Programme 2020

Thursday 16th January

AGM at 7.00pm

Afterwards a talk by Roy Osborne -' Stowey Woods'

Thursday 20th February

Lady Rosemary Fitzgerald - 'The Meeting of Wild and Garden Plants'

Tuesday 25th August Car visit to Burrow Farm Gardens, Dalwood, Axminster, East Devon EX13 7ET

meet at the gardens 11-12am

The following events were cancelled due to Covid 19.

Thursday 19th March Abigail Willis - 'The Wardian Case and other Amazing Gardening Innovations'

Thursday 16th April The Grass Roof Company - 'Green Roofs'

Tuesday 12th May Car Visit to The Court House, East Quantoxhead

Thursday 21st May Christine Stones - 'Gardens of World War 1'

Thursday June 18th Members' Summer Garden Party

Thursday 18th July Mary Payne - 'Compton Acres Revisited'

Tuesday 23rd July Coach Visit to The Garden House, Yelverton

coach leaves from opposite the church Centre at 9.00am

Thursday 17th September No meeting

Thursday 15th October Sue Fisher - 'Winter Garden Glory'

Thursday 19th November Caradoc Doy - 'Olives'

Friday 11th December Members' Christmas Party

January

The AGM was held on Thursday January 16th. Juliet Harkness, chair gave us her report:

Traditionally my job ,as Chair, has been to review the past year of meetings and visits and then to look forward to the coming year by highlighting some of the exciting things the Committee have planned for the Garden Club.

Well I’m not (as you will probably have noticed ), a traditionalist, so I’m not going to look back except to say that I think we celebrated this Anniversary Year, our 30^th, in style. Most talks, but not all, were a great success, both informative and occasionally, inspiring. I think the few that went on car visits enjoyed the experience of new and developing gardens and also each others’ company en route.

Our Anniversary Party, with a change in tradition to a tea party,though sadly not in the McWilliams’ garden, was a splendid occasion. Judging from the responses we had both on the day and afterwards, it went down extremely well with members. And likewise our Christmas Party , though slightly less well attended, finished our year on a satisfactory high.

Now we are in a new decade and there are more changes ahead. Jackie Collins, who has been finding our speakers for 4 years and has also been a stalwart member of the Committee is retiring from the team. She has worked tirelessly to keep ahead and has been able to pass on her role to Jean Deakin with smooth efficiency. Because of their hard work our speakers are planned through to the end of 2021 and other clubs have come to look upon us as the experts in finding top class speakers.

Sadly Jackie is not here for me to embarrass her but I want it on record that the excellent reputation of this Club is in part due to her. When she returns next month I shall be asking you to give her a generous ovation.

We have a fabulous programme planned for 2020 including a coach trip to the Garden House near Yelverton and two car visits to local gardens. I’m proud to say that Stowey Gardeners is keeping in touch with current thinking with talks on an MP’s view of the environment, a talk from the Grass Roof Company and not least this evening’s speaker Roy Osborne, talking about our local Trees & Woods. We are all doing more rewilding of our gardens and many of us are trying our best to encourage organic methods to our flower and vegetable growing. I very much hope we will continue to encourage our friends and neighbours to plant for the future good of flora and fauna in our gardens and community.

Our Membership numbers are healthy at 62 but we always welcome new faces so please take one of the fliers to give to a neighbour or friend and ask them to join the club. However we do have an ongoing problem that will affect all members. Despite our greatest efforts we have great difficulty recruiting new people to the Committee. This is a serious concern. Up until this meeting we have had 7 which is our Constitution’s minimum. I’m pleased to say that minimum number will be fulfilled again this evening, but it’s not rocket science to work out that with so few, the jobs become harder and the few of us have to juggle responsibilities according to other commitments. We desperately need at least two more members to offer their help. Obviously the more we have the less there is for each of us to do.

On a personal note, I will be stepping down as Chair at the end of 2020 and I would love to leave my post with the Committee and future of the Club, secure. I’m asking you all this evening to take this matter seriously and particularly if you haven’t served or would be happy to serve again, please consider joining the team – just come and talk to one of us any time.

It would be so sad if this splendid Club which has thrived for 30 years and gives so much pleasure just disappears overnight. We all learn from it and are inspired by it and above all enjoy it. Please help us to survive and indeed, thrive!

