Hill Rise Allotment Association - Spring 2010

Welcome to the Spring 2010 newsletter

2010-04-30T23:15:00.001-07:00

And welcome also to all our new members. I hope that you are finally enjoying the spring weather after the long cold and wet winter. It is nice to be picking asparagus now and seeing the fruit trees in blossom. We have had mercifully few frosts during flowering (at least at the time of writing) so I am keeping my fingers crossed for plenty of plums and pears later in the year.

We’re now half way through the year for the new committee and it is worth mentioning some of our plans for the future. One thing a number of members would like to see is a communal hut or meeting place.

A hut or other building where we can both meet and store materials, enables the Association to more easily sell seeds, compost, fertiliser etc in order to swell the coffers, and also gives a venue for social events, flower shows and meetings. As the Association is still relatively new, and trying to build a community spirit, some sort of place to gather as a group would be really valuable. Apparently there was a hut in the dim and distant past, but it burnt down and was never replaced as the allotment site became neglected over recent years. Since allotments are now flourishing again, now is the time to plan to improve the facilities for everyone who is an allotment tenant.

To buy a secure, vandal-proof portacabin probably costs in the region of £1600, second hand. What we need to do is consider a series of fundraising activities and applications to lottery/grant funders to try and double up or money in a number of steps. We have already applied for a Huntingdonshire Green Community Award. This will net us £250 if successful (we will find out about this in June). If we got this, then with other money we have raised, if we could get to £400, and then apply for a small grant to double this to £400 to make £800, and then double again perhaps with a lottery fund, we would be up to £1600 - enough to buy a hut.

Clearly it isn't going to happen over night, and because of the state of the council's finances, there is apparently no cash to be offered from that side. So, if you have any ideas for grant schemes we could apply to, local firms, or even builders or local schools who are getting rid of second hand portacabins, then please let one of the committee know.

Finally, I look forward to seeing you all on the build for wildlife day on the morning of Sunday 16 May, and keep busy in the meantime with weeding and watering !

Richard

Richard Weightman

Chairman

Amaze yourself

2010-04-30T14:15:00.000-07:00

Go on… have a go at solving this maze by trailing your cursor along the corridors to get from the green dot to the red. Or click the Print Friendly button at the foot of the page to print a copy to try later.

Jobs for spring

2010-04-30T14:00:00.000-07:00

Harvest

Hardy lettuce, spring onions and fast growing radish should now be available. How about winter cauliflowers, spring cabbage, sprouting broccoli and kale as well? If you’re lucky you’ll also be enjoying a luxury crop of asparagus. If you’re missing any of these, why not take a note to try them for next year?

Weeding

Priority with warm weather and rain is to keep on top of the weeds. Hoeing them off as small seedlings will make the job far easier than waiting for them to grow and send their roots down. Hoeing is best done on a dry day so the weeds don’t have a chance to recover.

Sowing

There is a lot to sow this month and with many crops you can sow one set and then a few weeks later re-sow to give you a succession of fresh vegetables at the peak of perfection. If a dry May, it’s a good idea to soak your seed drill before sowing and then just water with a fine rose after. Have a go at…

French Beans
Runner Beans
Beetroot
Broccoli and Calabrese
Cabbage and Cauliflowers
Chicory
Kale
Kohlrabi
Peas
Turnips and Swedes
Your salad crops should be sown in succession
Lettuce and Leaves such as Rocket
Radishes
Spring Onions

Sowing under cover

Sweetcorn
Courgette
Marrow
Pumpkin

Planting Out

Brussels sprouts
Summer cabbages
Celery
Celeriac
Leeks

With leeks a good rule of thumb is to get the seedling about as thick as a pencil. Dib a hole about six inches deep using something like a spade handle and drop the seedling in. Water well and allow the soil to fall back in naturally. The old method of trimming the roots and top before transplanting leeks is not actually a good thing and has been shown to be detrimental. It's a big enough shock to the plant being taken out of its seedbed!

