Spring 2008
Chairman’s report
As I write this, the next SOGS meeting is the AGM. So it is time to reflect on what kind of a year it has been for SOGS. It has been good.......in fact, it has been very good; on a scale of one to ten it has been ‘lets run around waving our arms in the air and shouting YIPPEE’ good. The winter meetings have been well attended. I find it interesting to chat to our speakers before we start a meeting and to hear the awe in their voices when they ask ‘do you always get this many?’ And the answer is that we do always get this many. It is very gratifying to see such interest in organic gardening in general and in SOGS in particular.
Our role in persuading people to grow their own produce is going to become increasingly important now that India and China are getting prosperous enough to buy more food, and land is being used to grow bio-fuels and populations are growing and land is being concreted over and sea levels are rising and deserts are spreading. They (who they?) claim that this will cause food shortages for us, in the developed world, who are used to plenty of cheap food. An obvious way to rise to this challenge is for us all to grow more of our own. Some of our members already squeeze a quart out of the pint pot that is their plot. We can all learn something from them. In a quiet moment, on our potato day, (and there weren’t many of those, on that day) I imagined everyone in the UK planting one potato in a bucket and I speculated how many potatoes that would produce; that’s 60 million times about 2 pounds which equals nearly enough potatoes for the lunches at SOGS potato day.
Which brings me back to one of my favourite subjects, volunteering. What impresses me, and everyone who encounters SOGS is the amount of volunteers we get when there is some work to be done. People say to me ‘a potato day must be a lot of work’. To which, I reply ‘one volunteer is worth 10 pressed men’. To which they respond ‘eh?’ As they wander off looking for a normal conversation I am left to ponder what it is that motivates SOGS members. Do you have any ideas? If you do then please do not tell me because I like to think that it is magic. Many thanks to everyone who helped at the potato day!
We have no sooner planted our potatoes in organic compost than it is time to gird our loins and start planning the Flower Show garden. It’s that volunteer thing again! But, it is all great fun, the planning, the growing, the building and the being there on the show days and meeting our adoring public...................................... .........
Peter
Visit to Garden Organic, Ryton on 16 Sep 2007
This was my second visit to Ryton and I saw many improvements to the layout and a great deal more TLC… all around. With a plan of the site, it was decided to head in the direction of ‘The Mount’ as this suggested a high vantage point. Sure enough it gave a bird’s eye view of the many interesting places to visit on the site. It was now a case of reducing the 30 gardens laid before us to a few that grabbed our attention.
As a fairly new vegetable grower it was a must to visit …The Vegetable Kingdom. It was indeed a kingdom for kids, young and old. A great variety of plants grown along, up and mixed in the borders……just how I like to see them. A small Terrarium caught my attention, an interesting way to grow exotic veg on a small scale!
It was a warm, if not hot day and I watched a member of staff watering cucumbers and courgettes in a ‘cold frame’. We chatted for a while and during the conversation she said that under organic rules she was NOT able to use Milk against mould on leaves as this was lactic ACID. In the Herb garden there was a striking Castor Oil Plant and further on in the ‘Pest and Disease Control area’ my use of Bran to combat slugs was confirmed. Hooray!
I was hoping to find the Biodynamic garden a real way of the future. Unfortunately it had too much Hard landscape for my liking, but then that may be an indication of the climate change to come!The allotment section was a joy and I couldn’t resist looking into the shed. It gave me an idea about a shelf for my own shed!
I adored the composting varieties, looking in each of the containers to see how successfully they had rotted their contents. No, I don’t want your pity! Such feelings can be easily evoked in a SOG. I found myself at the Plant sale with only minutes to go before the coach was to leave; what a pity ‘cos there were some bargains, why didn’t I spend less time in the wonderful restaurant eating great food? (what a dilemma). Only having seen a few of those 30 gardens, I look forward to my next visit.
