Page 8 - Simply Vegetables Spring 2022

Kelvin’s Comments
KELVIN MASON, NATIONAL MAGAZINE EDITOR
Welcome to the Spring edition of Simply Vegetables in which we have a wide range of articles that should provide something of interest for all members. Hopefully by this time of the year your growing is full steam ahead. At the
time of writing this in early February inthesouthoftheU.Kwehadhada relatively mild winter with just a few frosts in January; we have also escaped the worst of the gales that battered
the northeast of England and Scotland not just once but twice. This is one of the consequences of climate change / global warming and worse is likely to come in the future.
Article, wise I was pleased to have received a number of articles from both new and established contributors. David Allison the previous editor of the magazine has sent an article about showing at various RHS shows that have sections amateur gardeners can enter, so if you fancy a bit of good competition with good prize money look at David’s article and have a go at entering. Continuing the
RHS connection Gerry Edwards who is chairman of the RHS fruit group continues his series on fruit growing in this issue covering currants of many colours! If you have the space and can protect the fruit from the birds’ currants are worth a go and give some good summer fruit.
For an update at what is happening in the NVS have a read of Fiona’s Roundup and News from the Trustees, both Fiona Shenfield and Raymond Higgins have contributed a number of articles to the magazine for which I thank them. Raymond has produced the puzzle section as this was one of the requests from last year’s survey, both Raymond and I would be interested to know if this is something that members as a whole want. These things take time to produce so if not wanted it
will save Raymond the time and effort, if wanted we are happy to continue with them. If any other members have puzzles or relevant quizzes, please send them.
Whilst on the topic of article inclusion Fiona spends a lot of time and effort in putting together the What’s On for which
I thank her but again is it something members use and read? It is very interesting to see what is on and where, but do you use it? Or the website? Feedback would be appreciated if only to save Fiona some time and effort.
From the Kitchen has recipes from Linda Hargrave and Marion Neden for which I thank them both and as usual they look very appetising. If you have any good recipes for the use of fruit or vegetables, please send them in and if you have a photograph that is always useful. Graeme Le Marquand from Jersey shows how he
is aiming to get new potatoes for Easter, living in Jersey is an advantage! Can any members on the mainland achieve this without using heated greenhouses?
I am very pleased to have received
four letters for this issue and please keep sending them either as emails or by snail mail (addresses on page 3). It is a short easy way to have your say on the NVS, make a comment, add to a debate, offer some advice or pass on useful information to members; and I like receiving letters!
Norman Dickinson who keeps himself very busy with NVS tasks, the honey show and his allotment has included a report
on the membership which is increasing. If you know of any vegetable or fruit growers tell them about the NVS, we will welcome more members.
You may remember that Michael Gordon penned an article on recycling for the
last magazine and I asked if he would do another one for this issue. Michael and John Harford have included some good ideas for recycling in the garden and Anne Hemsley sent in a letter on what she did with some old polycarbonate from her conservatory. We need to reduce our consumption of resources and recycling
is one way of doing this so please look at reusing or recycling any waste materials. It will save you money and give you a smug satisfaction on using something that would have been disposed of as waste. It may only have a miniscule effect on climate change but every bit counts and we all need to do our bit.
As most of you will be aware inflation has taken off and is likely to get worse over this year, this will include the price of food which will rise quite steeply owing to a number of reasons and not just energy. In fact, as I had my lunch today the chairman of Tesco’s said he expected food costs to increase by 5% over the next couple of months. So, to enable you to grow nearly instant food I have included an article
on growing micro greens which can be sown and harvested in a few days. If you buy the seeds in large packets, it is very
economical. They can be grown on your kitchen windowsill, elsewhere in the house, conservatory, polytunnel, or greenhouse and take up very little space. Micro greens are something children can grow and
are more likely to eat then, they are very nutritious so give them a go (the micro greens that is not the kids!).
We have not had an article on giant vegetable growing for a while, so I
was pleased to receive one from Peter Glazebrook on growing long runner beans. As Peter says many local shows have a class for the longest runner bean so it is worth giving them a go as there will be a show not too far away you could enter. You might even get hooked especially if you are competitive. The advice Peter gives is just as appropriate for growing “normal” runner beans.
I was very pleased to be contacted by one of our members who is a Plant Health Inspector, Clare Hogan and she has very kindly written an article on what the Plant Health section do and her job which is very interesting. Please note her advice not to bring in any seeds, plants or parts of plants from abroad or you could be responsible for spreading a new pest or disease into the U.K. Have a look at the photographs in Clare’s article so you can identify some of the possible culprits and if you see any of these in the U.K please report them to the Plant Health section.
Ron Nutall has sent another article this time on carrot growing with good advice on achieving a good crop of carrots. Many thanks to Ron for continuing to send articles. Talking of continuing articles Derek Brooks continues with his seasonal work series giving advice on what you should be doing in your garden or on the allotment. He has already sent me July to Septembers for the next issue!
Emily Plumb’s series on It’s Sow Simple reviews some of the lessons from last year’s sowings, if you are new to growing you will find Emily’s advice very useful.
I mentioned Raymond Higgins earlier in my comments and he has also produced an article on tips for showing, this is ideal for anyone new to showing and will provide you with good guidance on what to do to achieve good exhibits that will win prizes. Ray also mentioned that they are running
a judge’s exam in Ireland later in the year; if you fancy becoming a judge and have some showing experience have a go at
8 Simply Vegetables