In the greenhouse

Aubergine
Peppers (Chilli and Sweet)
Cucumber
Tomatoes

Fruit

Mainly a matter of ensuring you get the crops rather than the birds. A fruit cage is a big investment but very effective, otherwise netting to keep the birds away. Strawberries planted this year will perform better in subsequent years if you remove the flowers so they don't set fruit in the first year but concentrate on building their strength for next.

Justin Thyme

Allotment images

2010-04-30T01:05:00.000-07:00

Here’s some seasonal photos from around our allotments.

Spring walks

2010-04-30T00:46:00.000-07:00

Around Somersham allotments

Now is a perfect time to park the car in Somersham and amble around the 2.5 miles of easy walking through open fields and allotments.

Good points of this circular route (click map to enlarge) are spring and autumn orchard blossom or fruit, summer crops, and the development of allotment plots.

You can end the walk in a typically English tea room with delicious cakes and value for money snacks by popping into Mary’s Tea Room in the High Street.

Start this walk at the free car park in centre of Somersham (where the yellow cross is on the map). Walk back up Church Street and turn left down Mortimer Row. Turn right into King Street, and almost immediately left into Rectory Lane. At the end turn into Chapel Field Lane and follow footpath signposts thereafter.

Bluebell and fungi extravaganza in Lady’s Wood

The wood is well worth a visit at any time of the year, with it’s quiet beauty and amazing fungi. But in spring you’ll be treated to one of the best but least known spectacles around, when millions of bluebells carpet the forest floor. And how about red kites over Upwood, or the mounds of yellow meadow ants? This is a favourite walk.

The best features of the 3 mile route are the open farmland in summer, Lady's Wood and Upwood Meadows, the peacefulness of sitting outside The Cross Keys pub in Upwood enjoying a drink and taking in the peacefulness of the village, and if you take children the village playground and the garden of The Cross Keys. Not so good is the walk across the field at the beginning of the route when it's muddy... see the alternative suggestion below.

There's an shorter walk described below if you take young children. For the full walk park in the High Street opposite The Cross Keys and walk north back up the High Street. Watch for the footpath sign on the left... since the path goes between gardens it's not very visible. Shortly afterwards you'll go diagonally across a field and you can see Lady's Wood to the west. If the ground is muddy don't take the footpath sign but continue to the top of the High Street, turn left into Longholme Road, then left again into Turf Fen Road. This avoids walking across a muddy field.

At the end of the field turn left down Turf Fen Road. This is a lovely part of the walk in summer, full of dragonflies & mayflies. Also of interest is the field to the right behind a hedge about 200 yards down the path, which is full of mushrooms during Autumn. The raised land in the distance at the end of the road is Woodwalton Fen, a fascinating place where you can see what the Fens were once like before drainage shrunk the surrounding land down to its current level.

After about 300 yards take the path off to the left heading towards Lady's Wood. Followed this for about 300 yards until you’re on the opposite side of Lady's Wood from where you started. You'll see a pole with a marker on it indicating the footpath towards the wood. Note this footpath isn't marked on some maps.

Walk up to the wood & veered right at the top to find the entrance almost concealed. Once in the wood you can take the first path to the right, the shortest route, the second to the right which goes past the observation hut (unfortunately out of use but near a pool that attracts wildlife), or continue on for the longest path around the perimeter. None of the routes are very long.

You could easily walk through Lady's Wood without any idea of the richness of the fungi present or the peace within the wood. If you've got time slow down, listen & observe. On the floor & tree trunks (particularly fallen ones) you'll find mushrooms & fungi (but don't touch unless you know what you're doing, some are highly poisonous!). Throughout the wood you'll hear birds going about their business and you may be lucky to see roe deer. On a quiet day you could almost believe you've stepped back in time.

Exit the wood, passing the National Trust board giving some details of the wood. Follow the footpath though various fields, styles & kissing gates back to the village. Exiting the last field is a bit strange since you find yourself between two houses. Just walk to the road & then keep bearing left until you find yourself back in the High Street, just having to walk left around the corner to be back at the pub.