Sue Fisher
October 14th - Fungus Foray, Earls Hill
With the promise of golden autumn leaves and a scenic venue to enjoy, as well
as a fungus identification and collection session with John Hughes of the
Wildlife Trust, a large number of us turned up all eager to begin. Then we found
that John was unable to come. However, we had come well prepared; some of us had
field guides and some of us had the ‘knowledge’ – or at least some idea. John
had warned us that there were hardly any fungi about, but that did not deter us
from looking, and we spent an hour and a half or so scrambling up the hillside
and ‘off-piste’ in the woods (that was mostly the children) or sedately roaming
on the pathways. 
The children in particular had been very sharp-eyed as well as daring
to venture deep into the undergrowth, and we assembled below with an impressive
haul of fungus, and had a tentative identification session. We photographed the
collection spread on the ground, with the intention of challenging John to
identify them later. They included all kinds, shapes, sizes and colours –
delicate little pink ones, a tiny bright orange one, various large mushroomy
ones, bracket fungus, coral spot, hard black ones.
We did not have the planned fungus feast, but instead made a welcome return visit to Ann Teviotdale’s garden, where we enjoyed tea and, of course, cakes - including Peter’s cake made in the bread machine he had bought in a jumble sale just the day before. Delicious, and we now know just how easy it was to prepare . . .
Marian Byrne
November 7th. Talk by member Siobhan Reedy
about her work as a county tree officer
Siobhan obviously has a passion for trees, and although she sometimes has to condemn a tree because it presents a danger to the public, she vigorously defends any tree that people wish to treat inappropriately, and imposes stringent standards on workmen digging trenches or doing construction work around trees.
Her talk, illustrated with her own slides, could have gone on for much
longer. She explained how her work involves surveying the roadside trees in the
county, some of which have in the past fallen and even caused fatalities. 
Trees in towns perform a vital function in softening
the lines of modern rather uninspiring architecture, and as habitats for various
forms of wildlife. It is unfortunate that some residents call for trees to be
felled to accommodate cars, often two or more per household. Siobhan assured us
that trees can exist in close proximity to houses without causing subsidence to
a house with good foundations, but the ultimate size of the tree must be taken
into account, as well as the amount of shade.
The 1987 gales, which uprooted so many mature trees, provided arboriculturalists the opportunity to study tree root plates, and it is surprising how shallow rooted even large trees can be, with no tap root as might be expected. This is because air and moisture are concentrated in the top metre or so of soil. The fine roots are just as important as the larger ones, and damage to roots can provide an entry for fungal disease. It is important to tease out the roots of pot-grown saplings so that they can spread out from the start, and lessen the chance of toppling in a gale. Siobhan warned us not to treat trees as if they were shrubs, able to be pruned and lopped continually.
An excellent range of slides included trees in housing estates, some showing very inappropriate lopping; trees suffering in compacted soil with tarmac right up to base of the trunk; trees in urban settings in Germany, very close to houses providing more shade than we would want in England –(but with global warming we may plant for shade too); some trenches hand dug so as to leave the tree roots undisturbed; examples of how trees put on new growth around a fungal attack, and some very handsome specimens of ancient trees.
We were impressed by Siobhan’s enthusiasm and expertise, but we do feel the need for a cup of tea at some point! Perhaps we can enjoy a follow up talk on another occasion.
Marian Byrne
Siobhan urges you to look out for ancient trees in Shropshire and report sightings to: www.ancient-tree-hunt.org.uk
On this subject in D.T. 26.5.07 – in the past 5 years more than 40,000 trees have been cut down in London, most of them simply because they were too much trouble for local authorities to prune, or for alleged health and safety reasons. The paper calls for an end to this ‘arboreal holocaust”. Also - Cut up rough - don’t be too careful to make a clean cut when sawing off a branch, says Matthew Wilson in the DT. 25.11.06. Instead, hack at the place where it has been sawn, to simulate the tearing that would occur in nature. This encourages natural regeneration, and habitat for wildlife.
