Ecolocal run a wonderful range of courses on just the things horticultural that you might want to know or get better at. Based at ‘The Lodge’, a Victorian walled garden in Carshalton, their courses are led by their RHS accredited tutor and help raise funds for community gardening projects benefiting people with learning difficulties and mental health problems.
You may not be aware that they are also restoring the old walled garden, and have volunteering days where you could help. Find out more here
At our AGM in November, author Michael Gilson, spoke about the early days of the Dover House Estate, created on ‘Garden City’ principles as part of the house building initiative after the first world war. ‘Homes for Heroes’ were declared by prime minister Lloyd-George – which would include the right to green space to grow food. Each house would have it’s own green space and allotment plots would be part of the design.
Of course, many who rented the houses were not naturally green fingered, and had never owned a garden before, so Richard Sudell, a Quaker and political firebrand as well as a well known plantsman and garden writer took on the challenge of helping. He set up training allotments and gave lessons, forming the Roehampton Estate Garden Society. It seems that meetings of the committee took place in the basement at St. Margaret’s church, just below where we have our AGM. Roehampton became one of the leading garden estates in Britain as the country became the ‘nation of gardeners’./
Our centenary exhibition featured boards about this history – which are now in PDF form. We hope you will read and enjoy them. You may have to use the links after each page to read the whole pdf. Use the slider bars on the right if you see them (desktop only).
Agriculture and food growing is a huge growth area for robotics. With current difficulties in finding a skilled workforce to plant and pick, this may be the future.
M&S have just announced successful automated growing of parsnips – an industry first. The technology, includes two robots for bed forming, planting and weeding, two different types of drone to monitor and maintain crop health, and scientific testing on soil health and carbon impact. Green fertiliser, less diesel, less ploughing all combine to reduce the carbon emissions by an amazing 46 per cent. See more here
In another research project Cambridge university has trained a robot to pick iceberg lettuce – one of the most difficult crops to harvest! See more here
It’s still a challenge to train a robot to judge a ripe fruit or notice disease or damage as well as a human can, but the advances are fascinating. Take a look at the latest types of intelligent agricultural machinery.
There’s been a debate going on about growing garlic. Should you buy seed garlic – or can you use a supermarket bulb? Is it best to plant now (even September I have seen mentioned) or wait until early next year. How much water should you use – that balance between tiny bulbs and rotting stems.
Monty Don certainly caused controversy by planting a supermarket variety – some swear they grow well – but it will be next spring before the results of the Gardener’s World experiments are known. The latest information suggests that for good results you need garlic that grows in a cold climate – not that imported from sunnier climes. Also concerns have been raised about possible viruses on supermarket bulbs. Both of these concerns are valid.
Size does matter in the Canna UK National Giant Vegetables Championship at the Malvern Show.
UK and European records are set. You may not know that the EU record radish weighs more than 20Kg! Peter Glazebrook from Nottingham was this year’s champion. Find out more about the weird and wonderful world of giant vegetable growing …
One of the fascinations about our shows is seeing what other people grow. This year class C33 was for “a pot of one type of home-grown annual herb, growing” and had some interesting entries. Fresh herbs can be difficult to source – and some quite expensive for a small bag, so, if you like to cook, growing them yourself makes sense. If seeds are difficult to germinate, you can often buy a tiny plant in Springtime and grow it on to full size – as good as any houseplant! Take a look below for inspiration…
Hai’s Leucocasia Gigantea – used to make sour fish soup
Early winter is a good time to use barrier control for weeds. Lots of advice here on how to choose your method, whether it is mulch or membrane, carpet or cardboard! Just remember to hold it down….
Mulching is generally used to save water, suppress weeds and improve the soil. More from the RHS here:
In spite of the weather and an early date this year there were lots of entries for the Autumn Show. Read the full report, with pictures and results, by our Show Chair Carol Martinez.
A rewilding project at Skiddaw will include 300,000 native trees
In the news this year has been the effect of climate change on our trees. Trees are slow to adapt – and although trees in our woodlands and forests are gradually spreading northwards as new seedlings grow, the pace is too slow and many of our native trees may not survive without help.
It’s good news that English oak trees may be more resilient to warmer climates than other species, but many other well-known species, such as the European beech, will struggle. Read more from New Scientist
Kew Gardens expects to lose 50% of it’s 11,000 trees to heat and drought before the end of the century and is already sourcing more tolerant tree varieties from Europe to fill the gaps. Read about Kew here
In our woodlands our native trees could die off equally suddenly. But should we be helping their migration? An interesting article in the Guardian explains the dilemma Read here
It’s a complicated argument – but one thing is clear, as we plant as many trees as possible in parks, gardens or rewilding ventures such as Skiddaw, the seedlings may need to come from further south if they are to survive. Seedlings from local areas need to populate projects northwards.
Each sweetcorn plant should produce one or two cobs. Sweetcorn cobs are ready to harvest when the silky tassels turn brown and the kernels, when pressed with a thumbnail, exude a milky liquid. Give cobs a sharp twist to remove. Pick moments before using, because the sugars start converting to starch the minute you harvest them. Supersweet varieties, however, will stay sweeter for a couple of days.
Advice from Gardener’s World
In a short clip from Gardener’s World, Monty shows how it’s done here
Our 100 plus visitors to our Nation Garden’s Scheme open day were delighted with their allotment walk, commented on the many beautiful things that there were to see – in particular two lovely clematis covered arches, and the tea space by the potting shed! Many of them stopped and asked questions on the plots – some shared this year’s gardening challenges.
Most enjoyed the magnificent array of cakes and tea, with outside service provided by our younger helpers – thanks to you all! Many bought plants from the plant stall.
The event was very well organised by the committee, and our sincere thanks to them and to the many who came to help and participated . A huge effort, but very much rewarded.
More than £1000 was raised for the NGS charities.
View an online photo gallery of the occasion here. Photos by Vivienne Fowler and Bella Stebbings
