Our February meeting was held on the
27th. Mr Peter Fisk from Great Barton came along to give an illustrated
talk on 'Vegetables', which he has been growing for over 40 years.
His garden was immaculate and if anyone in the audience spotted
such a thing as a weed, they must have very good eyesight! The
slides of Mr Fisk's vegetable garden certainly showed how dedicated
a gardener he is and the pictures all looked as though they had
come out of a gardening book. The rows were straight, the spaces
exact, and all the vegetables looked good enough to eat. Perhaps
if I garden for another 40 years, my garden will look a tiny, weeny,
bit like Mr Fisk's. Mr Fisk was warmly thanked by Stan Bates for
a very interesting talk.
Our March monthly meeting was a talk on 'Water Gardens' given
by Mr Geoffrey Peck. Mr Peck showed some lovely slides of all sorts
of water garden and bog garden plants, and showed us some diagrams
to illustrate the different depths that different plants prefer.
He explained the differences between water and bog plants and gave
us lots of tips and advice. I think we all learned a lot about
looking after garden ponds and I, for one, discovered that I am
doing quite a few things wrong!! He also gave us advice about looking
after our fish and told us that, if relatively new fish in the
pond die for no apparent reason, it is a good idea to take them
back, together with a sample of pond water, to find out the reason.
He was warmly thanked for an enjoyable and interesting talk.
I am organising coach trips to Wisley Gardens on Wednesday 10th
May and Sandringham Flower Show on Wednesday 26th July. You do
not have to be a member to come along and if you are interested
more details can be obtained from Jackie on 01440 820108.
We also have an evening visit to Sperrinks Nurseries in Gazeley
on Thursday 4th May. More details from Dorothy on 01440 820463.
Our Annual Bring and Buy Sale is on Monday 15th May, so please
come along and support our Society. There will be lots of plants
and seedlings to purchase which our members have grown themselves
or have taken cuttings from their own garden plants. We have tea
and coffee as usual and we are planning to have an informal question
and answer chat to help with all manner of garden problems. Perhaps
one of our members has a particular method to solve a real problem
in your garden, so come along and discuss it.
On Monday 9th June our monthly meeting is on 'Suffolk Wildlife
Trust and its Work in the County' by Mrs Grimwade. As usual this
begins at 7.30pm in the W.I. Hall and new members to our Society
are always welcome. Or just come along for the evening and see
if you enjoy!! Our Annual Membership fee is only £3 and entry
to our monthly meetings is £1 for members and £2 for
non-members.
Schedules for the Summer Flower Show on Saturday 8th July are
now available, either from the Shop or from Steve Coe, on 01440
820764. We are able to provide these free of charge, thanks to
sponsorship from Marlows Garden Centre in Bury St Edmunds, so do
collect one and have a look at all the many varied and different
things that you can enter, be it plants, flowers, vegetables, handicrafts,
cookery etc, etc. There are classes for children as well. We do
rely on people entering - without entries we cannot put on our
Show, so a lot depends on you.
Part of the Flower Show is the Garden Competition for which there
are two cups to be won. One is for the Best Cottage Garden for
the Giffords Cup and the other is for Best Kept Flower Garden for
the William and Nancy King Cup. We only had four entries last year,
which hardly makes it worthwhile of asking a judge to go round.
So this year we are hoping for a lot more. There are lots and lots
of lovely gardens around, and you do not have to be a member of
the Society to enter. It only costs 20p and as well as the cups
there are 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes of £3, £2 and £1.
If you do want to enter please give Jean Cook a ring on 01440 820461
and please remember that entries have to be in by 24th June. Judging
takes place on Monday, 26th June in the evening and the entrants
will be notified of an approximate time.
Jackie Fieldsend
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