Quote from www.woodlandtrust.org.uk:
" Woodman, spare that tree! Touch not a single bough! In youth it sheltered me, And I’ll protect it now "
George Pope Morris (1802-1864)
OFG – Background to Organic Certification
We started 2008 with a well-attended meeting, on Jan 9th, which was billed as ‘TBA’. This turned out to be a meaty talk about the work of OFG - Organic farmers and Growers, presented by brothers Stephen and Richard Jacobs. They held our attention through a series of statistics, and details of rules and regulations, because this was a subject of great interest to our group. As none of us can be totally self-sufficient, we are consumers of commercially produced organic goods, and we need to be sure that goods marked ‘organic’ have been subject to stringent controls. We were given a full background to Organic Certification requirements, which apply to growers, producers, processors of organic food, cosmetics and compost producers. We learnt that annual inspection of organic farms is compulsory by law, paid for by the farm. The time scales for conversion were explained, and the importance of detailed record-keeping.
Questions from the floor proved how concerned we are about such aspects as animal welfare and possible contamination of crops by neighbouring farmers spraying, and why there are not more organic farms in the UK. Reasons for the latter may include the onerous requirements for conversion – farmers must be totally committed, and willing to obey the necessary rules. However, the rising popularity of organic produce indicates that farmers may see it as an advantageous and possibly more profitable route to take, besides some of them turning against modern husbandry techniques and damaging agricultural methods which prevail at present.
Bee-dazzled by bee-man’s talk!
On February 6th Brian Goodwin, Chair of Shrewsbury Beekeepers, gave us an illustrated talk about these endlessly fascinating creatures. However many times I hear about the life of bees, I am captivated and intrigued, and Brian gave such a comprehensive talk with such good images, that he had us all enthralled. We were treated to some history, too – the ancient Egyptians were expert bee-keepers, and loaded the hives on to barges on the Nile to follow the crops in season. One golden item in Tutenkhamun’s tomb was not the precious metal, but a jar of honey. If air is excluded its antibacterial properties keep forever. The pollen has been analysed so that we know what plants and flowers were growing 2,000 years ago. Brian also showed a picture by monks in the time of the venerable Bede, about 780AD, showing straw bee hives.
Still on the subject of the history of bee-keeping, I did not know that we have the oldest surviving bee-house in the world near here at Attingham Park. It is an attractive wooden building with lattice sides, and shelves with straw skeps. There is also one at Cruckton.
The bees are multi-skilled; they are architects, creating their hexagonal breeding chambers; heating and ventilation engineers, keeping the internal temperature at a pretty constant 91 degrees F; communicators, informing the other bees where a nectar source is by performing their figure of eight dance; good housekeepers . . . and they make all that lovely honey!
Marian Byrne
Demonstration by Vere Cattermole, 5th March
Although Vere’s talk was advertised as ‘Bird Boxes’ it was obvious from the material he had arranged on the table that he was going to talk about something else.
After listening with incredulity to the report of Potato Day and the amount raised (I don’t think he’ll ever get over it) he began by telling us that he originated from Norfolk where he had gardened since a boy. He used to help his father in the garden, and using sticks from the hedgerow to mark the end of the seed row he discovered that they grew themselves. (hardwood cuttings). He worked for Alan Bloom in charge of propagation at Bressingham in what was at the time the largest nursery in the world. He moved to Wales in 1978 and taught Horticulture at Bicton Nurseries. He also had his own nursery for a few years raising most if not all his own plants, very often by sowing seeds of hardy perennials. He said that he could never do as well as our Potato Day though!With those sticks from the seed rows in mind he told us about hardwood cuttings, quickly trimming samples to just below a node or leaf joint with secateurs, having a cutting about 9 inches long which he inserted into a large pot filled with compost. He recommended the variegated poplar for this stating that as it is best kept pollarded for the spring colour then there is always plenty of material available. Flowering currant, forsythia, the rambling type roses, blackcurrants, red and white currants and raspberries were all suggested as examples for hardwood cuttings.
