Page 49 - ALG Issue 4 2024

Allotment and Leisure Gardener | Issue 4 2024 | 49
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Locking Close Allotment Society Boyatt Wood Parish Council Chipping Campden Town Council Emersons Green Town Council Hound Parish Council Shurdington Parish Council Whiteley Town Council
22 Individuals
Ramblings from the South!
The usual hot topic for allotmenteers
is the weather, but this year it has been closely followed by pests, which seem to be the result of the weather.
Gone are the four seasons we experienced in the past. Of recent, winter seems to have been non-existent, and spring and summer seem to have merged, as have summer and autumn.The mild winter followed by a wet spring seem to have favoured slug and snail activity plus, as they breed all year round, the mild but wet conditions have been ideal for them to reproduce. Sadly, it is anticipated that the weather conditions we have recently experienced will continue.We can’t control the weather but will just have
to work with nature.We can, however,
to some extent deal with pests.The
most favourable way to deal with slugs and snails is to trap them and relocate them to where they are less likely to damage precious plants. According to many allotmenteers, beer traps are very successful, although some may consider
it a waste of a good drink! It must be remembered that slugs and snails are a small part of the food chain that some creatures rely on for sustenance.This is why slug pellets should be avoided as they can cause untold damage to the next link in the food chain.
The age-old question is “Do we live
to eat, or do we eat to live?”Throughout the food chain, we need to eat to live but it is also what we eat – taste is an important element of what we eat as
are ethical, environmental and nutritional considerations. Basically, we expect food to taste good. As I write this, we are in the plum season and as gardeners we are capable of growing our own favourite variety rather than buying a perfectly shaped product that has travelled halfway round the world to get here. If you
don’t grow your own strawberries, there are those in the shops that look very tempting in their plastic (uggg) punnets: large, a glossy red with a pretty green calyx on top – as for flavour, I’ll say no more!
The Kings NAS Seed catalogue is out. With pages of soft fruit and fruit trees, for taste there is nothing better than eating freshly picked fruit that you have grown yourself.“Where have all the older apple varieties gone?” I ask. Such as Egremont Russett and Cox’s orange Pippin.They
may not have been to everyone’s taste, but they were superior to the many
crisp, bland-tasting apples we are now persuaded to buy. Kings’ description for the Cox’s Orange Pippin is worth reading. I quote:“With its perfect balance of
sugar and acid, Cox’s OP was justifiably regarded as the finest flavoured apple grown in England (and Wales). Ripening on the tree to a perfect mellowness, Cox’s, for many, still retains the top spot. Our English climate is perfect for growing
Cox’s apples and every British garden should grow a tree to keep this superb variety for our children and grandchildren to taste.”
Mike Cantillon Southern Region
Letter
Dear Editor,
I am a member of NAS via Horspath Allotments.
It has been a very wet year. So wet, in fact, that a spring sprung in the middle
of my plot. As I was at the top of a hill, I dug a ditch and, as water was flowing, planted watercress! Here’s a picture of my crop, which has been amazing! Thought you might like to publish this letter.
All the best
Rob Judges, Horspath Allotments, Oxfordshire