Garden Club

Howard Drury D.H.E. (Hons) multi qualified broadcaster and horticulturist was to talk about getting the best from clay soils at the October meeting. This became “Gardening as We Get Older” and he offered many tips for making our gardens more manageable, safer, better for our health and more practical. Some of this advice was to avoid bedding plants, get rid of those roses and planters that need constant attention and watering. We shouldn’t have slippery paths near ponds and could introduce swathes of gravel instead of lawns – although one of those robotic mowers would be an advantage should we want to retain grass. We can make our gardening lives easier by having raised beds, but these need to be designed with thought to accessible widths.

Many of the gardens Howard illustrated his points with were very small and easy to redesign, although we can all make some adaptations to our existing landscaping to make more time for retirement activities other than gardening, with a little thought to types of plants we grow.

Perhaps Howard Drury will return to let us know how to get the best from clay soil – I bet he will be advising us all to grow roses!

November News

The mysteries of growing orchids became totally unravelled for the Garden Club by Martin Mitchell and Janet James. Martin showed that men can successfully multitask by mixing compost, re-potting and talking at the same time, un-phased by questions thrown out by the rapt audience. By loosening the pot-bound roots, tidying dead shoots (actually knowing which were the shoots!), wiping leaves and using the right type of pot, his magic touch transformed sad-looking specimen with new dignity.

Getting orchids to re-flower seemed to be a common difficulty, but following rules of correct pruning, feeding, watering and temperature, Martin made it all seem simple.

If you don’t know your Cymbidium from your Dendrobium, or your Paphiopedilum from your Phalaenopsis culture perhaps you need to head to the pre-Christmas Orchid Fair at Arden School, Knowle on 24th November to discover more.

Dates for the diary:

December 12^th Christmas Party 7pm

January 17^th Making alpine troughs from hypertufa, planting and maintaining them with Tony Cleary

February 21^st The wonderful world of sweet peas with Rev. John Carrier

Congratulations to the winners of the photo competition – Jim Saxton and Peter Rivers-Fletcher!

Ann Saxton

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Last modified: November 25, 2012