The next examples were what he called Irishmen’s cuttings. These were herbaceous plants that he’d dug up with roots still attached and roughly cut up into small pieces that would fit into small pots and left to grow on. Anthemis, Monardo and a small Chrysanthemum were samples that he had for this. This was quickly followed by Rhizome cuttings where he had Bergenia and Rodgersia to show. Again these were cut into small pieces. Up to 5,000 Bergenias of each variety were grown at Bressingham each year he told us in his broad Norfolk accent.
For root cuttings Vere had Echinops and Phlox paniculata. He stressed the importance of a sharp knife and making sure that cuttings were inserted in a pot below the surface the correct way up by using a sloping cut on the bottom to indicate as such. It was fascinating to see the fine roots that Vere roughly chopped from the bottom of the Phlox plant, roughly bundled up and inserted in the pot. An example from the same time last year showed how well it worked. Horse radish, Japanese Anemones and some Geraniums would all work like this.
Tip cuttings were next as we theoretically moved into spring and Vere showed us Hypericum hidcote which again he cut below a node and then bunching all the leaves together he reduced them with one cut of his knife. This cuts down on the water lost through the leaves during the time the cutting is forming new roots. Incidentally the knife kept getting lost amongst all the foliage which is why Vere always liked to have tools with brightly coloured handles. For tip cuttings a low energy propagator was used, a simple one with a lid kept on and a very low heat but he stressed that the cuttings should be weaned very gently out of the enclosed environment by very gradually opening the vents and lifting the lid a bit at a time once it was obvious that roots had formed. If you don’t have a propagator then a plastic bag will do but keep it tightly fastened weaning the plants out gradually the same as before. He showed us a bottle of Organic rooting powder which he admitted to not using very often and in fact he owned up to not being an organic gardener at all. He said that when asked once if he was organic he replied “No, I’m Church of England”.
Vere moved on then to division of herbaceous plants. A recently purchased Daylily from a garden centre produced at least 10 small plants simply by cutting gently through the plant and its roots with a knife. At this point he thought we were all holding our breaths expecting him to cut himself because we were so quiet but in fact we were mesmerised by his speed and dexterity. He did the same with a Hosta and Hardy Geranium samabor. At this point Vere said that he was gasping for a drink himself and that all the little cuttings he had made were for us to help ourselves and he would answer any questions that we may have. He was thanked very enthusiastically for a very entertaining and very amusing talk. If you want a speaker to make you laugh as well as inform, then Vere Cattermole is the man.
Sue Bosson
History of Shropshire Organic Gardeners
Anne Farquhar, a founder member, wrote a brief history of SOGs six years ago. For the benefit of new members here is a briefer version.
Our first meeting was in February, 1990. We were an offshoot of Friends of the Earth, with 15 members who agreed to affiliate to The Soil Association and HDRA (now Garden Organic). Our venue was St Nicholas Church Hall near the English Bridge. We continued with membership of about 20, until a well-publicised open evening was held, with volunteers manning stalls giving information on different aspects of organic gardening. This led to a steady increase in numbers, so that a larger hall was needed. After using the Salvation Army Hall in Belle Vue for a while, we now meet at St Chad’s Church Hall, which has proved ideal.
Here is a selection of what SOGs have done over the years up to 2006. If you would like repeats of any of these let us know.
