Page 13 - ALG Issue 3 2014

Visit the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) to hear about plants and medicine
tips&titbits
Over this summer the RCP are holding
a series of public lectures on medicinal plants. The lectures will be held in their iconic headquarters, with its unique medicinal garden, immediately adjacent to Regent’s Park.
The talks will focus on the relationship throughout history between plants and medicine, from Classical Greece to modern chemotherapy.
Monday 1st September -
Medicines from plants: coming
into the modern era
• Chinese herbal medicine: sources, safety
and sustainability – Christine Leon, RBG,
Kew.
• Medicinal plants – the best form of
defence is attack? Anti-cancer drugs from plants – Alison Foster , Oxford Botanic Garden.
• Nicholas Culpeper: the man and his books – John Newton, FRCP.
Let’s show my
Mick Merrill from West End Gardeners gives some advice to plot holders considering growing show vegetables next year.
When planning your plot for next year, why not make room for some show vegetables and flowers? They do not take up much space as you only need a few specimens of each.
The next job is to think of the vegetables or flowers you would like
to grow. You will need to get specialist catalogues, which you will find in many of the gardening magazines. When you
crops
have ordered your plants and the beds are ready for planting you need to consider timing as this
Why not make room for some show vegetables and flowers?
and pipes to grow parsnips and carrots in; fill the barrels with sand and make holes
Monday 29th September - Medicines from plants: now and tomorrow
• Poultices, plasters and
phytophotodermatitis: plants and the skin
– John Newton, FRCP.
• Poisoning for profit: some of what toxicity
has taught us – Tony Dayan, FRCP.
• Modern plant based medicines and the
way forward – Henry Oakeley, FRCP. The talks, with refreshments and garden tours, run from 2pm – 5pm on each occasion. Places can be booked on the RCP website www.rcplondon.ac.uk/ museum-and-garden/events.
Magazine subscription
Have you thought about giving
a personal subscription to the Allotment and Leisure Gardener magazine as a Christmas gift? At only £10 for 4 copies for members and £15 for non-members a subscription makes a fantastic gift for all allotment enthusiasts.
Member benefits news
After careful consideration we have decided to replace the retail discounts voucher booklet with a retail discount page in the member section of the website. We will be working in partnership with Crest Publications and hope to have the page ready with a selection of tempting offers in autumn 2014.
is vital for your vegetables and flowers to be ready for the shows. So check growing times of the vegetable and flowers so that you will be putting them on the show bench when they are at their best.
In the area devoted to show vegetables you can increase the fertility by digging in manure or compost to the beds. I would look around for barrels
for the compost and fill the pipes with compost.
If it’s your first time showing it may be best to only grow vegetables or flowers; there will be time to do both later. Have a chat to someone that shows or look around to see if an allotment site is giving talks on showing because the more you can learn now, the more it will help you later.
Dramatic evidence that organic farming can
help save bumblebees and honey bees
Soil Association response to proposed Government strategy
The Soil Association welcomes the goal in the Government’s Proposed National Pollinator Strategy to halt and reverse the decline in pollinators.
New evidence is already showing that the loss of bees and other pollinators is affecting farmers. New studies suggest that crops like field bean, apple and strawberry in the UK may already be suffering from insufficient pollination (1). But strawberries have been found to have higher pollination success on organic, compared to conventional farms, and this benefit can appear as quickly as 2 to 4 years after a farm converts to organic (2). A new study has also found that field beans on organic farms have greater pollination success compared to conventional farms.
For the Soil Association’s full response to the National Pollinator Strategy or for media enquiries, please visit: www.soilassociation.org. UK wildlife is in decline. Have you got what it
takes to be an Organic Wildlife Warrior? www.soilassociation.org/wildlifewarrior.
NOTES
1.Garrat, M. P. D., Breeze, T. D., Jenner, N., Polce, C., Biesmejier, J. C. and Potts, S. G. (2014) ‘Avoiding a bad apple: Insect pollination enhances fruit quality and economic value’ Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 184: 34-40 – also, preliminary findings from the same research group into field beans and strawberries – contact Michael Garratt, University of Reading.
2. Andersson, G. K. S., Rundlof, M. and Smith, H. G. (2012) ‘Organic farming improves
pollinator success in strawberries’, PLOS ONE, http://www.plosone.org/article/ info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0031599
13