March 2014 meeting.

This month's speaker was Jim Buttress, a great friend of Green-fingers Garden Club. 

Before he started speaking, Peter gave out a few notices and welcomed the new members to the club. The fuchsia plants for the competition were supposed to be distributed at this meeting, but unfortunately, were not ready. They will be there next month when, appropriately, Dave and John will be doing an evening workshop, called "It's Fuchsia Time".

The next outing, to Great Compton Gardens and a garden centre in Kent, will be on May 10th. We get an hours lie-in, as the pick-up is not until 9.30am.

Jim Buttress & Peter deep in conversation.

Jim started his talk by telling us about the Gardeners' Royal Benevolent Society which celebrated it's 100th  anniversary last year.  Jim assisted in doing a garden at Chelsea to help celebrate the occasion.  They also run a debt counselling service which totalled 2 million pounds of debts last year, employing 4 full time ladies to staff it.

The charity is part funded by two gardens which were bequeathed by their  previous owners, one of whom is now deceased. York Gate is one, the garden is owned by Perennial - originally known as the Gardeners' Royal Benevolent Society - a charity that helps those in need from the horticultural profession, by providing advice and financial support to arborists, gardeners, plantsmen and others associated with gardening, who have fallen on hard times. York Gate was bequeathed to them in 1994 by  Sybil Spencer, who had lived and gardened there for more than forty years with her husband and son, who both died prematurely. Today the garden is a visitor flagship for the work that Perennial does helping horticulturalists. 

The other garden is Fullers Mill, near West Stow. Bernard Tickner moved to Fullers Mill in 1958 and created the garden you see today from rough scrub and woodland.  In 2004, he and his late wife Bess formed the The Fullers Mill Trust, a registered Charity, which was established to manage the garden and to ensure its future. At the beginning of 2013 Fullers Mill Garden was gifted to Perennial (The Gardeners Royal Benevolent Society) but remains fully funded by its creator Bernard Tickner.

Although Jim retired from judging a few years ago, he has been persuaded out of retirement by the BBC. His newest venture is judging in a new TV series based on the "Bake Off" series. We've had baking, we've had sewing and, surprise, surprise, now we have gardening. Never ones to under use a good format, the BBC are launching a new contest to find the nation's best horticulturalists.
Presented by Fern Britton, six-part competition Grow, Make, Eat: The Great Allotment Challenge will see nine pairs of enthusiastic gardeners pulling on their trusty gloves and sewing the seeds of success (or not, as the case made be).
Each duo will be filmed as they toil in their allotments every week, demonstrating their skills in growing vegetables and making jams and chutneys. But whose preserves will claim first prize at the village fair and which couple will dig themselves a deep hole?
Instead of labouring under the watchful eyes of Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry, the green-fingered hopefuls will be trying to impress three experts – horticulturalist Jim Buttress, floral arrangement expert Jonathan Moseley and preserves specialist Thane Price – who will weed out the weak and select one pair for elimination at the end of each episode. The action starts on April 15th this year on BBC 2. They have all ready been signed up for a second series.

Jim has assisted in building three gardens for display at Chelsea, on behalf of Homebase, the only large conglomerate to set up apprenticeships for horticultural staff.

Than it was time for tea and the raffle to be called. These were some of the beautiful prizes:

Some of the raffle prizes.

After the break Jim bought us up to date with Tom Hart-Dyke's news from Lullingstone Castle. Prince Charles recently visited, arriving by helicopter. He met all the volunteer staff and thoroughly enjoyed his visit, staying much longer than he was supposed to and saying he was going to return again.

On 28th & 29th of June there is going to be a display of 35 vintage fire engines, one of which was the first fire engine ever made, by one of his relatives. It is being returned to them from where it has been stored for decades, and presented by Miranda Hart, the actress, who is Tom's cousin.

Before Jim closed, he told us about the Britain In Bloom competition, it is having it's 50th anniversary. There is to be a garden at Chelsea to celebrate.

He will also be at Hyde Hall Gardens on  July 30th to the 31st, for the flower show.

