit in Late January, I must say it’s the best I’ve ever seen it at this time of year. We enjoyed the snowdrops too.
Ivor Mace
Simply Vegetables 65