Page 8 - Simply Veg Issue 3 2019

Kelvin’s Comments
Kelvin Mason, National Magazine Editor
It’s amazing how quick time passes, and the next edition of the magazine is required! Although you will receive this copy in July it is put together in mid-May so not that long after
the previous edition has been delivered. It feels like half the year has gone already yet much of the vegetable plot and allotment
is still to be planted. At the time of typing
this part of the comments the weather is
dry and cold, but it follows a spell of very warm weather at Easter which produced a profusion of bloom on the apples and pears. Although we have had the odd shower in the last month or, so it has not been very heavy,
and the ground is very dry. I planted some lettuce, kale and broad beans today and they needed watering in to give them a start which is unusual at this time of the year but seems to be becoming the norm.
I have tried growing overwintering peas outdoors on at least a couple of occasions but with no success, this year I decided to sow some seed into modules and then plant them into a cold greenhouse. They have not made a tremendous amount of growth, but I picked my first peas today and have another picking for a few days’ time once the pods have filled. I also had some broad beans
in the same greenhouse, but they are now nearly 1.5m (5ft) tall and although they are flowering have not set many pods yet.
As well as peas I have also had a very good crop of asparagus, rhubarb and some
good salad leaves. The leeks and celeriac
is still cropping and instore I still a have a few marrows, some onions and plenty of potatoes and beetroot. I had eating apples up to Easter and also carrots before I ran out a couple of weeks ago although the parsnips did not keep very well this year and they were very small roots owing to the dry weather last year.
I have so far avoided commenting on Brexit much to members relief no doubt and will continue along this line, although following the recent Council elections hopefully our politicians have got the message.
But I will move onto one of my regular rants, climate change! There is no doubt that the climate seems to be changing which could have dire effects even in the U.K. in the future. I have written an article in this edition to try to keep the topic in the forefront of peoples mind. After all the NVS is a “green charity” so we should lead by example.
At the time of writing these comments there was a programme on Radio 4 about the expanding human population and how we are going to feed them; another of my rants! At present the population is around 7.6 Billion but by the end of the century it is predicted to be 11 Billion. At present that is 80 years away but we need to consider how we are going to feed all these people or have mass famines and they may not all be in Africa, they could be at our back door.
At present there are people starving in
the world, but we can produce enough
food to feed them unfortunately we waste large amounts of it, in fact at least 30% of the food grown is wasted for one reason or another. If we are to feed 11 Billion we need to both reduce food waste and increase yields. It would also be wise to do something to reduce the population levels otherwise
we will end up killing off many other species
Salad leaves and broad beans in the tunnel
8 simplyvegetables
Early lettuce