It was a most enjoyable evening, and we reluctantly wended our respective ways home at the end,  looking forward to next months meeting.

February 2014 meeting.

This months meeting was a huge success, the speaker was  Steve Bradly, a Broadcaster on Radio Kent and Radio Essex. He also is a journalist for The Sun newspaper. Steve is a mine of garden information, his subject this evening was   Spring in the Garden –you can  hear Steve on Radio Kent on Sunday Mornings at 8am-11am. He illustrated his talk with photos. 

Steve with Peter.

He gave us numerous tips, the most memorable being, before doing the first cut of the lawn after the really soggy winter we have had, go over the lawn with a heavy garden broom, this makes the job easier. He discussed moss treatments, too, and said it is really important not to rake the dead moss up until it is straw coloured, otherwise the spores will just be spread, making the problem worse.  Still on the subject of lawns, there is help for dog owners whose dogs urinate on the grass, causing dead patches due to the acidity of the urine. There is a product from Australia, called Australian Rock, which is put into the dogs drinking water and causes it to be more alkaline, thereby stopping the burn. If the owners have no control over where the dog drinks, for example if it drinks from a pond or puddles, adding tomato puree to his food can have the same effect.

If re-seeding any patches are necessary, that needs to be done when the soil warms up, not now. The soil needs to be raked over before adding the seed. The re-seeded  patches can also be covered by fleece or hessian, but must be removed AS SOON AS THE SEEDS GERMINATE. A good tip he gave us was to Seed Prime, this is where the seeds are germinated in a bucket of compost in a warm place & then sprinkled over the lawn. This speeds up the process considerably.

He advised us on cutting back hard of various plants, especially Mahonia and fuchsias, ensuring the secateurs are sharp to prevent bruising, which can lead to infection entering a cut.

A point which was especially pertinent to me was how to control the growth of a tree which is becoming too big. This is done by a process called Barkering. A piece of bark is removed from the tree, but a small "bridge" is left. A "bandage" is applied to stop any infection entering it, this can be just a piece of electricians tape wound around the tree. This is repeated every two years, in a different part of the bark each time. This is effective in slowing the growth, rather than just cutting it back, as this will encourage it to grow larger. I shall be trying this on the large Pyrocanther in my front garden. When I last tried to climb a ladder to cut the top , I missed my footing on the last step and cracked my ribs on a planter, which rather put me off! The next time I got a "professional tree surgeon" to do it, but he nearly massacred it with a chain saw.

Numerous helpful tips were given, especially the use of empty plastic water bottles, these can be used to protect vulnerable plants from weed killer when spraying nearby, also, a hole can be cut in it about half way down so the spray doesn't have to be tipped up so much, making  more use of the fluid inside. It can also protect small plants from frost. The leaves should not touch the plastic though.

Container plants do not necessarily have to be moved into larger pots each year, if the top 3 or 4 inches of compost is scraped off and replaced with new. This will also remove any Vine Weavel grubs.  If a layer of grit is put over the top, it will discourage the adult Vine Weavel from laying its' eggs. Water well after renewing the compost.

Bulbs should be fed after flowering, not before. They should be dead-headed and if in pots, a tomato fertiliser added. If in the borders, Sulphate of Potash used.

If squirrels are a problem and they keep digging up the bulbs, a good idea is to grate some perfumed soap over them, that should deter them.

If planting peonies, DON'T plant  too deeply, the sun needs to be on the top of the corm in order for flowers to be formed.

Mint can be contained by planting in a drainage pipe, or similar deep container, to stop it taking over the area it is planted in.

Lastly, he advised not to put potted herbs from the supermarket near to indoor plants. Apparently, biological controls are used to control spidermite in them. Due to temperature changes they can become active again, going on to infect the house plants. I have moved my pot of parsley well away from the orchid I had for my birthday!

During the interval the raffle was called as usual. Steve had donated a lot of colourful spring flowers to add to it.

It was a most informative and enjoyable evening. I hope we can see more of Steve in future.