For a shorter walk if you have children drive to the southern end of the High Street, turn right into Meadow Lane and drive to the end of that lane to park past Meadow Farm. It's just a short walk from there across Upwood Meadows to Lady's Wood. Return along the route of the full walk to take the kids to the great playground, marked with a flag on the map. And don't forget The Cross Keys pub garden, where they've got a big plastic tree trunk the children climb up inside to get to the slide.

Maggoty apples?

2010-04-30T00:30:00.000-07:00

For those of you who came on the winter 'fruit care' day in February, you may remember mention of Codling moths. These insects are responsible for the maggots found in apples, and are a real pain to home fruit growers. 2009 was a very bad year for this pest. Now is time to think about controlling them.

First a bit of biology: Adult moths start flying in May when evenings are warm, and the females lay their eggs on flowers/young fruit. The eggs hatch and the maggots burrow their way into the young fruit. However, the first time you will notice them being a problem is later in June when a hole appears and brown 'frass' starts bubbling out of the apple. This is the maggot finding its way out (not an insect trying to find its way in !). By this time it is too late to do anything. So you have to act early, that is now, as you are reading this!

Back to May: the first thing you can do (whether you are organic or not) is to purchase a codling moth trap. This comprises a weather proof plastic tunnel you hang near your apples trees (one will be enough for an allotment plot). Inside is a piece of sticky card, and in the middle of the sticky trap you place a pheromone lure. This emits a chemical which attracts male moths which fly into the trap and get stuck. This will reduce the pressure of moths on your fruit trees, but remember it is the female which lays the eggs, so the female is still free to go about her business. There are a few brands which market traps, for instances 'Agralan' and 'Growing Success' found in most garden centres and usual internet suppliers. Plums also suffer from a plum maggot and sticky traps and lures can also be purchased, to use in the same way.

Really, the trap is there so you can count the number of moths, and gauge the best time to treat the trees. Because you cannot see the moths or the eggs, counting the moths trapped is the only guide you have as to what is going on. When you count more than 15 moths per week, infestation is high and you should spray a week later. Timing is crucial - you are trying to kill the grubs as they are hatching, not the adult moths.

So what to treat with? Well, you can leave it to nature and if you encourage a lot of birds on your plot, some will eat the insects and their eggs. If you are growing organically you can try a spray based on garlic extract - a typical example can be found at www.npk.ltd.uk/garlic.htm. There is not a lot of strong evidence to support its efficacy, but some commercial growers are using garlic sprays. The main problem with garlic is that it is not very persistent so timing is even more critical. If you are not organic, the conventional treatment for home and garden use is based on products containing bifenthrin such as 'Bayer Sprayday Greenfly Killer Plus'. With this product apples can be treated up to three times per season (if you really need to). Guidance will vary with other products. Read the label carefully.

Hopefully these notes will give you a good crop of fruit in 2010, and avoid the frustration of apples going rotten in store next autumn and winter.

Richard Weightman

Now I didn’t know that!

2010-04-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

Darker green vegetables contain more vitamin C than lighter green vegetables.

Eating an apple is a more reliable method of staying awake than consuming a cup of coffee. The natural sugar in an apple is more potent than the caffeine in coffee.

Before you get out the peeler for your potatoes, you might want to reconsider since most of the nutrients in a potato reside just below the skin layer.

The cabbage contains almost as much water as watermelon. Watermelon is 92% water, cabbage is 90%.

A stalk of celery is a great diet food, since the human body uses more calories digesting celery than the 10 calories it contains.

Carrots were originally red, purple, yellow or white... in fact almost any colour than orange. Orange carrots were not produced until the 16th century, when the Dutch cross bred yellow and red carrots to create the orange carrot in honour of the the Dutch Royal Family, also known as the House of Orange.

Never store onions and potatoes together. They both produce gases that when in close proximity to each other, cause both of them to spoil much faster.

When storing potatoes, placing an apple with them will help prevent the potatoes from sprouting. The apple helps to extract the moisture from the air which directly affects sprouting. A sliced apple placed in a bag of potatoes will work better than a whole apple, but will spoil faster and will need to be replaced more often.

Vegetable art

2010-04-29T23:33:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of the Chinese artist Ju Duoqi, who makes vegetable replicas of famous works of art.

