January 2012 meeting
11/02/12 13:46
February visit - Thursday 9th. February 2012
Bosch Factory, Stowmarket – Cars Green 6.15 pm /assemble 7.00pm.
January meeting – Matthew Tanton Brown – ‘ Evergreens ‘
Matthew brought a selection of 45 different evergreens from 'The Place For Plants' to show to the 50 members gathered for our January Meeting. He gave an entertaining description of the uses and habits of each one though he did have to defend his sense of smell when his description of the subtle odours of one shrub were dismissively summed up by some members as 'cats.'
He emphasised the importance of placing our evergreens with care because though they naturally took centre stage in the winter months they should not overpower or clash with the rest of our schemes during the other seasons. Dick Shepherd
February Visit – Bosch Factory, Stowmarket.
Thursday 9th. February and we make our first winter evening visit to the Bosch factory at Stowmarket . Bosch are sited on the old Suffolk Lawn Mowers factory and modern day grass and garden machinery is now produced. Debbie has arranged our visit to take in a conducted tour of the evening shift operations – cars Green 6.15pm.
March meeting and AGM
Thursday 8th. March , 7.30pm, Village Hall- our guest speaker will be Adam Paul from Parham Hall who will be giving a practical talk on seed sowing.
Adam’s talk will be followed by the club’s annual general meeting which will feature reports on the club’s activities in 2011, the treasurer’s financial report for 2011 and the election of Chairman, Treasurer, Secretary and Auditor. We will also have to elect one committee member as Sheila is standing down. Nomination forms available from Mike Sampson or myself.
Also Dick will be opening bookings for our late summer outing on Saturday 8th. September to RHS gardens at Wisley. Our visit also coincides with the Wisley annual flower show and we expect a lot of interest for the trip. Cost is £16 members and £18 guests so make sure you are there in March to support the AGM and make sure of your seat for Wisley.
Rouen 25/28 May 2012
The trip is fully booked with a waiting list and those booked should have received the January newsletter but if you have any concerns please contact Alma on 448616 or Jo on 448784.
2012 Programme
If you have renewed your membership for 2012 you will have received our newly designed members’ fixture card with details of our busy programme for 2012. This includes some great visits and speakers. There is our late summer Wisley trip and for the first time this year we include Ben Potterton’s annual specialist plant fayre where the day includes a gardener’s question time with guest celebrities and talks by invited guests. This is a great day out and takes place Saturday 1st. September at Blacksmith’s Cottage Nursery, Langmere. There is also our summer garden party on Saturday 7th. July which is for members only. So if you have not already renewed your membership make sure and do so at the March meeting.
Tales from the Allotments
The searing, hot weather at the end of September brought a quick end to beans and autumn raspberries and the late season drought was not good for root crops. But that is all now forgotten, seeds and plants have been ordered from those glossy catalogues with their tantalising pictures of perfect produce. My garlic is through and broad beans are sown. On the question of sowing I came across an amusing section in the Victorian book ‘The Garden’ highlighting their obsession with precision. Under tables of seed germination we find parsnips at 25% (no surprise there), carrots at 55% with most seeds 80-90%. It then goes on and I quote “ thus if 1000 tomato plants are required it is not enough to sow 1000 seeds, with germination at 80% - 1250 seeds will be required” ( will you count them or should I ?).
Several pages are devoted to the subject of ‘ Garden Robbers’. It records the culprits are not usually grown men or women but gay, young scamps ( presumably equates to today’s teenagers!). It goes so far as to point the finger at the ‘tomboy’ girl, a real problem of the time. Punishment for offenders( we are talking apple scrumping here!)? Prison is ruled out because they come out worse than when they went in.Nothing changed there. It relates the story of the owner of a large house, fed up with losing apples from his orchard. He stayed up all night with his head gardener and caught two young scamps up a tree, one boy, one tomboy. They were dragged back to the house and both given a good caning! Imagine that today, the owner probably up for kidnapping and assault while the young scamps would be engulfed with intensive counselling.