December 2013 outing to London lights.

London was dressed in all it's glory for our visit, somebody must have told them we were coming (along with many thousands of others). The pavements were heaving with people everywhere the eye could see. 

After boarding the coach we set off to see the lights on our way to Master's Fish & Chip shop. The meal was delicious, with prawns, gherkins and crusty bread and butter, along with a welcome pot of tea to start with, followed by the very tasty fish & chips. It was cooked to perfection with crispy batter and lovely fat chips.

Nearing the end of the meal.

After the meal we re-boarded the coach and headed towards the West End to see the lights around Knightsbridge and from there towards Hyde Park for the Winter Wonderland. Here are some of the decorations:

Harrods in Knightsbridge.

A beautifully dressed store.

Down a side street.

We arrived at the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park and were given an hour to look around. Some of the members elected to stay on the coach, as it was so busy. Unfortunately, it was so crowded the gates had been closed to further visitors for safety reasons. The estimated queuing time was nearly two hours, according to one of the security guards. Needless to say the area outside was heaving, I think they had transferred the crowd problem from inside to outside . There was no point in waiting around, so Loretta and I squeezed our way through the crowd and headed off to walk around the perimeter. At least I got some photos.

The fairground.

More brightly lit rides.

Can you see the swings on the tall blue tower?

The swings went up and down the tower, I don't think it would have been a good idea to have eaten for a while!

A spooky tree.

Father Christmas is arriving early.

The tall colourful ride on the left went round & round with the passengers on the car on the end. I was quite glad I didn't attempt it.

When we arrived back on the coach we  were each given a little goody box with a mince pie, some sweets and a small cracker. That was a really nice touch. The next port of call was Canary Wharf, here there were many more lights. We stopped where it was fairly quiet and the crew got off, re-appearing with a tray of sherry glasses. That was a very welcome gesture. From there we went back to Dagenham and home. It had been a really enjoyable trip.

November 2013 meeting

The November meeting, as usual, was a social event. Everybody brought contributions for the buffet and a good spread appeared. At the beginning of the evening Peter had a chat with us and gave out some notices, thanking the many helpers of the club, also stressing about the usual problem of getting the outing balances paid on time. They need to be in 3 weeks before the date of the outing. He also asked for members help in collecting items for the meetings and bringing them to the hall, as he and Kathy are no longer spring chickens!

The next years programme was given to all the members, together with the form for next years subs. These are staying the same, at £3 per month.

Peter doing his talk.

A presentation was made to he & Kathy from the members to thank them for all their hard work during the year.

The presentation to Peter & Kathy.

Following the more formal part of the evening the buffet was declared open and everybody headed for the food, of which there was a good selection. The tea makers had the evening off, as there were various selections of pop and squashes on hand.

Laura, the singer for the evening, had arrived and started her songs whilst people were eating. She ended up with "The twelve days of Christmas", complete with audience participation doing the actions. Here everybody is doing the pear tree:

A partridge in a pear tree!

Peter will be busy doing his horn playing,  carolling for the Salvation Army at various venues between now and Christmas. His favourite place is Marks & Spencers at Westfield, as it is inside in the warm, no standing on drafty street corners, and they keep all the band supplied with hot drinks.

The evening closed and everybody headed for home.

November visit to Van Hage nursery and Finchingfield, Essex.

The morning was cold and bright for the outing so we were all wrapped up well. The journey to Van Hage in Ware, was uneventful. As we entered the gates we saw the sign that said they had an ice skating rink there, the driver commented that he didn't do hospital visits so we had better leave well alone!

Betty & Cynthia with the massive reindeer at the entrance.

 It was a veritable winter wonderland inside, with almost every Christmas decoration, trees and lights you could imagine.

Just some of the Christmas figures.

Deer amongst the trees.

The ice skating ring was doing a roaring trade, with families out in force. There were several  young children doing really well on their ice skates.

Ice skating with Mum.

