Chalfont St Peter Garden Club Newsletter - August 2005

Chairman: Charles Flawn
Secretary: Linda Hills-Harrop
Garden Hut Manager Cliff Thayer
Tour Manager Keith Gould

Dear Member,

Have you had a look at our Web site yet, it can be very useful as it has the latest newsletter on it and other details about the Club. If you have any comments or suggestions we would like to hear them.

Summer Show on 20th August. Our regular exhibitors will have been working for weeks on their exhibits. If you are not among these, do please have a good look at the schedule to see if there is something you could put into the show. And in any event, please come and bring your friends to see what is on offer from local gardeners and culinary experts! – and beekeepers! If you are showing flowers for the first time, do give them a good drink in deep water from the night before – enthusiasts call it “conditioning”. We are planning for a warm day on the 20th!

Please check your entries carefully and keep a copy for yourself. See you all at the Show. Bryan.
Our speaker in June was John Mattock of Mattock’s Roses; he was talking about ‘conditioning’ of roses before shows. His advice was to pick the evening before and place in a solution of one teaspoonful of glucose to 2 pints of water plus 2 drops of dettol, to deter fungi. He claimed that this kept the flowers at peak condition for 24 hours.

The Garden Hut will be open on all Sundays from 10.00 am to 12 noon. Very important, you must show your Membership card. A selection of Bikini Vases, as used by the professionals, are in stock for use by exhibitors at the Summer Show. Also available are oasis blocks for flower arranging. All peats, composts, decorative bark, fertilizers including lawn care products are in stock. If there are any Growbags left, then I’m sure that Cliff will give you a special price on them, they are a good source of cheap peat.

Jane’s Garden Tips
With gardens now hopefully at full bloom, spare a thought for the birds and other wildlife, checking that they have enough fresh water, either by topping up the pond or putting out fresh water. Container and hanging baskets should also be watered once a day during dry spells. Continue deadheading to prevent the production of seeds, but do save a few seeds for next year. Keep borders weeded regularly. Now is the time to take cuttings from rock garden plants, to propagate use non-flowering new strong shoots, also take cuttings from Pelargoniums and fuchsias. Prune rambling roses after flowering cutting back side shoots that have flowered to 2-3 buds from the main stem, new strong growth can be tied in to replace older stems, which can be pruned back to the ground to encourage new shoots from the base. Cut back perennials that have collapsed or spread allowing them to produce new growth that will flower into the autumn. Bulbs should be available now by mail order or at the garden centre, buy now for the best choices, planting early next month while the ground is still warm and dry. For Christmas Hyacinths can be planted almost touching in bulb bowls, cover with compost or bulb fibre leaving the top of the bulb just showing, place in a cool dark place for 6-8 weeks, they can then be brought inside to cool conditions. As crops are cleared from the vegetable plot plant a green manure to provide a living mulch so reducing the weeds. Keep harvesting young crops of courgettes and beans. Harvest onions as the foliage collapses, dry out before storage. This is the last chance to sow a few salad crops of lettuce and radish if we are lucky with the autumn weather. Summer fruiting raspberries will need the old canes cut out and the new ones tied in, removing any thin or weak canes or ones away from the centre of the row, finally give them a good mulch.

Gardeners Wisdom “Visitors to these gardens are always surprised by how immaculate we keep our hosta leaves. To ward off leaf-munching slugs, we take a small onion hoe, about 3” wide, and run it through the soil on dry, sunny days, getting right between the hostas. This disturbs the soil and brings the slugs and their eggs to the surface. The birds eat some; others dry up in the sun. Do this regularly to keep the patch slug-free”. Iain Davies of Broughton Grange near Banbury, Oxfordshire

Picket Fence I have read that there has been a renaissance in the white picket fence. For a smart appearance without the hassle of regular maintenance, opt for Ecogates recycled Polyethylene version. It doesn’t need painting and can be custom-made to your specification. Ring 01952 287250. www.ecogate.co.uk

Bats on the Increase The great bat decline has been reduced says the Bat Conservation Trust. Greater and lesser horseshoes, Daubenton’s bat, Natterer’s bat and the common pipistrelle are all on the increase. So why not join in one of the many bat watches planned for European Bat weekend from 27th to 29th August? See www.bats.org.uk or call 020 7627 2629 for details. Have some good ‘batting’.

Blueberries are, apparently, one of those ‘superfoods’ that contain an unusually high quantity of vitamins and antioxidants. Research has shown that blueberries not only improve eyesight but also protect against Alzheimer’s, cancer and heart disease, while lowering the cholesterol levels and slowing the ageing process. The sale of these berries has increased immensely, as has, the price! You can grow your own in a pot or bed, but they do not like clay, chalk or limestone. In this area you will need to add plenty of ericaceous (lime-free) compost to the soil, so I suggest you use a pot. More details from:- The Dorset Blueberry co. 01202-579342, www.dorset-blueberry.com . Ken Muir on 0870-747-9111; www.kenuir.co.uk
Wibble Farm Nurseries, 01984-632303; www.wibblefarmnurseries.co.uk

Frogmore House & Gardens at Windsor. This is part of the Queens estate; it is open on the 27 – 29th August from 10am to 4pm. Beautiful gardens and lake, well worth a visit.
Local Events. C.O.A. M. Special Events info: 01494-872163 or 871117
(Chiltern Open Air Museum, Newland Park, Gorelands Lane, near Chalfont St. Giles) www.coam.org.uk
13th and 14th ‘1940’s Weekend’, see life on the Home Front during World War 2.
20th & 21st Medieval Pageant ‘The Lion Rampant’
26 – 29th Storyland, Children’s Magical Characters

Gardens Open (usually 2 to 5pm)
Sun 7. Grendon Hall, Springhill Prison, Grendon Underwood.
Mon (BH) 29. Ascott, Wing, Leighton Buzzard

Picnic Sites
Ash Grove, just off the A413 west of Shardeloes House and Old Amersham.
Cockshoots Wood at Cobblers Hill, half a mile south of the A413 between Great Missenden and Wendover.
Wheilden Gate. Just off the A404 Amersham to Hazlemere road, the turning is a little beyond where the Queen’s Head Pub used to be, towards the top of the hill.
Chalfont Park Lane off the Chalfont St. Peter bypass.
Hodgemoor woods. Between Coleshill and Chalfont St. Giles it has picnic sites, car parks, forest walks and bridle tracks.

For Sale 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.