Page 59 - Simply Vegetables Summer 2023

Sussex NVS DA
Following the Election of our new Chairman, Marion Nedon, our AGM saw most members changing their roles. Norman Dickinson is now Vice Chairman to allow him
to recover from his illness, Brian Jeffries is now Secretary and Paul Dalby is Treasurer with his wife, Brenda. Gordon Cooper is still a Committee member and in charge of Merchandise sales.
On April 22nd/23rd we had a successful promotional stand at Spring Live, Ardingly and raised nearly £300.
Our next meeting on May 10th
will be a talk by Geoff Peach on “Vegetables for Everyone.” We are hoping to arrange a Summer visit but many Commercial firms are hesitant to start them after Covid.
Future meetings are on September 13th for our Mini Show; we shall also be helping with the Vegetable Show at the South of England Autumn Show on September 23rd and 24th.
After last year’s success, our November 8th meeting will be the “Bring and Eat” evening. Members bring a dish or food for 4 people and the Club supplies the Wine and soft drinks. Some of the dishes made from home grown veg were amazing. Guests and potential new members are encouraged.
Essex District Association
At the time of reading, we will have had the majority of our 2023 programme, and perhaps even our Mini Show (depending on when the SV magazines are delivered). If it’s early July, then we hope to see lots of you at the Mini Show on Sunday 16 July. Otherwise, we hope you enjoyed it!
However, at the time of writing towards the end of April, we have had our first three talks of the year. Our talks for 2023 so far have covered a variety of growing related areas. Firstly, Ian Bedford gave us a talk on all things about wasps. Who knew there were so many species just within the UK! It was really interesting to learn more about the lifecycle of the wasp, the different types we might see within the garden at different times of the year and the part they play
in keeping our gardens ticking over (if we ignore the stings!)
Next up, we had a detailed talk by
Simon Smith on growing tomatoes. Simon shared his method of growing tomatoes for exhibition with us, albeit you could apply lots of the same techniques to growing tomatoes for the kitchen table. It was particularly interesting to hear how Simon thins out his tomatoes and selects those that he is going
to go on and try and grow to show.
In April, we had John Hughes come and talk to us about judging RHS Shows. John
is a cacti expert first and foremost, but also has extensive experience of judging other parts of shows, including the vegetable stands. John has been judging at RHS Shows such as Hampton Court, Tatton Park and Chelsea for a number of years and it was good to hear about the judging criteria for the display stands at these shows – something I’ve always wondered about when you compare it to the individual exhibition classes that we tend to be more familiar with.
Thanks to all our speakers so far in 2023 – we have thoroughly enjoyed your talks and learnt a lot.
Our final talk of 2023 will be a talk by Tracy Mackness from The Giggly Pig Company on Sunday 15 October, followed by our AGM on Sunday 19 November.
We still have a vacant Secretary position on our Essex DA committee. If anyone is interested in taking up this role, please get in touch. For further information on Essex DA events, please contact Emily Plumb
on emily.plumb@btinternet.com or Sherie Plumb on 01621 741787.
Surrey District Association
The weather is improving, and I am busy putting together my final planting plan, bed preparation is nearly complete and I think I have caught up after the poor weather.
The fruit trees are full of blossom and hopefully a good crop will follow, the new fruit trees I grafted after attending a course at RHS Wisley are showing promise, fingers crossed they take.
Why is my greenhouse “Never Big Enough”, too many tomatoes and pepper
plants after I promised myself I would cut down on numbers, enough, beans, peas etc to feed the village, I must get some self-control!
The Surrey DA is looking forward to a bumper growing year with members keen to get planting but watch out for that late frost and cold spell.
DA meetings have started, and numbers are on the increase, whether we get back to pre-covid numbers, we will have to wait and see, fingers crossed.
We held our AGM in February the committee was elected in its entirety, unfortunately at the AGM in 2024, 5 members will be standing down, so we are looking for new members to come
forward, anyone who is interested in getting involved please speak to any member of the committee.
DA meetings as follows:
10th May – Unusual Edibles - Matt Oliver
7th June – Visit to Tozer Seeds
13th September – Alternatives to Peat _ Stuart Mills
11th October – Grow It, Show It, Eat It - Janet & Brian Arm.
8th November - Plant Breeding Innovation – Jamie Claxton
All meetings held at
East Horsley Village Hall,
Millennium Room, Kingston Avenue, East Horsley KT24 6QT
Simply Vegetables 59