Roy Mallett 448616
Bosch Factory, Stowmarket – Cars Green 6.15 pm /assemble 7.00pm.
January meeting – Matthew Tanton Brown – ‘ Evergreens ‘
Matthew brought a selection of 45 different evergreens from 'The Place For Plants' to show to the 50 members gathered for our January Meeting. He gave an entertaining description of the uses and habits of each one though he did have to defend his sense of smell when his description of the subtle odours of one shrub were dismissively summed up by some members as 'cats.'
He emphasised the importance of placing our evergreens with care because though they naturally took centre stage in the winter months they should not overpower or clash with the rest of our schemes during the other seasons. Dick Shepherd
February Visit – Bosch Factory, Stowmarket.
Thursday 9th. February and we make our first winter evening visit to the Bosch factory at Stowmarket . Bosch are sited on the old Suffolk Lawn Mowers factory and modern day grass and garden machinery is now produced. Debbie has arranged our visit to take in a conducted tour of the evening shift operations – cars Green 6.15pm.
March meeting and AGM
Thursday 8th. March , 7.30pm, Village Hall- our guest speaker will be Adam Paul from Parham Hall who will be giving a practical talk on seed sowing.
Adam’s talk will be followed by the club’s annual general meeting which will feature reports on the club’s activities in 2011, the treasurer’s financial report for 2011 and the election of Chairman, Treasurer, Secretary and Auditor. We will also have to elect one committee member as Sheila is standing down. Nomination forms available from Mike Sampson or myself.
Also Dick will be opening bookings for our late summer outing on Saturday 8th. September to RHS gardens at Wisley. Our visit also coincides with the Wisley annual flower show and we expect a lot of interest for the trip. Cost is £16 members and £18 guests so make sure you are there in March to support the AGM and make sure of your seat for Wisley.
Rouen 25/28 May 2012
The trip is fully booked with a waiting list and those booked should have received the January newsletter but if you have any concerns please contact Alma on 448616 or Jo on 448784.
2012 Programme
If you have renewed your membership for 2012 you will have received our newly designed members’ fixture card with details of our busy programme for 2012. This includes some great visits and speakers. There is our late summer Wisley trip and for the first time this year we include Ben Potterton’s annual specialist plant fayre where the day includes a gardener’s question time with guest celebrities and talks by invited guests. This is a great day out and takes place Saturday 1st. September at Blacksmith’s Cottage Nursery, Langmere. There is also our summer garden party on Saturday 7th. July which is for members only. So if you have not already renewed your membership make sure and do so at the March meeting.
Tales from the Allotments
The searing, hot weather at the end of September brought a quick end to beans and autumn raspberries and the late season drought was not good for root crops. But that is all now forgotten, seeds and plants have been ordered from those glossy catalogues with their tantalising pictures of perfect produce. My garlic is through and broad beans are sown. On the question of sowing I came across an amusing section in the Victorian book ‘The Garden’ highlighting their obsession with precision. Under tables of seed germination we find parsnips at 25% (no surprise there), carrots at 55% with most seeds 80-90%. It then goes on and I quote “ thus if 1000 tomato plants are required it is not enough to sow 1000 seeds, with germination at 80% - 1250 seeds will be required” ( will you count them or should I ?).
Several pages are devoted to the subject of ‘ Garden Robbers’. It records the culprits are not usually grown men or women but gay, young scamps ( presumably equates to today’s teenagers!). It goes so far as to point the finger at the ‘tomboy’ girl, a real problem of the time. Punishment for offenders( we are talking apple scrumping here!)? Prison is ruled out because they come out worse than when they went in.Nothing changed there. It relates the story of the owner of a large house, fed up with losing apples from his orchard. He stayed up all night with his head gardener and caught two young scamps up a tree, one boy, one tomboy. They were dragged back to the house and both given a good caning! Imagine that today, the owner probably up for kidnapping and assault while the young scamps would be engulfed with intensive counselling.
Roy Mallett 448616
