I told you to make a note of 10th August to visit the MUWAGA Produce Show in Millton Village Hall and it seems many of you did.
It was the first show since 1BC (the year before Covid) and it was good to see it back. My enthusiasm is not only for the show of vegetables, fruit, flowers, baking and preserves but also for the focus it provides for us all to get together, indulge in a bit of cake and tea and have a good chinwag.
I also hope that if you felt putting anything into the Show was just too demanding, you soon realised that the standard is not unachievable. Indeed, you may have looked at what was there and thought, ‘I could do better than that!’. Well, hopefully next year will give you that chance, and please do grab it; a good Show depends upon all of us ‘having a go’; it is just a fun event to show off what you can do. I hope to see you there next year.
Onwards….
Harvest time has gone, and Winter beckons. I have to be honest, it is not my favourite season, but it gives a chance to review the year and plan for the next. Looking back to warmer times this years growing season was a mixed bag for yours truly, with poor germination early in the year and heavy losses of seedlings as I developed a healthy slug population.
But then, I moan every year.
On the plus side, brassicas seem to be doing well and we had masses of soft fruit. When you think how much it costs in the supermarket it shows that growing your own soft fruit is a winner. It is also a bumper year for apples – cider making is definitely back on.
I don’t know if it is just me, but there seem to be very few insects about. Where in past years we have had the buzz of pollinators round flowers, this year has been very quiet even though there was no shortage of blossom. It’s a worry as those insects not only pollinate but also feed other creatures further up the food chain (including, eventually, us). We need have to do what we can to help, every little bit counts.