Talks
- Micro-organisms in soil
- Bats
- Slugs and Snails
- Butterflies
- Garden Ponds
- Gardening for Wildlife
- Potato Growing
- Worm Composting
- Saving your own Seed
- Green Burials
- Early Crops Under Glass
- Urban Wildlife
- GMO’s and Organics
- Pests and Diseases
- Bio-Dynamic Growing
- How to avoid back injury
- Bach Flower Remedies
- Organic Farming Abroad
- The North Shropshire Peat Mosses
- Garden Tools – bring your favourite and tell us why
- Garden Tools – Care and Repair
- Orchard Regeneration
- Willow – Its Uses and Propagation
Visits and Outings. (As well as numerous visits to members’ gardens):-
- Centre for Alternative Technology, North Wales
- The Camphill Trust, Gloucestershire
- Ryton Gardens 1999, 2004 and 2007
- Camphill Trust Community, Gloucestershire
- The Greenwood Trust, Coalbrookdale
- Westhope College
- Whixall Moss picnic and guided walk
- Quarry Bank Mill, Styal, Cheshire
- Church Stretton Apple Fair
- John Downes Organic Farm, Longnor
- Dunkerton’s cider, Pembridge and an organic farm
- National Wild Flower Centre, Liverpool
- Norton Priory, Runcorn
- Fordhall Farm
- The ‘Dig for Victory’ Garden near Oswestry
- Birmingham Botanic Garden
- Green Waste Disposal Farm
Workshops
Be Nice to Nettles Week – 14-25 May 2008
website2008 is the International Year of the Potato!
for more information.New to Organic Gardening?
A few more basic principles. If starting on an overgrown plot, it is best to tackle just a small section at a time, trying to dig out every bit of root of couch grass or ground elder, and removing nettles and thistles. This does not mean you cannot grow vegetables – you can cover the weedy ground with black plastic or membrane, and cut holes through which you can insert young plants such as cabbage, sprouts, beans etc. Or you could mulch thickly with grass cuttings, hedge trimmings etc. laid on top of cardboard or newspaper, and make planting holes in that.
It is inadvisable to use a rotavator, as couch grass, bindweed and ground elder re-grow from tiny fragments of root. Try to find space in a corner to retain some nettles, as they are beneficial in an organic garden. If you can leave your ground covered for at least a year you should find that most perennial weeds have been banished, and if not they are easily dug out.
? ? ? ? ? Quickie quiz (Answers later.) ? ? ? ? ?
Where can you find the following things together?
A stool you cannot sit on; a plate you cannot eat off; a fork you cannot eat with.
What are peggles?
Green funerals
You may remember Rose’s talk a few years ago, and an article in a SOG newsletter. Here are two websites for further information: And which gives information on your nearest natural burial site.
Cucumber tip
An elderly New Zealand man gave me his tip for growing outdoor cucumbers – he told me with great pride that he grew the best crop of cucumbers in the town with this method:- six weeks before planting, take a walk in a sheep field. Gather about ½ bucket of sheep droppings (forget the little pellets, they take too long to pick up, just go for the big blobs). Mix with a bucket of grass clippings. Put the mixture in two piles where you will plant out, and leave them to heat, cool and settle. Plant out the cukes into the piles and care for them as usual. He favoured the Marketmore variety. I have used this method myself, and can vouch it works very well - I was getting 3 lovely cukes a day over a 2 month period. I will grow some spare Marketmore plants and bring them to the April meeting if anyone wants to try this.
Jan Cafearo
Ros has researched research on apples!
The studies she has found confirm that apples really are good for you, and that organic apples are superior to conventionally grown ones. Here are her findings:
Nature 19.4. 2001; 410(6831): 926-30. Reaganold JP, Glover JD, Andrews PK and Hinman HR.
Sustainability of three apple production systems.
This study compared organic, conventional and ‘integrated’ apple production systems in Washington State for 5 years. They found that the organic system produced sweeter and less tart apples and was more profitable and had greater energy efficiency. The organic and integrated systems had better soil quality and potentially lower negative environmental impact than the conventional system.
ISHS Acta Horticulturae 517: XXV International Horticultural Congress Part 7: Quality of Horticultural Products. Weibel FP, Bickel R, Leuthold S, Afoldi T.
Are organically grown apples tastier and healthier? A comparative field study using conventional and alternative methods to measure fruit quality.