Tomato (solanum lycopersicum)

2010-04-29T13:40:00.000-07:00

Why plant

Easy to grow from seed, even your own seed from the previous year.

Don’t need a big garden to grow… just a few pots on a patio look really attractive and will give a steady supply throughout late summer.

Forget those supermarket varieties… nothing tastes as good as home grown tomatoes! Most supermarkets tomatoes are picked while unripe and then artificially ripened, reducing their health properties.

Interesting uses

None other than for health and cooking.

Origins

The tomato is native to South America, probably originating in the highlands of Peru. Although the exact date of domestication is not known there is evidence tomatoes being consumed by prehistoric humans.

It is believed the tomato was first introduced to Europe by the explorers such as Cortez and Columbus in the 15th and 16th centuries and was first grown in England in the 1590s. By the mid 1700s tomatoes were widely eaten in Britain.

Health benefits

Various tomato components are believed to work together to produce health benefits. These include aiding in the development of healthy teeth, bones, skin and hair; lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels and possibly reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and some cancers. Tomatoes are high in Vitamin C, which acts as an antioxidant. The red colour of a tomato comes from its lycopene content, which is also believed to reduce the risk of certain types of cancer.

Some tomato components are more easily absorbed by the body when tomatoes are heated, either during cooking or processing. In addition adding small amounts of oil to tomatoes, for example in a salad, helps the body absorb the nutrients better. Processed tomato products such as tomato sauce and tomato paste may contain more health benefits than raw tomatoes.

Varieties

Beef Tomatoes - The largest of the tomato varieties, these have a sweet dense red flesh. Ideal for stuffing, slicing or cooking with.

Cherry Tomatoes - Much smaller than other tomato varieties with a very intense sweet flavour. Delicious as a lunchbox snack, in salads or roasted.

Sungold Tomatoes - A much more delicate flavour than the traditional cherry, very juicy and a lovely orange colour which looks great in salads or as a garnish.

Plum tomatoes - Egg-shaped tomatoes with a meaty flesh and concentrated flavour, which makes them especially well-suited to cooking. They are available in various sizes including baby. Plum tomatoes are the most popular variety for canning.

Planting

Tomatoes can be grown from seed as early as January so long as you can provide enough heat (50 degrees Fahrenheit, or 10 degrees centigrade) and light. Plant seeds 1 inch (2.5 centimetres) apart just under the compost surface in seed trays or small pots and cover, for example using clingfilm. They should start appearing in seven to ten days.

Once large enough to handle move them individually into 3 inch (8 centimetre) pots until they’re about 5 inches (15 centimetres) tall, when they should be moved to their final positions.

Tomatoes are susceptible to frost damage, so if growing outside wait until all risk of frost has passed… early April at the soonest. Plant about 2 feet apart, deeper than they were in the plot since the plant will grow additional roots along the buried stem.

Whether growing indoors or out the plants will need support. You can stake with canes, or alternatively place posts either end of the row with a cross beam along the top and use string loosely tied from the base of each plant to the cross beam. Twist the string around the plant stem as it grows. In a greenhouse the string can be attached to the roof frame.

If growing in pots ideally use 12 inch, although you can use smaller.

Aftercare

As the plants grow remove additional shoots that seems to appear almost daily where each leaf meets the stem… at this stage you want all the plant’s energy to be focused on growing taller.

Once the plants are about 3 feet tall remove the leaves from the bottom 1 foot of the plant to prevent fungus problems and improve ventilation.

Water deeply and regularly while the plants are growing. Irregular watering at this stage is a regular cause of failure. Once the fruit begins to ripen lessening the water will coax the plant into concentrating its sugars. Don’t withhold water so much that the plants wilt and become stressed or they will drop their blossoms and possibly their fruit.

Feed with fertilisers soon as the first tiny fruit begin to appear and repeat every two weeks until harvesting.

Technorati Tags: How to grow tomatoes

Try making nettle fertiliser since this is very good for tomatoes.

Harvesting

With care greenhouse tomatoes will fruit right through to November. Towards the end of the season remove all leaves to let maximum light reach the fruit. If you want to grow the biggest tomatoes stop fruiting by removing the growing tip at the top of the plant when you’re got up to seven levels or trusses of fruit.

