Page 53 - Simply Vegetables Spring 2024

Busy Commercial area - general Busy commercial area - Ecothrive
a very informative talk on growing “15 point veg” (for the 15 points and under class). Jim chose to talk on the following veg that he had grown in 2023 which included Onion sets, Broad Beans, French Beans, Globe Beetroot and Sweet Peppers. Jim highlighted his growing
picked out of the hat; Fred Stewart won the square Maxibright Day Light 0.8m3 , Neil /Muirhead won the Maxibright Day light 1.2m3 and Jean Thomson won two LED Propagation strip lights, whilst Dougal McDougal won the x4 pot 8.5L
that the day runs smoothly...from the planning, setting up on the Friday, buying refreshments, preparation of filled rolls, keeping the break area running slickly
and cleaning it after each of the three sessions, manning the sales table, handling the numerous membership renewals, managing 200 club tickets, selling raffle tickets and looking after the main door
and entrance fees, what a team! It’s great when everyone does their bit to help. A big thankyou to our speakers for freely sharing their expertise and to Eric from the Aytoun Hall who was so helpful throughout the preparation and event itself, and last but not least to Gavin Thomson of Premier Hydroponics – what can I say – an absolute star! You and the whole commercial team
– thank you all for your amazing support in so many ways – you make the day complete.
So, as you read this in the Spring of 2024, we are already starting to plan for November 16th in the Aytoun Hall, once more, so get it in your diary and we look forward to seeing you there.
Fiona Shenfield
Photos below from Gareth Hopcroft’s presentation
methods, the finer details re-judging as well as some good feedback on eating the veg (which to me, is a very important part).
the experts joined together in helping answer all the questions well
AutoPot system, Ian Simpson won the x4 pot 15L AutoPot system, Jim Brown won the x4 pot XL, 25L AutoPot System, Sue Taylor won the x4 pot XXL, 50L AutoPot system and Alan Findlay won AutoPot’s new GIMA award winning AutoPot
Time for a quick break,
some afternoon tea and
cakes and another visit to
the trade stands before
the audience sat down ready to “ask the experts”. Our panel of experts comprised of our three main speakers, Mark Hall, Gareth Hopcroft, and Jim Williams plus another of our own well-known veg growing experts in the form of Alistair Gray. Questions flowed and the experts joined together in helping answer all the questions well.
“Tray2Grow” system. What amazing prizes, thank you so much. We are looking forward to hearing how all our winners get on throughout the coming season.
Yet another successful seminar... the event was closed by Frank with words
of thanks....and there are so many that we need to thank. Firstly , a big thank to everyone who came to the seminar in the new venue, thanks to everyone who contributed to the raffle prizes, thanks to all our committee members who work so hard throughout the year and in ensuring
As the presentations and questions finished for the day, we moved swiftly on to our two raffles. Firstly, we held our Scottish Branch raffle with the highlight of some lovely hampers. It was great to see one
of our committee members Melvin Miller back at the Seminar after a long bout of illnesses. It was also noticed that Melvin’s luck in raffles has not been lost as he was one of the hamper winners along with a delighted Gareth Hopcroft of Ecothrive. Our second raffle was an overwhelmingly generous raffle, courtesy of AutoPot and Maxibright lighting. Excited members
had bought tickets for the amazing prizes on offer in this separate raffle and the following growers were delighted to be