JH

Afterwards there was a talk by Roy Osborne on 'Stowey Woods'. Roy told us about the excellent community projects, in which he has played a prominent part, which have established community woodlands in Nether Stowey. Since around the Millennium, work has been going on to plant mixed woodland instead of the evergreen plantations present on the site. Villagers and Cannington College students cleared the ground, seeds were grown by Nether Stowey School pupils to provide saplings, and more saplings were given by bodies such as the Woodland Trust. Roy's pictures vividly illustrated the rapid development of thriving trees, and indeed a wildlife haven, a great community asset as well as a contribution to carbon capture and the sustainability of our environment. Find out more about Stowey Green Spaces group, who manage the woods at http://www.netherstoweyrg.co.uk/index.php/stowey-green-spaces-group

February

On 20th February we began the Stowey Gardeners year with a talk from Lady Rosemary Fitzgerald, who runs Beggars Roost Nursery at Lilstock, and is a botanist expert on wild plant conservation and a much travelled finder of rare plants. She gave us an entertaining and wide ranging account of her explorations of landscapes and the habitats of wild plants from Nether Stowey to China via Morocco, pointing out how understanding plants' origins enables better use of them in our gardens. Numerous slides illustrated different garden styles, formal and controlled or wilder areas, perhaps drift planting, or using self seeding species such as poppies or verbascums, with their many forms. There was much to inspire us in the coming gardening year.

**************

Snowdrops and many other winter garden delights were to be found at East Lambrook Manor throughout February. Their Festival of Snowdrops included show beds of unusual snowdrop plants, with many on sale, tours of the garden and a photographic exhibition, as well as the profusion of snowdrops, hellebores and many other plants we heard about in our November talk.

March

Government recommendations for the prevention of Covid-19 infection mean that we cannot hold meetings or organise group visits until the end of June at least. We hope to defer the Garden Party until later in the summer and to rebook the speakers and visits for next year if possible.

Our Chairman wrote on Monday 16th March:

Dear All

Our Committee met this evening to work out a plan for Stowey Gardeners for the Summer. Sadly for obvious reasons we won’t be meeting for any talks or going on car trips- But we are still not certain about the coach trip (July 23rd) so will of course keep you informed although it is likely that will be cancelled too.

However we know you will be busier than ever in your gardens and we want to encourage you to share ideas/ seedlings and suggestions.

So please check the website as Lucy will be waiting for your contributions!

If you have a surplus of plants/ seedlings please let her know and we’ll try to distribute them to the membership. In the meantime stay well, enjoy the weather as it improves, and keep in touch.

With very best wishes to you and your loved ones

Juliet

Copies of the free 'Country Gardener' magazine are available this month from Spaxton Community Stores.

April

Veg in a Small Garden

If you ever needed a reason and the motivation to try your hand at a bit of home grown veg/fruit/salad gardening, then this ‘Lock-Down’ is surely the perfect opportunity?

I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that there is NOTHING better than one’s own first freshly dug new potatoes of the year sprinkled with home-grown dill or parsley and lashings of butter! Or biting into that first radish – succulent and sharp and not all dried up.

You don’t need a huge space- many people ‘grow their own’ in window boxes and patios in London; remember you can go UP and hang DOWN!

And if you choose , (as I did), the no-dig raised bed method there are LOADS of advantages:

1.No digging – just hand-forking over.

2.No walking on soil and spoiling the structure

3.Everything can be planted MUCH closer together

4.You can keep a check on good rotation

5.Its much easier to keep weeds under

control

6. It looks pretty!

I hurt my back years ago and have been having to ‘manage’ it ever since. Once I got into reading Charles Dowding’s books and moved from seriously huge allotment gardening in Bristol to my small plot in Fiddington, there was no excuse.

On retirement I asked for a drill- it was one of the best presents I ever had. Making raised beds is EASY and very good value. Grandfields will cut everything for you to whatever size you choose.

I used 10” boards and very simple right angle brackets. ( I fixed them to the outside but you could do inside). My beds were all 1 Metre wide, which is about the best distance for reaching the middle without treading on the surface. You can obviously make them as long as you want. Once I had done one it was easy- and then I got more excited and started building them higher (two boards high) so I didn’t have to bend so much and there was a greater depth of soil.

I used Cuprinol ‘Garden Shades’ in Black Ash to give them a bit of preservative, although I have to say that these days tanalisation is pretty superficial and I’m quite sure these won’t last for ever.

I filled my original beds with a mixture of compost from Viridor ( a tonne bag) and horse muck from a neighbour. Each year I add my own compost on top from my compost heaps and sometimes add some muck – this year kindly donated by Paul Triggol- and The WORMS!!!

I try to sow my seeds North – South as this gives you max. sunshine- but of course never manage to do this throughout. I always try to plant en block as you save space and in the rich soil of my beds I can plant them much closer than recommended on the packets. This also means there’s FAR less weeding as everything is close together. I rotate religiously, planting Spuds after Brassicas to clean the soil. This year I have added two new small beds for some new strawberry plants. My strawberries weren’t doing well next to the raspberries as it wasn’t in full sun. As you can see I’ve put some scallions in with them which discourages pests. I also have lots of friendly self sown marigolds and nasturtiums that help the veg cope with mini-beasts. And I also let fennel and borage self seed – and rocket if it chooses.