Page 50 - Simply Veg Issue 3 2019

Northern Branch
East Yorkshire
District Association -
Newsletter
Our February Meeting featured Trevor Barningham, our DA Secretary, who gave us a look at Yorkshire as seen through
the eyes of a young lad born and bred in the village of Low Row, Swaledale. Using a series of photographs, stories and anecdotes, he gave us a fascinating insight into the history, geography and social culture of his local childhood communities in what are now part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Lead mining and agriculture were the key occupations of the day but, as has happened in so many of our rural communities, tourism in Swaledale has had a major economic impact on modern life and house prices in particular. The second half of his talk included clips of two videos showing the various parts of Yorkshire visited during the Tour de France 2014 and the Tour de Yorkshire 2015. A beautiful part of the country still and well worth a visit before the rest of the world discovers it!
Our March Meeting attracted a record audience of 52 people who came to listen to Trevor Legg’s talk about growing and showing Gladioli. It was a thoroughly entertaining and informative evening and, as well as being a Gladiolus expert, Trevor is also a champion vegetable grower.
Gladioli are classified using a worldwide- recognised three-digit system based on floret size, colour and hue. Full details can be seen on the British Gladiolus Society web
page. Of African origin,
there are more than 250
species and 2500 cultivars
in production and available in
every colour except black. For
serious exhibition purposes, the
best blooms come from USA, Czech, Canadian and Australian corm stocks.
Less expensive Dutch stock is available from supermarket and garden centre outlets and is perfectly adequate for general garden border use. The 400 series is currently the most popular category for show purposes. Although the initial outlay can be quite
high at £3-£4 per corm, the stock can be multiplied by growing-on the cormlets that are produced from the parent corm at the end of the growing season. Cormlets should produce full-size corms after one year’s growth. To better guarantee vigour, Trevor normally replaces his parent corms every three years.
Trevor grows some 10 cultivars and a total of some 6-800 corms under polytunnels because show quality blooms need lots
of sun, water, food and shelter from the elements. He applies well-rotted manure
to his beds at the end of each year after first flushing out any excess salts remaining from the previous year. At planting time he will apply blood, fish and bone to the top
4 inches of soil and, later in the growing season, some extra potash and Vitax Q4 if he considers it necessary.
Depending on variety, gladioli corms
have a growing time of between 80 and
140 days. Typically, the larger the corm,
the longer the growing period required to achieve an optimum bloom. It is important
to stagger planting to improve your chances of bloom availability for your particular
Show as the blooms do not remain in peak condition for very long. Corm planting normally commences in mid April through
to June. Corms are generally laid on, and subsequently covered with, a bed of sand
in order to improve drainage and prevent
rot. For exhibition purposes, the corms
are planted some 9 inches apart and 4 to
6 inches deep but general garden border plantings can be made much closer together.
At the end of the season the corms are dug out, labelled, dried, dusted with sulphur and stored under dry, cool and frost-free conditions as they may not survive the winter if left in the ground. The corms are dug out some 4 to 5 weeks after the flower spike has been cut which allows sufficient time for the corm to have recharged its energy store for the following year
After winter storage in cool, dry conditions, the basal plate will start to
show rootlets which are an indicator that
it is time to plant the corms out. On the
top of the corm, several buds may show, and it is important to pick the strongest
one which also points upwards, and to cut out the other buds completely in order to ensure full vigour is channelled into the one straight stem. Lateral buds will not produce a straight-stemmed bloom. The stems
will start to break through the soil surface some 12 - 18 days after planting and will need about one litre of water per plant
per day. At the four-leaf stage, typically in mid-June, Trevor will start to apply a weekly high potash feed such as Chempack 4. The blooms are staked as soon as the spike
is fully formed and great care with tying
is required daily to ensure that the stem remains straight without damaging the buds
Our DA Secretary Trevor Barningham talking about his childhood home of Yorkshire
Trevor Legg ; A Champion Vegetable and Gladiolus exhibitor
50 simplyvegetables