Another year, another decade and another gardening season to look forward to. Now is the time to look at seed catalogues in earnest to decide what to grow for the coming year. I belong to the National Allotment Society and receive a quarterly magazine which is very interesting and a Kings Seeds catalogue, plus free insurance for the allotment. The seed catalogue provided to NAS members by Kings is almost half the price of their normal catalogue which is very useful as I’ve noticed the cost of seeds in other catalogues and garden centres seem to have increased so much over the last few years.
The VPA is now looking forward to 2020 and the Schedule for the Summer Show being held on Saturday 4th July is about to go to the printers. The refurbishment of the village hall has commenced and is expected to be completed by the 19th June which means we should have a newly refreshed building for the Show. If completion is delayed, it will take place in Blewbury School, so whatever happens it will still go ahead.
Don’t forget, If you would like an electronic copy of the Schedule, it is available now, contact the VPA via the following email address: vpa.in.bl.up@gmail.com
Update on my allotment – I’ve been flooded three times so far this winter! Overwintering broad beans are managing to survive and overwintering onions are about six inches tall. My hens have survived the floods with pallets in their run and plenty of perches to sit on. I’ve spent the last few weeks digging trenches around the chickens’ run to move the water into the trench at the boundary fence. I took the plunge nearly four years ago to have hens. I began with two hybrids (Polly and Dolly) and a rescue hen (Holly). Sadly, Dolly died last summer, so in September I bought three cross breeds and as they live on the allotment I named them after some of the vegetables I grow – Shallot, Pumpkin and Borlotti. They’ve settled in really well and have been laying ever since. More news about the hens next month.
DID YOU KNOW? Healthy, mature APPLE TREES will bear between 100 and 200 kilos of fruit every year and dried FIGS contain about 60 per cent sugar, making them an excellent energy snack.
Happy Gardening
Eileen