Recipes

Grilled pesto tomatoes on toast

Honey and thyme tomatoes

Golden goat's cheese tomatoes

Stuffed summer tomatoes

Couscous stuffed beef tomatoes

Common problems

Fruit with black sunken areas on the blossom end are a sign of blossom-end rot caused by a calcium deficiency. This can be aggravated by drought or uneven watering, root damage or excess nitrogen. Consistent watering will help. The problem usually occurs on just a small number of fruit, especially at the beginning of the harvest, so once moisture conditions stabilise the rest of the fruit will be fine.
If only a few flowers form on your tomato plants or the flowers drop before setting fruit this is due to excess nitrogen, too little sun, night temperatures below 50 degrees Fahrenheit or drought stress. Be sure plants get a full day of sunlight and keep the soil evenly moist throughout the season.
Dark, concentrically ringed spots that cover the lower leaves and stems are a sign of early blight. Limit the spread of the disease by not getting water on the leaves when watering and not handling plants when they are wet.
Water-soaked patches on fruit that turn brown, dry and papery are a sign of late blight. Fruit might be spotted as well and stems might have blackened areas. To control late blight follow the same program of control as for early blight.
Cracks in fruit are generally caused by uneven watering. Use mulch to keep the soil moist throughout the season.
Yellowed, distorted and curled leaves may simply be a sign of an infestation of aphids. Check for signs of aphids on the undersides of leaves or clustered on new growth. Aphids are easily combated with a strong jet of water or just rub them off with your hands.
There is nothing worse than picking a tomato and finding a slug happily working its way through it. Early morning or evening thoroughly check all plants and possible hiding places to remove them.

Compost composition

2010-04-29T01:17:00.000-07:00

Here's a poem I wrote about part of our composting training which was in the Cambridgeshire Master Composter Newsletter. It's our weekend away at Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales…

We went on a trip to C.A.T
Centre for alternative Technology,
Lunch at Ryton on the way
then to Wales, Aberystwyth Bay.
The seaside in winter, a wonderful sight,
dinner and quiz to round off the night.
Up bright and early, off to C.A.T
It's raining, so wellies and waterproof hat
A bit of a New Age Science Park feel,
powered by solar, wind and wheel.
Environmental projects at every turn
with Guides who want you to listen and learn.
The composting section, oh so neat,
so many alternatives to digging peat.
Bins of wood, metal and plastic.
All the compost turned out fantastic.
Even the compost made from poo,
don't forget the composting loo.
After lunch, time to wander alone
with thoughts of building an "Eco Green" home.
A small spot of retail therapy too
and even try out the composting loo.
Then back on the bus and Ryton for tea.
Scones, cream and jam, sounds OK to me.
I think we all had a really great tour
and hope HDRA can take us on more.

Jennifer Coville

The world of onions

2010-04-29T00:59:00.001-07:00

One thing you’re bound to see at the allotment is plenty of onions, but do you really ‘know your onions’? (a phrase which dates from the 1920’s apparently…).

Cultivated onions were actually brought over to this country by the Romans and the name probably came from the Latin ‘unio’. However the Anglo Saxons called an onion ‘cipe’ which is related to our modern day ‘chives’.

Onions were actually worshipped by the Egyptians two and a half thousand years before the Romans (along with cabbage apparently!). The Egyptians saw eternal life in the anatomy of the onion because of its structure of circles inside circles. Paintings of onions appear on the inner walls of the pyramids and in the tombs. The onion was used as a funeral offering and onions are depicted on banquet tables and shown upon the altars of the gods. They have also been found actually in the mummies themselves.

In Pompeii Pliny the Elder wrote about the onion and cabbage patches in Pompeii and Roman beliefs regarding the efficacy of onions in amongst other things curing vision, inducing sleep and healing mouth sores and dog bites not to mention helping with dysentery and toothache (what more do you want?) Today too onions are associated with antiseptic and health giving properties. Romans would bring onions with them on their journeys to the provinces such as Britain, where they have been continually used to the present day.

