Page 53 - Simply Vegetables Summer 2023

since he had brought different types of compost along with him to highlight the differences between the various peat- based and peat-free composts.
Peat cannot legally be extracted from any of the UK territories apart from Northern Ireland and the sale of all peat- based composts to retail customers in England is currently facing a ban from 2024 (2028 for commercial growers). It is still not clear whether this rule will apply
to the other UK constituent countries, or whether the export of peat from Northern Ireland to the other UK countries will be allowed under arrangements governed by Market Access Principles as defined under the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020. Despite this uncertainty, the race is on commercially to develop and market suitable peat-free alternatives which offer the same or similar qualities to existing peat-based composts.
Lee distributed samples of the various composts that he had brought along which allowed the audience to view the appearance and feel the texture of each sample.
Most peat-free composts currently comprise one or more alternative products which are often artificially coloured to make them look like peat. Examples include green waste, wool, coir, wood chip, bark, comfrey and bracken. Most current growing composts have lime added to bring the pH to about level 6 and better- quality composts also contain a wetting agent which helps the compost to rewet and absorb water again if it has dried out. It has been difficult, so far, to produce a low pH and truly ericaceous peat-free compost.
Coir may become the best alternative
to peat for growing potatoes where lime
is not required but it needs to have been well-washed first in order to remove excess sea salt. There are also some ethical
and environmental concerns over the sources of coir, the establishment of new plantations, freshwater sources for washing, travel distances from India and Sri Lanka
to Europe, the use of child/exploited labour and similar ‘green’ and social issues.
Wool versions of composts, though probably the most expensive alternatives, may also contain comfrey and bracken which help to retain water and nutrients. Wood chip needs first to have been ‘exploded’ in order to create suitable air spaces within the material rather than forming merely solid pieces of wood.
The provenance and content of green waste, especially that produced by municipal recycling tips, is completely unknown and offers obvious potential risks as a successful growing medium. Of more interest, perhaps, is the use of the waste product remaining as a result of methane (biogas) production using anaerobic digesters which utilise maize and similar vegetable/cereal sources.
There was much interest and interaction shown by our audience and a lively discussion took place over a subject which will surely have an impact on all growers in the not-too-distant future.
In April, David Hanson came to talk to us about his herd of Hereford cattle and his beekeeping activities in North Yorkshire.
He is a farmer but has kept bees for nearly 20 years and now has 260 hives spread across various farm sites in his local area. Fields growing oil seed rape account for about 40% of his honey crop, but hawthorn hedgerows, field beans, borage, wild flower meadows, Himalayan balsam and ling heather sites all impart different flavours to his honey during the season.
He also runs beekeeping courses at
his farm and produces about 2,500 jars
of honey per month, wax candles and gift packs which he sells at local fairs as well as online. He averages about 40kg of honey per hive over the year although his best hive produced 160kg last year. Each worker bee will produce the equivalent of half a teaspoon of honey during its lifetime.
Beekeeping can be traced back to Roman times but the bee colony’s behaviour was only fully understood towards the end of the nineteenth
century by the American apiarist Lorenzo Langstroth who is considered to be the father of modern beekeeping. He worked out the optimum size of bee space within a hive which enables bees to continue comb- building and therefore maximise honey production. Most beekeepers rear the Buckfast strain of bee which has evolved
to produce bees which are relatively docile in behaviour, produce suitable colony sizes and yield decent quantities of honey. The only drawback commercially is that they are active egg producers all year round and the colony needs supplementary feeding with sugar solutions during the winter.
The life cycle of the honey bee comprises
David Hanson from Flixton
four stages from egg to larva to pupa to adult bee. Queens, which can live for up to 5 years, hatch after 16 days, workers after 21 days and male drones after 24 days. The amount of royal jelly fed to the larvae determines the ultimate sex of the hatched bee. Worker bees last for about 40 days before they expire and drones are corralled together and driven out of the hive, usually at the end of September. Up to 50 queen cells are reared in each hive but the first queen to emerge will often sting and kill the other queen larvae before they emerge from their cells.
It was an interesting talk about a subject which we probably take for granted without fully understanding what is involved in the production of honey. David brought along samples of the various honey he produces for sale. I can honestly recommend the heather version!
Reports on our Summer events will feature in the next edition of Simply Vegetables but, in the meantime, our programme of planned events and current news can be seen on our website http:// nvseyda.uk. and Facebook page. 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
Manchester and Cheshire DA
We had our AGM in February with us electing a committee. We have speakers for the rest of the year.
We had a really interesting talk about Orchid care from John Leaning. John showed us how to re-pot newly purchased Orchids and how to remove the seed basket from the centre. I had no idea this existed. He also explained about the various pests and diseases and the best way to water and feed the Orchids.
Our next meeting will be Barbara Wilkinson a trained herbalist talking about how to use nature to use as medicines.
• 11th June: Bridgewater Trip – no Tuesday meeting will be held but details will be given out in a prior meeting.
• 4th July: Gaskill’s garden on a plate - Jackie Tucker
• 5th September: Drop Crop Me Now – Rachel
• October – No Meeting
• 7th November: Quiz and Buffet
I have now started using Eventbrite to try and reach a wider audience to attract new members to our meetings.
We meet on the first Tuesday of the month at 7:30pm at The Hough End Police Club, Chorlton M21 7SX.
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