February 2018

Newsletter

TO SHORTEN WINTER, BORROW SOME MONEY DUE IN SPRING! ISSUE 2/18

I do hope that this Newsletter finds you in good heart as the winter progresses and the mornings and evenings start to produce a little more daylight almost day by day. Time moves on and we are looking forward to our first meeting of the season when on 8 February we open up our very exciting 2018

programme with John Trim again visiting us and presenting the second half of his talk he began last

February when he spoke about starting or improving a vegetable plot. This time John will provide an insight into the world of judging and providing us with lots of tips and tricks. John is a very knowledgeable gardener and National Judge and a very good speaker. Don’t miss the evening! SPONSORSHIP FOR 2018Sponsorship is very important to organisations such as ours, and we have been very lucky to enjoy the sponsorship provided by St Margaret’s Nursery for several years now. The Nursery provide a 10% discount on items purchased (on production of your membership card) and I know our members enjoy the Nursery which has an excellent stock of plants and

unlike a lot of nurseries they are friendly and welcoming and provide us with a lot of advice and information. We are particularly indebted to the amount of support they provide us for our Garden Auction. I am delighted that for 2018 we can announce new joint sponsors in Parkers the Garden Machinery and DIY specialists who have branches at 99 Highlands Road and 19 The Green Stubbington. Parkers like St Margaret’s Nursery are offering 10% off of all of their items on production of your Membership Card. We believe that the addition of Parkers enables our members to get a good discount off of a wide range of garden items as well as household items. Please do consider both St Margaret’s and Parkers for your purchases. It helps you the members and it also helps the Club.

WELCOME TO AN EXCITING NEW SEASON!

RENEWING YOUR MEMBERSHIP Please do consider renewing your membership in advance of our first meeting to avoid first evening queueing. You can do this by forwarding a cheque made payable to Catisfield & District Gardening Club for £15 and forward to our treasurer Tiffany Harper at 20 Hampton Grove, Fareham, PO155NL.Book Your Place on Our Away Day at Staunton Country Park

On the afternoon of Thursday 12 July 2018 we are making a visit to the above gardens for a talk and a personal guided tour by the Head of Horticulture; Chris

Bailey. This is an event additional to our regular

programme (we do not usually have an event in July) and the

cost will be £13 per person including admission to the gardens and refreshments.

Please book your place at one of our monthly meetings. We will be going by our own transport. If you require a lift then please

see or contact the Club Secretary Judy Tedore and she will be pleased to arrange that for you with a member who has

a spare seat in their car.

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Growing Our MembershipOne of the most important aspects of the Club is to grow our membership base. The more members we have, the more we will be able to do as a Club such as engaging more high profile speakers. To help with this we have put together a another good quality pamphlet. This has been delivered to areas we have not previously delivered to and we have also placed a number of pamphlet holders in local locations so that the Club is well advertised. You our members have an important part to play in recruiting new members for there is nothing like “word of mouth” to bring in new members so please consider friends, relatives, neighbours, etc who you think would be interested. Pamphlets will be available at the entrance desk at each meeting, please take a pamphlet or two to give out.

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Once again our programme this year includes a quiz which will follow our AGM and buffet. The Chairman was asked whether the 2018 Quiz will include questions taken from the newsletters published to members and he was heard to quote “that he could neither confirm nor deny that this would be the case!”

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Should you undertake gardening during the

winter? The winter time is often thought a good time to get outside and do some tidying up. However be warned pruning or tidying up plants in the winter can leave your plants without

essential protective top growth which is important to a lot of plants because without this top cover it means that they are vulnerable to the cold particularly overnight when the temperatures drop dramatically. Mild weather in the autumn and early winter prevents plants from becoming completely dormant and encourages them to develop high levels of starches in their stems which is nature’s antifreeze. Pruning and tidying up is better left to early March. Some vigorous climbers such as apples, pears and wisteria benefit from a winter pruning but not when there is a heavy frost about.

