Chalfont St Peter Garden Club Newsletter - April 2004
Chairman: Charles Flawn Founded 1940
Secretary: Linda Hills-Harrop
Garden Hut Manager : Cliff Thayer
Dear Member, Last week I was watching a Gardener at work in a
National Trust property, he was removing the old top soil from his
beds and replacing it with John Innes loam based compost. This
compost is sterilised and fertilised; so no weeds and it will give
his bedding plants a boost. John Innes is available from the Hut.
Our May 12th Plant sale has had to be cancelled, we hope to
reinstate it next year.
Meetings: This months meeting will be at 8pm on
Wednesday 21st in the Church Hall for our Spring Show and
cheese & wine evening, with entry at £1. The judges are
Barbara Ray, Marina Long, Alan Davison, Pat Taylor and Ken
Hall. During the judging we are going to have a talk from
Jenny Edwards entitled A life of a Florist. It will be a
lovely evening, so come along and bring something from your
garden and enjoy the fun!
Spring Show Schedule.
1 Polyanthus, bowl of 6 cut stems with own foliage
2. Daffodils, vase of 3 blooms
3. Tulips, vase of 3 blooms
4.Potplant in flower. Pot not to exceed 6 diameter.
5. Pot plant foliage. Pot not to exceed 6 diameter.
6. Floral arrangement not to exceed 9 overall.
7. Any flower, one kind only, 3 or more blooms.
8. 3 sticks of rhubarb may be forced.
9. Any other vegetable.
The Garden Hut will be open every Sunday from 10.00
am to12 noon. Very important, you must show your Membership
card. Growbags are now in stock at £1.30 each; as well as
being used for planting these bags are a cheap way of buying
sedge peat for mulching and compost preparation. Many thanks
to all those members who helped with the unloading. We have
Special offers on some garden tools also 450gms cartons of
slug pellets @ £1.50; Quick Lawn lawn seed is on promotion
for lawn repairs; watering cans are in stock, the Harcostar
range is very popular . The new version of Provado Vine
weevil killer is now in stock. Janes Garden Tips
As the weather warms up its time to crack on with many jobs
in the garden. One simple way to make a vast difference to
the look is to re-define the border edges that soil may have
washed into during the winter. Use garden twine stretched
between two sticks as a guide and re-cut with a half moon or
spade for straight sections. Use this opportunity to give
the borders a tidy. Out side pot plants that are a permanent
feature may require some attention, the pot needs to be
large enough to keep up with root growth, and the top layer
of soil needs to be renewed to re-place lost nutrients, then
add a slow release fertiliser or a regular liquid feed. Now
is a good time to plant new perennials or divide established
ones to give them plenty of time to establish and put on
growth before the summer. Stake taller growing perennials as
necessary. Deadhead daffodils leaving foliage to die back
naturally, if your bulbs didnt flower well this year they
may have become overcrowded, lift and divide after the
leaves have turned yellow. Trim grey leaved shrubs such as
lavender to keep them bushy and compact. Lawns should be
mown regularly now but still on a fairy high setting, weed,
feed and treat moss (moss is the result of poor drainage,
aerate regularly). Lay new turf or sow seed to establish
before the summer. Start to harden off bedding plants by
putting outside on warm days and bringing in at night. For a
good crop of winter brassicas they need to be started off
now, sow in prepared seedbeds and once they have made 2-3
true leaves transplant to final position. Other vegetables
to be sown outdoors now are turnips, beetroot, parsnips,
carrots, lettuce, leeks and herbs. At the end of the month
courgettes, marrows, squash and beans can be started off in
pots in the greenhouse. Remember little and often for good
succession. Lastly prepare a bean trench.
Coach outing. To Abbey House Gardens at Malmesbury,
Wiltshire on Wednesday 2nd June. Cost £14.50 per person.
Coach leaves Church Lane Car park at 9.30am returning at
about 7pm. BOOK NOW by sending your form and cheque to Keith
Gould.
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I require ( ) Tickets for (name)
..
Address
Phone
..
I enclose my Cheque payable to Chalfont St. Peter Garden
Club for the sum of £
.
Please send to Keith Gould at
Or hand in at the Hut on Sunday Mornings.
OUR SUMMER SHOW. is on 21st August 2004.
Now that the days are lengthening, we are all getting busy
with our seedlings, cuttings and so on. Our Show schedule
will reach you with the June Newsletter; be assured that the
flower, vegetable and fruit enthusiasts will find their
favourite classes there as usual. Please put the date in
your diary!! Allotments Many of our members are
allotment holdersindeed several of our most successful
and regular Show exhibitors raise their produce on these
allotments. There are some vacant plots available at very
reasonable cost, if you are at all interested talk to Sue
Moffatt at the Parish Council office, just by our Garden
Club hut, or call her on 01753 891582 or email
smoffat@chalfontstpeter-pc.gov.uk
Slugs and Snails Are not favourites of mine so I
use the pellets to get rid of them quick, however I know
that many of you will not agree with me so I have some
alternative suggestions for you. If you have a wood burning
stove you could put a good layer of wood ash round your
hostas and other vulnerable plants as a course barrier.
Copper rings around plants give slugs and snails a small
electric shock and their shininess soon wears off and thick
layers of gritty granules are quite effective they say.
There is a new copper tape with a spikey frill that
apparently is very effective , particularly if you stick it
to green plastic lawn edging and place rings of it round
your plants, and quite possibly you could use it year after
year. You can obtain these materials from Green Gardener on
01603-715096 (
www.greengardener.co.uk) Argos and Homebase and garden
centres have small packs of lawn edging and also sell gritty
barriers such as Bio Slug Barrier. Worm Woes. Worm
casts can make an awful mess of your lawn, they are
particularly active on alkaline soils rich in organic
matter. However this normally only occurs in Spring and
Autumn when warm wet conditions prevail, and worms do a
tremendous amount of good to your lawn The RHS says that
sulphate of ammonia (from the Hut) will discourage them. Now
Greenacres Horticultural Supplies, who also has wettable
sulphur for the treatment of black spot on roses, have
produced a water-on product called Worm Clear. The idea is
that it slightly increases the acidity of the top layer of
soil encouraging the worms to go elsewhere. Contact
Greenacres on 01895-835235.
www.greenacres.eu.com
Local Events. Chiltern Open Air Museum Country
Food Fair 10,11,12th April 2004 and Live Crafts on 1,2 3rd
May 2004 for more details ring 01494-871117 Gardens
Open. Usually 2 to 5 pm.
April 4th Sun. Long Crendon, 5 gardens
Turn End, Townside, Haddenham
April 11th Sun. Overstroud Cott. Gt. Missenden
April 15th Thurs. Gipsy House, Gt. Missenden
April 18th Sun Campden Cott. Chesham Bois.
6, Oldfield Close Little Chalfont.
April 25th Sun. Clivden, Taplow
Whitewalls, Marlow
May 2nd Sun The Manor House, Bledlow
May 3rd Mon Ascott Ho., Wing, Leighton Buzzard
Turn End, Townside, Haddenham.
Buyer Beware. Through the medium of this Newsletter
the club is bringing to your attention, opportunities that
may interest you, however, you must satisfy yourself that
they meet your requirements as Chalfont St. Peter Garden
Club will accept no legal, moral or financial
responsibility.
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