Green Fingers

July 2020

Having sown seeds in a propagator in May, without success, I'm delighted to say that more seeds sown in July have yielded one seedling! It's got a long way to go, and seems to grow quite slowly, so I'll be nurturing it carefully for the next few months...

September 2019

Surprising Stephanotis : I bought a rather sorry-looking Stephanotis from a garden centre a couple of years ago, and it's recuperated on the east facing kitchen windowsill ever since. Last year it flowered profusely, filling the room with its glorious scent for weeks. It was only when I moved it last autumn to do some overdue window cleaning, that I noticed the fruit. There was a single light green ovoid 4 inch long fruit firmly attached! I left it... and left it. The Stephanotis produced more lovely flowers, and in August went to the local flower show and won a prize. Then in September I noticed the fruit, now a bit browner, had a longitudinal split in it. I cut off the fruit and eased it open. Inside I could see flattish brown seeds (like large Honesty perhaps) applied to a central core. Around them was shiny, satiny, rippled white material. Over a couple of days the fruit dried and I eased it open fully and gently extracted the seeds. Each had a silky parachute attached, which when fully dried out proved to be a giant version of a dandelion seed. They would have floated off round the kitchen if I hadn't captured them under a food covering net.

Consulting the RHS website, my fruit is described there, and the advice is to germinate the seeds in warm conditions. I'll wait till next spring, and perhaps acquire a propogator, and distribute the seed to friends to increase the chances of success. Perhaps one day I'll be able to post a picture of the next generation!

March 2019

Jo Forrest contributes the following 2 items:

Daffodowndilly by A.A.Milne

She wore her yellow sun-bonnet, she wore her greenest gown;

She turned to the south wind, and curtsied up and down.

She turned to the sunlight, and shook her yellow head,

and whispered to her neighbour: "Winter is dead"

The poet and writer Edward Thomas died in action on the opening day of the Battle of Arras 100 years ago on April 9th 1917.

One of Thomas's classic works was his natural history and travel book In Pursuit of Spring.

In March 1913, he set off by bike from his home in Clapham London, and journeyed to the Quantock Hills, Somerset, describing the people, places, flowers and the weather he encountered along the way. On reaching the Quantock Hills on March 28th, the clouds parted and the sun shone.

"I had found Winter's grave; I had found Spring," he wrote. Winter may ride up through mould alive with violets and primroses and daffodils, but when cowslips and bluebells have grown over his grave he cannot rise again: he is dead and rotten, and from his ashes the blossoms are springing."

September 2018

Polly Triggol writes : next year’s schedule of speakers and visits is already confirmed due to the efforts of Jackie, Jenny and Jane on the committee. Autumn brings the usual mad scramble to gather apples and pears , harvest and freeze our staple sweet corn crop, dig and store the main crop of Desiree and Picasso potatoes, and gird my loins for preserving special delicacies – Rose Hip syrup and Medlar Cheese being my favourites – see recipes. (Found on the Woodland Trust website) https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk

A recent Sydney winter visit allowed me the nostalgia of abundant wattle and our native grevilleas, then to tropical Darwin to enjoy a mango glut, and custard apples - home in time to a bountiful crop of outdoor tomatoes, beans, carrots, and betroot, and show some produce at the Nether Stowey Flower Show. Hats off to Sally Jago who sailed away with a host of awards and to Juliet Harkness also.

Right now I am rushing about feeding my roses with precious farmyard manure, and tossing Stolford seaweed into the compost.

London Gardens to Visit

( thanks to Jo Forrest)

1. the Handyside Gardens - designed by Dan Pearson. A mixture of grasses and flowers

2. the Inner temple Garden - is on different levels with large herbaceous borders and a wild meadow area.

3. the Serpentine Sackett Gallery in Hyde Park. It has a garden designed by Arabella Lennox-Boyd

4. The Olympic Park East London. A full day out as it takes 3 hours to look around. Along the walkways are vast areas of plants. The planting schemes represent flowers from Europe, the Sourhern Hemisphere. The Far East, and North America. Various levels with good seats and shaded areas.

5. Crossrail Place Roof Garden near Canary Wharf- full of trees, shrubs and flowers from around the world. It is partially covered with geometric roof windows, so can be visited in all weathers.

6. The Barbican Roof Garden, is where engineers & architects designed and built a garden with pond when the original roof had to be replaced. The depth of soil is only 1 ft. But trees, shrubs and a large selection of flowering plants survive.

Report from the Chair April 2018

I always think Mother Nature is remarkably forgiving don’t you? Despite the battering our gardens have taken this winter those lovely spring narcissi went from horizontal to vertical over one day and I have some exciting Camassia shoots peeping up in my little orchard to look forward to later. All that goodness stored safely in a bulb under the snow and frost – one of the many miracles of the garden.

There are some great speakers and interesting trips to look forward to this Summer. It’s always difficult to choose which of the many coach trips to shows and events to go for. However our club has a very special trip in prospect to two gardens in a day- The Rococco Gardens at Painswick and Miserden Park. Please make sure you are booked up for that as we have managed to keep down the price for members and both gardens will be looking in tip top form by June 26th.

The first of our three car visits is a return to Watcombe Gardens on May 8th, and I can’t wait as I hear it is really special. On July 17^th we are off to JW Blooms- the annuals will be looking at their peak. And the last is a visit to Pickets Lane Nursery on Aug 9^th.

The Committee are very excited about the Members’ Garden Party this year. We have been invited by Suki and Richard to Parsonage Farm, Over Stowey. Members will be able to wander around their lovely garden and we will be sampling slices of their homemade pizza as part of our meal. We have decided to start at the earlier time of 5pm so that we can catch some evening sun (fingers x). I look forward to seeing you there.

Juliet Harkness

Tea Bags

Are you composting your tea bags?

Tea leaves are a good addition to the compost heap. However, tea bags are not. We have updated our advice on composting tea bags, with the knowledge that most bags include very small amounts of plastic.

Many makes of tea bags, even the organic brands, often include a small amount of polypropylene, which helps with the sealing and tying of the bag. This plastic will not degrade in the compost heap. We therefore recommend the following (in line with our 'traffic light' system to help growers transition towards fully organic methods):

Best practice (ie first choice as organic grower): Use leaf tea, or source and buy bags which don’t have plastic in them.

Also acceptable (although not gold standard, this is still good practice): Empty bags, put leaves on heap and bags in rubbish collection.

Acceptable (as a one-off or temporary measure): Put tea bags on compost heap.

Tea leaves, coffee grounds and other kitchen vegetable waste are all valuable additions to the compost heap. Using them this way also prevents unnecessary waste being collected and processed.