We all had a really interesting visit, many of us stocking up on food for the birds. They had massive suet balls there, reduced to 10p, as well as  seed and feeders. The range of things for sale was amazing, from plants, garden sundries, seeds, candles, decorations and gifts galore. There was also a large pet department with a very big resident moggy in it.

Jeannette peeping out from the giant reindeer.

At the allotted time we all boarded the coach again to make our way to Finchingfield and a tasty meal at Bosworths Tea Room, suitably decorated for the occasion.

Members await their meals.

Finchingfield is a village situated in the Braintree district of Essex. It is in the north-west of the county, which is a primarily rural area. It is situated approximately six miles from Thaxted and somewhat further from the larger towns of Saffron Walden & Braintree. 

Sign on the roadside.

 

Ducks hoping for dinner.

Finchingfield is often called the most beautiful village in England and it is regarded as a 'picture-postcard' village and one of the most photographed in England with a duck pond and village green surrounded by Georgian and medieval cottages; a church, St John the Baptist Church, which is on the hill; an 18th century windmill; three public houses; tea rooms; a hall; a primary school; and a doctor's surgery.

Some of the beautiful old cottages.

Finchingfield has often appeared in television programmes and films and in television and film commercials. Also it has been seen frequently adorning chocolate boxes, biscuit tins and other quality products.
Finchingfield was the later home and resting place of Dodie Smith, the author of several books including The Hundred and One Dalmations written in 1956. Dodie Smith lived in The Barretts at Howe Street, a hamlet in Finchingfield Parish.
We had a lovely lunch there, a carvery with a choice of 3 meats, lots of tasty vegetables and the biggest Yorkshire puddings I have ever seen, with all the appropriate sauces. This was followed by a choice of desserts and tea or coffee. Everything was delicious.

A close-up of some of the decorations.

Once we had finished the meal some of us strolled around the village until the coach came to pick us up. The drizzle started and the light began to fade, very quickly it was nearly dark, so it arrived just in time. There was much snoozing on the way home!

October 2013 meeting.

We had some really wild & windy weather for this meeting, but in spite of that, it was quite well attended. The forecasts were correct in that they foretold of  gales, with gusts of up to 100 miles an hour in places, on Sunday night & Monday morning.  Everybody was advised to "batten down the hatches" and move as much as possible to cover.  Luckily, it had calmed down a lot by the evening. Unfortunately, it was too late for the speaker, Steve Edney, who is the Head Gardener of the Secret Garden of Sandwich, to be able to attend. His small village was virtually cut off, also the Dartford Bridge was closed, leading to severe congestion on the roads. He rang Peter in the afternoon, when it was obvious he would not be able to make it, to express his regrets. That left Peter with some quick thinking to do as to how to fill the evening. He turned to his trusty computer to sort some photos to show us. 

The first ones were of Chenies Manor, where we will be returning to next year, as everybody enjoyed that visit.

Chenies Manor.

 Following that he showed us some photos of his favourite garden plants, here they are:

Magnolia Grandiflora

Tulbaghia

Daphne Odora

Hardy geranium.

Other plants he mentioned were Tradescantia "Maidens Blush", the Ladybird poppy, Alstromerias and, of course, Hucheras.

As well as speaking about his plants, he gave out general notices and information about the forthcoming visits. He asked everybody to ensure they paid the balance of the trips in good time, at least 3 weeks before, as the coach companies have to be paid ahead of time.

A list was passed around everybody for them to put on it what food they were bringing to the next meeting, as November has no outside speaker, it is an informal social evening with a buffet.

The meeting closed and everybody wended their ways home.

THE HANDMADE MARKET

ITS BACK FOR THE 3RD TIME               
                                                        THE HANDMADE MARKET
                                                       
                                                        AT THE FANSHAWE COMMUNITY HALL
                                                                   BARNMEAD ROAD
                                                                        DAGENHAM
                                                                            RM9 5DX       (behind fanshawe health centre

                                                       TIME OPENING AT 10 AM - 2 PM

                  
FREE ENTRY                                    REFRESHMENTS                                AMPLE PARKING 
 
          we have gathered together the best of our local crafters to put on the handmade market