Summer Social
Strawberries and cream Summer Social is on Sunday 5th July 12:00-14:00, hosted by our President. Sign up at our June meeting on 16th.
Wisley Visit
The visit to RHS Wisley is on Tuesday July 7th, leaving Burghfield Common Village Hall at 9:15. Cost is £18 for members and £22 for guests, which includes coach travel and entry. Some places are still available.
May 2026
There were some beautiful entries for the competition this month, which was a spring shrub posy.
December 2025
More spectacular floral arrangements by Kerry at our last meeting of the year!
October 2025
Thanks to the members who created these spectacular arrangements for this month’s Haloween themed competition.
Our speaker, Richard Rickett, gave us a superb talk on the honey bee, and chose the winner below as it had the most food for bees.
May 2025
We had some lovely entries for ‘a single stem from your garden’ competition!
And the winner with a beautiful yellow peony was Chris!
December 2024
Kerry Thomas made these fantastic floral arrangements for our last meeting of the year. Five lucky winners of the raffle got to take them home!
October 2024
October’s speaker was Gillian Taylor who gave us a very interesting talk on her Greenhouse Year. In case you didn’t take notes on the many things that Gillian told us about, she has kindly supplied a fact sheet, see below.
MY GREENHOUSE YEAR Factsheet October 24
We had some beautiful entries for our October competition ‘A Vase of Autumn Colour’. It’s great that so many of you are taking part!
Next month’s competition is ‘An Arrangement of Berries and Seed Heads’, any format.
September 2024
An evening with Spring Bulbs – Tim Woodland, DirectBulbs, shared his knowledge with us keen gardeners. From snowdrops to millions of narcissi and tulips to much more – alliums, crocus, hyacinths etc. We were told that there are around 27000 cultivars of narcissi and 3000 registered varieties of tulips – what a choice!
What did we learn? If possible, when the flower has gone over, never cut the leaves off as they feed the bulb for next year’s flower. Your beauties should be fed with phosphate, potash or tomorite. If you do not want an invasion of muscari, plant them in containers only. Alliums are good flowers for pollinators – such useful plants for our fast disappearing insects. Tulips can be kept in the soil all year but you will find that they don’t put on as good a display, so keep feeding the leaves!
Who remembers the answer to this – what is the difference between a dry bulb and a wet bulb?
Competitions
Recent competitions at our monthly meetings had a good number of entries. Keep them coming and start thinking about the next one – October’s competition is a vase of autumn colour.
Summer Social
Our Summer Social will be on Sunday July 21st at 12.30 (to be confirmed) at our President’s house, more details to follow at the next meeting.
Open Garden
The garden at Walnut Tree Cottage will be open on Sunday May 26th in Sulham. It is very beautiful 1.5 acre garden that has been developed over 27 years by the owners and has a wide variety of plants for all seasons. The garden consists of formal areas, wild areas, a riverside and large pond garden and an arboretum of unusual and beautiful trees.
The Garden will be open from 2-5pm and has easy parking in an adjacent field. Tea and cake and a Pimms Bar will be available. Tickets £5pp (children free) proceeds will go to support vital repairs in Sulham Village Church.
Address is Walnut Tree Cottage, Sulham Lane, Sulham RG88EA.
January 2024
Our January speaker was Jonathan Hogarth, national collection holder of small and miniature hostas, who regaled us with his experiences of exhibiting at RHS shows where he has won many awards. He has invited us to book a visit to his garden in the spring when he will have plants for sale. Details will follow nearer the time.
There was a nice number of colourful entries for our ‘Posy of winter flowers’ competition this month. It is suprising just how many different flowers can be found at this time of year.
October 2023
Our October meeting was well-attended and our speaker Ian Margetts gave us a superb talk on the production of peppermint oil at Summerdown Farm. Formerly growing mustard, Ian along with Sir Michael Colman diversified into growing English Black Mitcham peppermint. Although previously grown in England, the USA became the main producer after two world wars and the pressure to grow food caused a decline in cultivation in this country. The cultivation of Black Mitcham mint is not easy as it requires some nurturing and is prone to drought, unlike the garden mint which grows rampantly in our gardens. Ian explained that Summerdown Farm is a Countryside Stewardship farm and that everything is done with sustainability in mind, from beehives in the mint fields to wildlife corridors around field margins. There are 64 miles of hedges with 6m corridors containing wildflowers – borage, sunflowers, quinoa, teasels and many others to support wildlife.