They harvested Golden Delicious apples from ten farms with similar soils and microclimates. Half were organic. All fruit samples from organic orchards had significantly firmer flesh than those grown conventionally. Measurements of various components known to be good for our health (e.. fibre, vitamins C & E, selenium and phenols) were also significantly higher. Organic apples showed the same clear superiority in both human tasting and rat feeding preference tests (!) and other measurements of quality.
(I guess this is one animal experiment which doesn’t seem too hard on the rats!)
Journal of Agriculture & Food Chemistry 2001; 49(8); 3606-3613. Addie A, Vaan der Sluis, Dekker M, de Jager, Jongen . Activity & Concentration of Polyphonic Antioxidants in Apple: Effect of cultivar, harvest year and storage conditions.
They compared Jonagold, Golden Delicious, Cox’s orange pippin & Elstar. Jonagold had the highest flavinoid content & antioxidant activity. There was no difference in the content of apples from 3 different harvest years, and, a little surprisingly, long term storage both at refrigerator temperature and under produced sweeter and less controlled atmosphere conditions did not influence the levels of these health-protective substances.
Nutrition Journal 3;5 1475-2891 Boyer J, Liu.
These guys again showed that storing apples doesn’t make them less healthy for us, but processing has a large detrimental effect. The variety also makes a big difference.
Journal of Agriculture & Food Chemistry (3) 609-614 2003 Wolfe, Wu & Liu.
Demonstrated that the healthy chemicals are considerably higher in the apple peel than in the flesh, and this could be part of the reason why processing apples diminishes their value as foods so much. The varieties Ida Red and Rome Beauty seemed to be the best here, beating the ubiquitous Golden Delicious hands down.
Are we really surprised by any of this? But it’s nice to have things measured and confirmed so that we can have ready answers at the Flower Show etc.
I’ll spare you the references for these two: An apple a day seems to keep the oncologist away – there is a constant inverse association between apple consumption and risk of various cancers.
Eating apples in pregnancy may protect the child from wheeze and asthma and reduce the chances of eczema.
Ros McGregor
Tomatoes – useful tips from Jamie Oliver writing in the Telegraph:
Ripen green toms by putting with a bunch of bananas. Never store toms in fridge – they will actually go off more quickly. They keep ripening if kept at above 12.5degrees centigrade, so hard unripe toms put in fridge will come out hard & unripe. Store in cool out of sun. However, any over-ripe ones will last a little longer in the fridge.
Recipes
Go on, be passionate and adventurous! Make beetroot cake, passion fruit curd, solyanka and Masscheechowder! Thanks to Carol Lovell for the Curd and Beetroot cake, and to Liz Bowlby for Solyanka and Masscheechowder – (latter name shortened by lazy typist).
Passion fruit curd (with fruit from the climbing plant many of us have in our gardens)
- 8 passionfruit
- 3 well beaten eggs
- 50g butter
- juice of 2 lemons
- 250g sugar
- 1 tbsp water
Mix all ingredients and cool gently in a bowl or saucepan over hot water until thick. Do not allow it to boil. Bottle and seal and keep in fridge after opening. (Carol wonders whether you might need to peel the fruit first, although the recipe does not say so.)
Beetroot cake
Whizz beetroot into a puree and add eggs, then oil and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients into a bowl and add beetroot mix. Bake at 180deg, gas 4 approx 30mins. (Try served with cream or crème fraiche!)
Pre-metric recipes from Liz Solyanka
Liz says: we are eating less meat and enjoying meatless and fishless recipes like this one from a long ago Guardian cooking writer, Colin Spencer. (Perhaps someone can tell me what Solyanka means!)
Solyanka
Boil 4 medium potatoes, drain, mash and add to 8oz cottage cheese and 5 fluid oz each of sour cream and yoghurt. Sauté 1 small chopped cabbage (white or Savoy) in 2oz butter/marg together with 2 large chopped onions. Add 1 ½ Tsp sea salt, ½ tsp each dillweed and ground caraway seeds (I don’t bother to grind). Combine with potato mix, adding also 2 tbs cider vinegar and lots of ground pepper. Spread in buttered oven dish, sprinkle with paprika and scatter with sunflower seeds. Cook gas 5 for about 45 minutes.