Avoid cultivation particularly forking it opens up the soil and lets the frost get in to the ground and damages root growth which is taking place

even in winter. Avoid also treading on soil because this compacts the soil. Keep off of your lawn as well. Grass leaf blades will snap and be crushed under the weight of your foot.

*****What’s On

Winter beauty at Wisley

RHS Garden Wisley is a good experience at any time of the

year and there’s always something special to see. This includes winter when the highlight is the ‘Winter

Walk’ which include displays of snowdrops (Galanthus)

which you’ll find in abundance, as well as an Iris

‘Finola’ – a striking white variety. Delighting the

senses further is the collection of sweetly-scented

witch hazels (Hamamelis). Don’t forget the Butterflies in

The Glasshouse exhibit. There are more than 50

species of exotic free-flying butterflies every day up to 4th

March. This is very popular so it is worth booking your

free time slot at; https://gardentickets.rhs.org.uk/rhswi/sessions.aspx?tid=7

Garden opening for snowdrops

Mitchmere Farm Garden, Stoughton, West Sussex,

PO18 9JW Feb 11, 11 am to 4pm. Entrance £4, children

free. Refreshments, snowdrops for sale.

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ULLUCO WARNING

Gardeners have been advised by DEFR against growing Ulluco a South American Root Vegetable. This novelty brightly coloured vegetable originating from the Andes is no threat to humans but viruses from these root tubers could spread to other plants such as potato, spinach and squash. A similar looking vegetable the Oca is safe to grow.

OCA

*****WE MIGHT ONLY BE LEFT WITH GM BANANAS SOON

Because most bananas are sterile clones, bananas are very

susceptible to epidemics. A serious plant epidemic took place in the 1950s wiping out many of

the favourite bananas at that stage. A worse epidemic has taken place since the 1990s

when ‘Panama Disease’ swept through plantations around the world wiping out the Cavendish Group of bananas; the variety usually found on supermarket

shelves. Queensland University

researchers have produced a modified Cavendish banana with a gene from a wild banana which has shown good resistance to the

Panama Disease.BANANA QUESTION TIME! Two Questions for you!

Which two countries are the largest producers of bananas

in the world? Second question; how many

countries in the world grow bananas? Answers at the

end of this Newsletter.

*****THE KEY TO SUCCESSFUL GARDENING – IMPOROVE

YOUR SOILOne theme we have heard many times from our speakers is that the soil is the foundation of your garden’s fertility. Have you noticed Monty Don’s hands disappearing into the soil when he is planting and how there is not a stone in sight! Firstly you need to assess your soil and find out if it is acidic, dry, thin, chalky. The type of soil determines the techniques and improvements you need to take. Testing the pH is a good idea. Most soils benefit from the addition of organic matter. You then have to decide how to apply them; dig in or add to the surface mulch. When to carry out the work is also important. Mid-Spring is ideal for most soils and indeed the Autumn. You then have to decide how often you need to repeat the process. The best mulching materials are leafmould, garden compost, spent mushroom compost, wood chippings, well-rotted farmyard manure, spent hops and some seaweeds. If you have heavy soils then add sand, grit or gravel. This will improve heavy soils and improve drainage

always a problem with heavy soils.

10 Jobs for February1. Prepare vegetable seed

beds, and sow some vegetables under cover.

2. Cut down deciduous ornamental grasses left standing over winter, before fresh shoots appear.

3. Divide large clumps of snowdrops and winter aconites after flowering and replant to start new colonies.

4. Prune late summer-flowering clematis, cutting stems back to healthy buds about 30cm from the base.

5. Divide congested clumps of herbaceous perennials and grasses to make vigorous new plants for free

6. Transplant deciduous shrubs growing in the wrong place, while they are dormant

7. Prune winter-flowering shrubs that have finished flowering

8. Prune Wisteria.9. Prune hardy evergreen

hedges and renovate overgrown deciduous hedges.

10. Prune conservatory climbers such as bougainvillea.

Quiz Answer: India & China (28% of world’s output in 2016) and 135 countries.