The mint crop needs to be harvested when flowering to get the right flavour and smell profile of the oil which is in the leaf. The steam distillation process takes 3.5 hours to get out all the elements and the oil is then kept for 2 -3 years during which time the taste and smell changes and mellows. Lavender and camomile is also grown on the farm for the production of their oils. Many members made purchases of the peppermint oil products which Ian had brought along, including a variety of chocolate mints, peppermint tea, soaps and home fragrance products. Needless to say, the free samples were greatly enjoyed!
August 2023
We had a very interesting talk from Jon Evans, who talked us through the summer garden season with his excellent photography of the many beautiful and unusual plants in the private garden created by the owners of the former Blackthorn alpine nursery.
Our competition was popular this month with a good number of entries. Who knew that weeds could make a such a great display of colour, and it also provoked some discussion on the definition of a weed!
May 2023
The Summer Social will be on Sunday July 2nd 12 noon at our President’s house, more details to follow at the June meeting.
The visit on June 6th to West Dean Gardens has been cancelled, and a visit to another garden may be arranged for later in the year.
A garden to visit in May: Kidmore House Garden and Vineyard is open for the National Gardens Scheme. The owner volunteers for Thrive and is kindly opening up her gardens to the public on Friday 26th May, with money from the refreshments going to Thrive.
April 2023
Another good turnout of members at our April meeting when Alan Goold from Henry Street Garden Centre gave us a very interesting talk on water conservation. Even with plenty of rain in the last few weeks, we should be mindful that another hot summer may be on the way and perhaps a drought like last year. Alan brought along a vast array of equipment to illustrate his talk and reminded us of some water saving techniques and tips. Improve water retention in the soil by digging in organic matter for better soil structure, and also mulch with at least 2 inches of bark. Fresh bark is phytotoxic to plants so only use on paths. Add moisture retention gels to pots and baskets. Don’t overwater coir composts, and more feeding is needed for peat-free composts. Re watering equipment, Alan explained the different types of hosepipes available, including the connectors, one of which should be a water stop. Tip – when O rings perish due to frost, sunlight etc, buy a pack of replacement O rings rather than replace the connector. He also showed us a range of micro-watering systems working on timers which enable automatic watering. Whatever method of watering we use, it is best done in the morning rather than at night as the cooler temperatures encourages rot and disease.
April Competition: it was great to see so many entries for the competition this month, with a lovely range of tulip varieties! Looking forward to seeing another good number for next month’s competition which is a single flower from your garden.
March 2023
Our March meeting was again very well-attended, with Tim Woodland giving us a very informative talk on Summer Flowering Bulbs. We learned that the largest group is Dahlias with over 20,000 registered varieties, and it takes only 5-6 years for a new Dahlia to be developed for sale in the UK compared to 25 years for Daffodils. Tim also spoke about many other bulbs and their cultivation – for example, Lilies are the hardiest of bulbs and can be planted in cold soils, whereas Cannas need a lot of heat for a long time to get them to flower. Many members made purchases from the large variety of bulbs which Tim had brought along for sale.
February 2023
Save the date – June 6th, Garden visit to West Dean Gardens, sign up and pay at April and May meetings.
Snowdrops: opening for the National Garden Scheme on 8th February, Welford Park has one of the finest natural snowdrop woodlands in the country and a wonderful display of hellebores, galanthus cultivars, winter flowering shrubs throughout the extensive gardens.
January 2023
At our well-attended January meeting, Ray Broughton gave us an entertaining talk on the Garden Year, Month by Month. So by now, we should have all purchased our new carborundum stone and sharpened our tools correctly – remember that 22o angle. For those who have heard Ray speak before, we were not disappointed to hear again that the right place for tomato ketchup is not in the kitchen but in the garden shed! Use it to clean your secateurs and hedge trimmers. More tips for this time of year include using a very fine mist spray on flowers if frost is forecast, and a container of fresh manure covered with cling film pierced with a few holes (wear gloves) can help prevent seedlings from becoming leggy in the greenhouse. Potatoes can be grown under straw, no digging required. Plant shallowly in March, cover with a deep layer of organic barley straw and water with tomato fertilizer, the fermentation creates heat and the potatoes will love it. Just some of the wealth of advice from Ray in an excellent and informative talk to start the gardening year.
October 2022
On October the 18th, we had a terrific talk from Paul Patton entitled “Aquatics for all”. He covered a huge range of topics from “first dig” to planting, maintenance and attracting wildlife. He answered many questions at the end and lots of members went into the night buzzing with plans to use the Winter to create a wonderful addition to their gardens. The attendance was excellent and there were a number of visitors keen to learn about ponds.