April 2013
01/06/13 13:06
KIRTON AND FALKENHAM GARDENERS CLUB
April meeting - Michael Perry, Thompson and Morgan . ‘ Exploring New , Different and Unusual Plants.’
Michael is New Product Development Manager for T & M and scours the world to source new and unusual plants.
T & M was founded 1855 by William Thompson ( a baker!) & John Morgan in Tavern St., Ipswich, and is today based at Poplar Lane where all breeding takes place and all products are now despatched to customers.
Some plants and seeds originate from the remotest parts of the world and it can be many years before they are ready for commercial sale. Michael breezed through a whole catalogue of plants, fruit and veg – all developed by T & M over the years, highlighting many of their best sellers e.g. Tree Lilies, Sweet Pea ‘Prima Ballerina’,Begonia ‘Apricot Shades’, Busy Lizzie ‘Blue Sky’, Black Hyacinth ‘ Midnight Mystique’, Tomato ‘ Sungold’ and I couldn’t resist ‘Phlox of Sheep’. Pictures were bright and colourful but it was difficult to make notes and keep up with a rapid delivery. However Michael thoughtfully left a hard copy of notes and pictures which will be with the club notice board if there is a plant anyone wishes to identify.
He also left £20 worth of new seeds to be won by a lucky member at the May meeting.
60 members ( including 2 expecting Graham Procter ) were present.
May meeting – Graham Procter – ‘ Spring in the Garden’ Thurs. 9th. May.
Unusually, we will be in the village hall for our May meeting. After the bitterly cold start to Spring this may turn out to be a blessing in disguise! Graham is well known to us, we have visited his Crown Nursery at Ufford on more than one occasion and he was on the panel of BBC Gardeners’ Question Time when they visited Kirton.
Graham will be talking on ‘ Spring in the Garden’, 7.30pm start. Come along and you may win £20 worth of T & M seeds.
International Dept. – Belgium 23/26 May 2013.
This will be our umpteenth trip to the crazy world of Euro, but for the first time we depart on a Thursday - the 23rd of May ! Be at the Green at 06.15 am on that day or we will have gone without you! You will receive your lavish tour brochure with all the details and don’t forget you will need passport, EU health card, euros and insurance details. We have again arranged preferential rates to purchase euros at T. Cook, Hamilton Road, just present your membership card, the key to all things good.However feel free to shop around. Parking if required on the Green.
Any queries , contact Alma ( 448616 ) or Jo ( 448784).
Late Summer Outing – Sat. 7th. September 2013.
Pensthorpe Wildlife and Garden Centre, Norfolk.
Bookings for the annual outing opened at the April meeting and it is expected that the trip will be quickly subscribed. So, if you want to go make your booking at the 9th. May meeting, or contact Dick on 448656. Cost, members £24, guests £26, cash with bookings please. We expect to leave the Green at 08.30 am.
Open Gardens - Sunday 23rd. June.
We now have about 20 gardens which will be opened on the day and with garden club members , scouts, guides and brownies all involved it promises to be a fun day. The event is primarily in aid of the scout hut fund, but guides and brownies will provide teas in the church hall for their funds and Kirton Light Railway will provide rides in aid of St. Elizabeth Hospice. Station Master Fred Last is taking no chances and in the event of iced points or signal failure replacement bus services will run.
Full details in the June Review but we would appreciate some help on the day so let me know if you can assist ( Roy 616).
Lode Gardens - including Richard Ayres’ are open Sun 12th. May – details on club noticeboard.
2013 Programme –
There are two changes to the published programme to advise:
Thurs. 9th. May , meeting , village hall, Graham Procter-‘Spring in the Garden’.
Thurs. 12th. Sept. will now be a meeting in the village hall, Matthew Tanton-Brown.
Please amend your membership cards.
Tales from the Allotments.
There were some strange facts reported recently about food waste. With millions starving in the third world , according to the Inst. of Mechanical Engineers, half the world’s food is wasted. No facts to support this however. Also they report that in UK 30% of veg crops are wasted because they do not meet super markets’ ‘ visual standards’. Well, we see this all around us – the classic crop is parsnips, too big or small and they are left to rot. Bizarrely the Nat. Allotments Society reckons the ‘ Grow your Own’ campaign has gone too far with eager amateurs causing waste by growing far too much. Surely this is trial and error and they will learn. Certainly allotment holders are a savvy bunch – they literally do not waste a bean as any surplus is recycled via the compost heap. My neighbour is making sure his precious seeds do not become rodent fodder when he eventually gets to sow. WMD (weapons of mouse destruction) have been employed and I would be surprised if any of the little devils have survived this side of the A14! They will certainly tell their mates to give the plots a wide berth. As I write warmer weather is forecast and I have gone for broke by sowing my sweet corn, squash, courgettes etc in the unheated green house.
Next meeting: Thurs. 9th. May 2013. Graham Procter – ‘Spring in the Garden’
Village Hall 7.30 pm.