Dioscorides, a Greek physician in the first century A.D., noted several medicinal uses of onions. The Greeks used onions to fortify athletes for the Olympic Games and athletes would consume pounds of onions, drink onion juice and rub onions on their bodies before the games started.

So, we’re not suggesting like the Ancient Greeks you also rub onion juice on yourself before the physical efforts involved in growing vegetables, but just be happy you’re continuing a very longstanding activity!

Anne Holland

How much do you save?

2010-04-29T00:59:00.000-07:00

I happened to come across a survey commissioned by the home insurer LV= (formerly Liverpool Victoria) last year and found it rather interesting. They described their survey as the first comprehensive allotment survey in more than a decade. This is what the key findings were:

Allotment owners claimed they save an average of £950 a year through home growing. More than half of those quizzed chose to rent a plot to save money, while a third did so to be in control of the pesticides used on their food. Teaching children about food was also a factor for some, with almost one in three (30%) "growing their own" as a way to show their kids where fruit and vegetables come from.

Do you agree with these findings? An average saving of £950 seems massively high, and I’m left wondering where we are going wrong! What do you all think you save in a year......or maybe you don’t save any money? Make a rough estimate of the net saving (that is, money saved over buying from shops and supermarkets, less anything you had to spend on your allotment such as for compost or canes) and click one of the choices in the survey on the right.

If you want to read the details of the article click here.

Hayley Weightman

Botanical notes

2010-04-29T00:48:00.000-07:00

Plants are grouped into Families according to the structure of their flowers, fruit and other distinguishing factors, for example leaf arrangements, even chemicals they produce. So why are plant families important to the vegetable grower? Well, if you’re following a rotation system it is necessary to know what family your vegetables belong to. It is also useful, for the same reasons, to know which family your weeds belong to as well.

The reason for using a rotation system is to avoid pests and diseases specific to certain crops that would build up in the soil if you grew the crop in the same position every year. Some families are beneficial to the soil, such as the legumes (pea and bean family) which have a mutually beneficial relationship (symbiotic) with a species of bacteria, Rhizobium that fixes atmospheric nitrogen in nodules it forms on the host’s roots (hence the common advice when removing legumes to leave the roots behind in the soil). This nitrogen is then available for the host plant (the bacteria gets a place to live!) and if you leave the roots in the ground the following crop also benefits. Most of the common vegetable plants we grow are just in a few families:

Solanaceae –potato, tomato, sweet pepper, chilli and aubergine (and many more)
Brassicaceae (Cruciferae) –cabbage, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, kale, mustard and radish
Cucurbitae-squash, pumpkin, marrow, courgette and cucumber
Liliaceae- onion, garlic, leek, chives,shallots ...and lilies!
Leguminosae- peas, beans and many green manures such as clover
Apiaceae or Umbelliferae- carrot, parsnip, parsley, dill, celery, fennel, angelica..lots of other herbs and spices.

Of course these families are also represented on our plots as weeds. These may harbour pests and diseases from one season to the next providing a host while the vegetable plant is absent so it is useful to know what families your weeds belong to as well.

Jude Ongeri

The Wise Apple

2010-04-29T00:31:00.000-07:00

Which variety of apple has the distinction of being the oldest still cultivated in England today?

A stroll through the re-creation of Sir Thomas Tresham’s Elizabethan orchard at Lyveden New Bield (National Trust - near Oundle, Northamptonshire) throws up a few likely candidates. Here apple, pear, plum and cherry trees have been planted to the same layout and species mix originally set out by Tresham in the late 16th Century.

The apple varieties include Winter Queening (which originated in Norfolk), Golden Harvey, Dr Harvey, French Crab Apple, Green Custard, Old Permain and the angular coarse-textured Catshead (a large, renowned ‘costard’ cooking apple; the first known variety planted by early settlers of Virginia c.1620).

But further research is rather unhelpful. As you venture into the mists of time, resources rather vaguely describing Winter Queening simply as ‘exceptionally old’ do not help much!

