Page 8 - Simply Vegetables Summer 2023

At the time of writing (end of April) the weather in the south of the country has been cool and wet for much of March and April and it said on the radio that we had double the normal rainfall in April and March was also high. Hopefully no water shortages this year then!
Growth so far this spring has been very slow even in greenhouses, the plums and pears were late coming into bloom and the apples have only just come out. Vegetable plant growth has been slow, I planted my potatoes at Easter and so far, no sign of them and I also sowed parsnip, radish, carrots, beetroot and salsify and only the radish has germinated up to now. Even
the weeds have not started to grow on the allotment yet! I have picked forced rhubarb and asparagus from outdoors and small carrots, lettuce, kale, chard and pea shoots from under glass. Seedling growth indoors is slow possibly owing to the poor light levels.
We seem to be getting cooler and duller spring weather these days which delays growth and will delay and possibly reduce harvests unless the weather warms up soon. One of the problems with this is that the day length is increasing and we are missing out on the extra growth that could be gained owing to lower temperatures reducing it. In the future we may need to consider ways of sowing / planting crops earlier by making use of cloches both glass or polythene or starting plants undercover
by sowing or pricking out into modules and then planting them out when the soil and air temperature are warmer. The lower temperatures in the spring delay sowing as there is no point in sowing seeds if the soil temperature is too low as the seed will not germinate. Even weeds seeds which are mainly native plants and have evolved to grow in normal UK conditions are slower starting to grow.
After all the rain we have had this winter / spring all of my water butts and tanks are full except three which have sprung leaks, or a previous repair has failed. Leaking water butts seem to be becoming a perennial problem as I had a similar occurrence last year. Is it just me or are leaking water butts relatively common? As most water butts are similar in size (give
Kelvin’s Comments
It mentioned on the radio at lunchtime that Scotland has had a warmer and sunnier spring than usual; maybe we should move the growing of early crops up there then!
Is it just me or are leaking water butts relatively common?
or take a few litres) I would have thought someone would have developed
/ invented a plastic or polythene liner that could just be put inside the water butt to hold water.
A large thick polybag that holds water would do
the job as the water butt would hold the weight and
Another problem I have
had overwinter and this
spring has been with the
peat free composts or peat free rubbish might be a more accurate name for the products. So far this winter I have tried two different manufacturers, and both have given poor or non-existent growth. I was going to write an article on peat free but ran out of time – possibly a good job as
support it. Are any members aware of a water butt liner, if so, who supplies them? Please let me know before I waste any more time trying to repair mine! If they are not available then there’s a business opportunity for someone, just donate £1 to the NVS for each one sold, and you can have the idea and patent it! Whilst on the subjects of water butts, I heard a report on the radio about a project on the Isle
of Wight where householders are being given a water butt to collect the water from the house roof to help prevent or
at least reduce flooding. If every or even most houses collected roof water, it would considerably reduce the pressure on the sewerage system and the risk of flooding which is devastating for people suffering and extremely expensive to put right.
The project is a brilliant, inexpensive and sustainable idea and the water can be used on the garden.
At the time of drafting these comments I am helping on the NVS stand at Gardeners World Spring Fair at Beaulieu (well actually I am sat in a deck chair in the sun!), see Alison Clarkes report in the Southern Branch News. I had a walk around the plant stalls / stands and was shocked at the plant prices; I do not visit garden centres that often and had not realised how much prices had increased. This may possibly
be owing to some plants being imported and also some nurseries having to recoup the cost of losses due to the two very cold spells we had in December and January especially in the south of England; I am told that one nursery lost 50,000 Hebes owing
it would have been a vitriolic rant! I will
try to do one for the October issue and consider our options in the future. I notice in the Branch News that some DAs are having talks on peat free so I look forward to reading the reports, also if any members have found a good reliable peat free growing media then please let us know.
Poor seedling growth
8 Simply Vegetables
KELVIN MASON FNVS, NATIONAL MAGAZINE EDITOR