Roy Mallett 448616
April meeting - Michael Perry, Thompson and Morgan . ‘ Exploring New , Different and Unusual Plants.’
Michael is New Product Development Manager for T & M and scours the world to source new and unusual plants.
T & M was founded 1855 by William Thompson ( a baker!) & John Morgan in Tavern St., Ipswich, and is today based at Poplar Lane where all breeding takes place and all products are now despatched to customers.
Some plants and seeds originate from the remotest parts of the world and it can be many years before they are ready for commercial sale. Michael breezed through a whole catalogue of plants, fruit and veg – all developed by T & M over the years, highlighting many of their best sellers e.g. Tree Lilies, Sweet Pea ‘Prima Ballerina’,Begonia ‘Apricot Shades’, Busy Lizzie ‘Blue Sky’, Black Hyacinth ‘ Midnight Mystique’, Tomato ‘ Sungold’ and I couldn’t resist ‘Phlox of Sheep’. Pictures were bright and colourful but it was difficult to make notes and keep up with a rapid delivery. However Michael thoughtfully left a hard copy of notes and pictures which will be with the club notice board if there is a plant anyone wishes to identify.
He also left £20 worth of new seeds to be won by a lucky member at the May meeting.
60 members ( including 2 expecting Graham Procter ) were present.
May meeting – Graham Procter – ‘ Spring in the Garden’ Thurs. 9th. May.
Unusually, we will be in the village hall for our May meeting. After the bitterly cold start to Spring this may turn out to be a blessing in disguise! Graham is well known to us, we have visited his Crown Nursery at Ufford on more than one occasion and he was on the panel of BBC Gardeners’ Question Time when they visited Kirton.
Graham will be talking on ‘ Spring in the Garden’, 7.30pm start. Come along and you may win £20 worth of T & M seeds.
International Dept. – Belgium 23/26 May 2013.
This will be our umpteenth trip to the crazy world of Euro, but for the first time we depart on a Thursday - the 23rd of May ! Be at the Green at 06.15 am on that day or we will have gone without you! You will receive your lavish tour brochure with all the details and don’t forget you will need passport, EU health card, euros and insurance details. We have again arranged preferential rates to purchase euros at T. Cook, Hamilton Road, just present your membership card, the key to all things good.However feel free to shop around. Parking if required on the Green.
Any queries , contact Alma ( 448616 ) or Jo ( 448784).
Late Summer Outing – Sat. 7th. September 2013.
Pensthorpe Wildlife and Garden Centre, Norfolk.
Bookings for the annual outing opened at the April meeting and it is expected that the trip will be quickly subscribed. So, if you want to go make your booking at the 9th. May meeting, or contact Dick on 448656. Cost, members £24, guests £26, cash with bookings please. We expect to leave the Green at 08.30 am.
Open Gardens - Sunday 23rd. June.
We now have about 20 gardens which will be opened on the day and with garden club members , scouts, guides and brownies all involved it promises to be a fun day. The event is primarily in aid of the scout hut fund, but guides and brownies will provide teas in the church hall for their funds and Kirton Light Railway will provide rides in aid of St. Elizabeth Hospice. Station Master Fred Last is taking no chances and in the event of iced points or signal failure replacement bus services will run.
Full details in the June Review but we would appreciate some help on the day so let me know if you can assist ( Roy 616).
Lode Gardens - including Richard Ayres’ are open Sun 12th. May – details on club noticeboard.
2013 Programme –
There are two changes to the published programme to advise:
Thurs. 9th. May , meeting , village hall, Graham Procter-‘Spring in the Garden’.
Thurs. 12th. Sept. will now be a meeting in the village hall, Matthew Tanton-Brown.
Please amend your membership cards.
Tales from the Allotments.
There were some strange facts reported recently about food waste. With millions starving in the third world , according to the Inst. of Mechanical Engineers, half the world’s food is wasted. No facts to support this however. Also they report that in UK 30% of veg crops are wasted because they do not meet super markets’ ‘ visual standards’. Well, we see this all around us – the classic crop is parsnips, too big or small and they are left to rot. Bizarrely the Nat. Allotments Society reckons the ‘ Grow your Own’ campaign has gone too far with eager amateurs causing waste by growing far too much. Surely this is trial and error and they will learn. Certainly allotment holders are a savvy bunch – they literally do not waste a bean as any surplus is recycled via the compost heap. My neighbour is making sure his precious seeds do not become rodent fodder when he eventually gets to sow. WMD (weapons of mouse destruction) have been employed and I would be surprised if any of the little devils have survived this side of the A14! They will certainly tell their mates to give the plots a wide berth. As I write warmer weather is forecast and I have gone for broke by sowing my sweet corn, squash, courgettes etc in the unheated green house.
Next meeting: Thurs. 9th. May 2013. Graham Procter – ‘Spring in the Garden’
Village Hall 7.30 pm.
Roy Mallett 448616