<Massachussetts Cheese Chowder (Full name this time!) serves 2
Cook 1 chopped celery stick, 1 smallish chopped onion and ½ lb diced raw potato in ¼ pint water (or veg stock) for 10 minutes. Blend ½ oz flour with ¼ pint milk and add, together with 1 small can green corn. Simmer a few minutes. Season. Stir in as much grated cheddar as you like (4 oz is suggested). This is delicious, and very filling!
Also from Liz Bowlby a useful energy-saving tip – Keep a thermos near your kettle and pour in remains of boiling water to use later, for whatever.
Thanks to Peter and Maggie for this cutting about potatoes:
In reply to a query published in a selection of letters and quotations from readers of a parish magazine, about the probable decline in consumption of potatoes in future, the editor writes:
We are sorry to learn of this forecast, which we trust will not prove true. We regard the potato as a real friend of man. The number of famines it has averted has been legion. In Europe, Russia and China it has sustained life when grain has not been available because of poor harvests or devastation. We never really appreciate the potato until we are up against it. After their terrible famine in the 19th century, the Irish said “Never again” but nevertheless again planted potatoes. They are now the backbone of that country’s agriculture.
Potatoes are a good source of low cost vitamins and minerals, especially when cooked in their skins. An average helping of potatoes contains as much vitamin B as two slices of wholemeal bread; it also supplies iron, as well as traces of copper. Some time ago scientists exploded the notion that potatoes are unusually fattening. Bread is acid-forming and sometimes proves more fattening than potatoes.
There is a story told about Dr Hildegard of Denmark, world-famous as an authority on nutrition. He tested the value of potatoes on his gardener, who volunteered to eat nothing but potatoes for a whole year. The gardener took no undue risk as he was suffering from an incurable disease from which he didn’t expect to recover. He recovered on his potato diet. After the year, the gardener was found to be well nourished on nothing but potatoes, which suggests not only their hidden healing virtues, but their adequate source of protein.
Member profiles
Janet & John Greene
Janet and John have been active members for many years. They have a flourishing allotment which SOGs have visited more than once, as well as front and back gardens at home. Janet is a Salopian; John is Australia’s loss and our gain. He was a Dubliner, and came to live in England with the aim of qualifying for the £10 assisted passage to Oz. However, he joined a harmonica group, and became too involved with it to leave.
John and Janet have always been gardeners, John being influenced by the wartime period ‘dig for victory’ in Dublin, and Janet having a father who was a keen grower. They both came round to organic thinking early on – John was appalled at the aerial crop spraying he saw when in the army in Kenya, and Janet stopped using insecticides, preferring to make her own garlic sprays and following organic principles. John was also influenced by an organic gardener in Dublin, when it was still unusual, and John was impressed by the difference the compost made to the quality of the soil.
They have been allotmenteers for at least 30 years, starting with one plot, then taking another one 2 plots away, and ending up by taking over the one between, so they have a good sized area in which they grow a large range of vegetables, soft fruit and plums. They encountered criticism in the early years, but now more and more plot-holders grow organically, especially young women concerned about their children’s health.
They are both multi-talented. Janet is a dressmaker, and enjoys baking and making bread and jam. John is a creative recycler and handyman. They have won 2nd prize on their allotment site 2 years running, for best plot. Their favourite vegetable is carrots, followed closely by celeriac and kohl rabi. Janet can have cut flowers for most of the year as she grows them at home, as well as on the allotment.
Lentils – wonder food dating from biblical times.
With protein content only topped by soya beans, the lentil provides four times more fibre than rice, pasta or potatoes, seven times more iron than spinach, and three times more calcium than cereal. It is low in cellulose, so has fewer embarrassing after-effects than beans!