However, away from the orchard, there is one prime stand-out candidate - considered by authorities to have been introduced to this country much earlier than its first literary description c.1613, probably by the Romans.

Court Pendu Plat (literal translation ‘short, hung flat’- referring to the fact that the fruit is retained tight to the branch, rather like a peach) is a dessert variety once grown widely in France and Germany. In England, this late-cropping variety was once extensively cultivated by the Elizabethans, who dubbed it "the wise apple" – the reason being that it flowers much later than most varieties and hence it usually misses the blight of the frost. Wise indeed….

The popularity of Court Pendu Plat endured through Victorian times and since it is featured amongst ‘vintage varieties of Virginia’ on a US-based website, it is apparently another variety which made the long trek across the Atlantic, as ‘comfort food’ for the early settlers.

This leads neatly on to the ultimate question. What does it taste like? The following quote is delightfully ambiguous:

“The flesh is very dense, not soft - but not crisp either. Cutting into it with a knife feels a bit like cutting into a hard cheddar cheese. There seems to be very little juice, and it is not really apple-flavoured at all. The flavour is fruity and strong when picked, and sweetens by Christmas. It is not actually very appealing when you first bite into it, yet is strangely "moreish", with a flavour which is hard to define”

A hint to the flavour might be gathered from a modern-day descendant. In 1955, East Malling successfully crossed this old apple with the more youthful Cox’s Orange Pippin (which dates from around 1825) and produced Suntan. This variety is said to have a distinctive ‘pineapple’ flavour a quality inherited from Court Pendu Plat.

Maybe I can find room on the plot for one more apple tree and maybe it should be a little bit of history.

Andie Smith

Destined to grow vegetables

2010-04-29T00:21:00.000-07:00

As a family we have always grown things. I usually stick to houseplants and herbs but the boys have grown several horse chestnut trees from conkers, cacti and orange trees from seed in the bedroom and conservatory, salad plants on the windowsill etc. Stuart even rescued and revived plants from the Garden Centre skip….

Chris’s Dad was a plant breeder for Asmer Seeds, and was involved in developing seeds for amongst others, brussel sprouts and celery. He apparently developed the brussel sprout so that they grew uniformly up the stalk (rather than big at the bottom, small at the top) and famously and excitingly appeared on Open University as the expert in the field of sprouts (he also literally was filmed in the field of sprouts….).

His Dad grew lots of veg at home on a smallholding. My first experience of home grown fennel in this country was at their house in the late ‘70’s when vegetables such as fennel were rather exotic! Later when we borrowed their caravan for a holiday they left it for us complete with sackfuls of courgettes, potatoes and celery…….

His brother and brother-in-law were also plant breeders so, although Chris strayed into the world of Astrophysics, he was destined to start growing his own. Strangely, Ben has also mixed the two – but he started off planning and setting up our allotment; now he’s studying Astrophysics. So from plant pots on windowsills and horse chestnut trees from conkers, we have now progressed to allotmenteering!

Anne Holland

New format, what do you think?

2010-04-29T00:13:00.000-07:00

Although HRAA newsletters have always been available on line, in the past they’ve been published as PDF files you can print as a single document. But it takes quite a bit of effort to format each newsletter so everything fits in neatly.

For this issue I’m trying something different… this newsletter has been prepared as a web site. Doing it this way makes it much faster to prepare since there’s none of the pinching and squeezing to get everything to fit exactly into a set number of complete pages. The text for each article is just pasted into its own page straight from the author’s copy and the newsletter can be as big or small as we want.

There’s only one HRAA member who doesn’t have access to the Internet, so a copy will be printed for that member. Everyone else has the choice of reading the newsletter on line or clicking the Print Friendly button at the foot of each article to produce a printer friendly copy to read later. You can even select not to print images if you want to economise on your printer cartridges.

Additionally members can add a comment at the foot of any article that everyone can see. Some articles might start up a string of discussion.

Please let me know what you think of the new format by casting your vote in the survey on the right.

Thanks, John

PS The new format also gives us the chance to easily survey views of HRAA members. Have you got an idea for a survey for the summer newsletter? If so just post a comment below.

John McKinnie
Secretary