Chalfont St Peter Garden Club Newsletter - August 2008
Chairman : Grace Hunter
Secretary : Susan Mills
Garden Hut Manager : Tony Gelder
Assistant Hut Manager : Keith Gould
Treasurer : Robert Bastin
SUMMER SHOW Saturday, 16th August 2008.
This is an open show and Non-members are welcome to
enter.
Admission to the Show from 2 pm to 4.45 pm 50p for Adults
but Children are free.
All Members have a brochure so make the effort to enter one
or two of the Classes you may be pleasantly surprised at
how good you are.
If you enter or not, it is really worth a visit if only to
get ideas and realise that you could have won if only......
Refreshments available Report on July Speaker
Our July Speaker was Mr Mike Watts whose lecture title
was Plant Medicines from your Doctor. He spoke to an
appreciative audience, captivated by his expert knowledge
and enthusiasm. He is a volunteer speaker for the National
Trust and the Chelsea Physic Garden as well as a worker for
Plant Life International. Impossible to summarise such a
talk, but he mentioned that many people are surprised to
learn that about 25% of orthodox medicines originate from
plants. His talk explained the importance of plants as
pharmaceutical factories and gave examples of many plants
and the conventional medicines in which they are used
including heart and cancer drugs, pain killers and many
more. The search for new plant medicines continues from the
gardens of England to the tropical rainforest. KEITHS
COACH OUTINGS
The next outing is SEPTEMBER .3rd to Capel Manor
Gardens, Enfield, Middlesex. This specialist horticultural
college has 30 acres covering a complete range of garden
interest and is all on the flat so wheelchairs are ok.
(Carers have free entry). A maze, woodland walk, animals and
stable-yard, walled garden, with specially designed themed
gardens (some by previous students) and a large restaurant
and plant shop all await you.
Our Coach will leave the Church Hall at 9.30am. Cost of this
trip for members is £16.50 and £17.50 all others.
Please make cheques out to Chalfont .St. Peter Garden Club
and post to MR.K.GOULD, take to the hut any Sunday morning.
All postal bookings will be acknowledged by phone.
Please book me ( ) seats for Capel Manor @ £16.50ea and
( ) @ £17.50 each. Making a Total of £
.
Name
.
Address
.
Phone.No
Keith Gould
P.S. AS WE HAVE A STRONG DEMAND FOR CLUB OUTINGS I CANNOT
RESERVE SEATS. A BOOKING MUST BE RECEIVED, COMPLETE WITH
CHEQUE, AND IS SUBJECT TO MY CONFIRMATION. MANY THANKS,
KEITH. THE GARDEN HUT
The Garden Hut will be open on all Sundays from 10.00 am
to 12 noon. Please show your Membership card when making any
purchases.
The HUT is still fairly well stocked for the quiet
season; any out of stock items can be obtained by request in
a reasonable time. The Hut has some of those EXTRA items
to the normal variety of composts, manure and fertilizers:
Ladies and Men gardening gloves, Adjustable wire lawn rakes,
stainless steel hand fork and trowels, metal sieves
(riddles), watering cans and roses. May be a gift idea for
a relative, friend or something different to say THANK YOU
Deliveries
We are very grateful to our volunteer Newsletter
distributors who all help to keep our costs down. However,
if you are away on holiday and cannot deliver the
Newsletter, would you kindly arrange for one of the Members
on your round to deliver for you or contact us and we will
arrange for a different drop or send them by post. For
Sale
Large quantity of garden mesh and climbing plant supports
- some green but mainly brown. Most of it is 50mm x 50mm and
comes in a variety of lengths and heights. There is also
some strawberry netting as well as a Hozelok mobile rack to
hold garden rubbish bags.
All of its free to anyone who can make use of it. Contact
Anne Catterson-Smith T: 01753 882687 M: 07941 479613
Janes August Garden Tips
This month is traditionally holiday time so, whether you
are spending it in the garden or away, make sure you get
ahead of routine jobs of deadheading, weeding, watering and
lawn cutting (leaving it to grow a little longer if the
weather is hot and sunny).
Collect seeds from your favourite plants rather than
letting them scatter -put them in paper bags and
label. Seeds from Primroses and Primulas are best sown fresh
and dont need to be fully ripe; slit open seed heads and
spread the greenish white seeds on compost, cover with sand
or Perlite - germination is quick. As the flowers from
lavender bushes fade they can be trimmed back. Clip
evergreen hedges and plants giving them time to recover
themselves before Winter then feed. Most other hedges can be
given their final trim back towards end of the month. Lift
and divide congested clumps of Iris, trim leaves by half,
replanting healthy pieces near the top of the soil. Take
cuttings from a large variety of plants including
Osteospermum, Pelargonium, Fuchsia. Margarita, Pinks,
Penstemon and Phygelius; removing a few non-flowering side
shoots from each plant. Tie in climbers and trim back as
necessary.
Continue harvesting crops and as they finish try sowing a
green manure to help prevent weeds - Rape and Mustard are
fast growing that can be dug in during the autumn before
flowering. Keep watering crops regularly, giving them a good
soaking every 2-3 days rather than a daily
sprinkle. Continue sowing Spring Cabbage in wetted drills.
Cucumber should have their side shoots trimmed to 2 leaves
past a developing fruit and tying in leading shoots. Watch
out for cabbage white butterfly, protect the crop with
fleece or rub off the eggs from the underneath of leaves.
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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