SPOTTED SPOTTED SPOTTED SPOTTED . . .
DT 17 9 07 Rosemary for remembrance Rosemary does help memory, scientists have found, as it contains a calming agent that can aid concentration and memory. In ancient Greece it was woven in to students’ garlands as it was believed to strengthen their memory.
D.T. 24.3.07 Snails have their uses! The slime mixed with ground glass was once used to make artificial pearls. The Spanish use a skin cream based on snail slime.
D.T. 13.10.07 Harlequin Ladybirds Again we are warned about the advance of these ladybirds, which devour our native ladybirds. Also on their menu is soft fruit – so look out for your raspberries and currants.
D.T. 27.6.07 Blueberries deserve their title of wonder food. Research shows that as well as helping to prevent heart disease, blueberries may prevent, slow down or reduce the impact of degenerative conditions of the brain in old age, by slowing brain cell loss.
D.T. 13.7.07 Cream, Butter and Full Fat milk - good for you! This article quotes a Welsh study which finds that fats, proteins and vitamins in full-fat milk have benefits for the metabolism and can actually keep pounds off people’s weight. The author Xanthe Clay laments the lack of cream in today’s homogenised milk, and deplores the use of semi-skimmed and skimmed milk. She suggests that it is better to use these natural ingredients rather than ones that have been interfered with such as half fat cheese, and those wishing to lose weight should indulge, but eat less. (Yippee! Ed. I still have this article if anyone wants to read it in full.)
D.T. 5.8.07 Vienna’s green pavements. Instead of using manpower to keep its pavements weed-free, Vienna’s council workmen are scraping out mortar between paving stones and planting low-growing ‘weeds’ such as daisies and dandelions in some of the city’s drabber districts, and inserting alpines into the walls of public buildings. (Members with access to the web may also like to look at this website about vertical gardens in cities – www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com)
Telegraph Magazine 12.5.07 (Yet Another Food Fad? Ed.) Micro leaves are the next superfood and ‘only’ cost £3.49 for one ounce – 30g. They are the first true leaves of salads and herbs, and are supposed to be intensely flavoured and to contain a higher concentration of phytochemicals per gram than their fully grown versions.
TV 19.1.07 A Year at Kew Plants from 200 year old seeds have been successfully grown at Kew.
Are You Happy with your Garden?
Thanks to David Rostron (Liverpool Organic Gardeners)
Are you happy with your garden?/ Are you happy with your plot?
Are you thinking it’s a wonder/ And not an ugly blot?
There’s life in all its borders/And birds in all its trees . . .
A gathering, a balance To stand the strongest breeze.
How is it you’ve got it /This amazing place
Where everything is balanced/ By nature’s wondrous grace?
You’ve only got yourself to thank/ For without cost or panic
You found a way to nature’s heart,
LAST YEAR YOU WENT ORGANIC!
Did You Know?
On average in Britain one household in 65 has access to an allotment, but Shropshire has the lowest number with only one allotment to every 200 households.
A nettle was found measuring 16 feet tall. (You can watch the world nettle eating championship contest at www.snipurl.com/nettle film.)
Soapwort really can be used as soap: the National Trust and the Victoria and Albert Museum use it to clean ancient fabrics and tapestries.
The name nasturtium means ‘nose-twister’ – probably because of the pungency of the leaves.
There are 250 species of British bee, of which about a quarter are endangered.
Pesticide Safety Directorate, the government regulator, receives 60% of its funding from the agro-chemical industry.
There is a British Lawnmower Museum? It is in Southport. www.lawnmowerworld.co.uk
Oriental stargazer lilies – and indeed any lilies – can be highly toxic to household pets. Licking their pollen can cause renal failure and paralysis in cats.
George Stephenson, famous for the Rocket train, also invented the cucumber glass, a glass cylinder onto which the fruit was inserted to protect it and keep it straight while it developed.
