Farmyard Nursery Visit; Planting In Containers; Aberglasney Tea party

April 12, 2019 / cothigardeners / 2 Comments

Those members who managed to take time out for the visit to Farmyard Nurseries this week enjoyed a real treat. Lovely weather and a special guided tour behind the scenes at what must be one of the best working nurseries in Wales, if not the UK.

Richard Bramley and his wife Hazel, pictured above run this impressive enterprise over 3 acres, which they’ve created from scratch over the last 30 years or so. Gordon spotted a feature of the site I’d never thought about before – that it’s a rare example of a large flat site, yet quite high up on Welsh hillside. Apparently the farmhouse complex was established over 200 years ago by a Scottish farmer who travelled down to Wales to try to show the Welsh how farming should be done!

Aerial photos in Richard’s tea room show what the farm looked like when he and his parents acquired it in the early’80’s, with no sign of any horticultural activity, and how it’s progressed over the years since.

Richard began with an overview of what’s in the 50 plus polytunnels, and then took us through a few with herbs and bedding plants growing on, and past several members of his team of staff busy at work watering, weeding and potting on.

Next came advice about potting plants and him introducing us to his potting supremo, Jack. There was even a mini potting-on contest, which Jack won hands down, with an almost machine like efficiency, a blur of dibber and hands, plug plants and labels.

On to the bottom of the nursery and tunnels of Richard’s extensive Hellebore collection… his National Collection of Primula sieboldii (guess who liked these…) which were at their peak…… past the huge open plant sale area…… and then into the more recent tunnels holding a recently acquired National Collection of carnivorous Sarracenia, or pitcher plants. Richard and staff have recently been working on cutting back last year’s pitchers to allow room for the new growths and flowers. Along with making divisions which end up in a separate sales tunnel.

Then on through the cuttings and seed sowing sheds, and more valuable tips on how they do this…… before back to the cafe for tea and cakes.

Finally we all spread out across the nursery hunting out a few (?) special plants to take home to add to our gardens.

Thanks very much to Richard and all his staff for giving us such a great afternoon out and the chance to see how the nursery ticks. For any who couldn’t make it, click here for Richard’s website where you can scroll through the vast range of plants he has for sale.

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Next Wednesday sees our April speaker meeting at Pumsaint hall, when Gareth Davies will be coming to talk to us about growing plants in containers. All welcome at 7.15 for 7.30 pm.

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Finally a reminder about the planned tea party trip to Abeglasney gardens on Wednesday May 22nd at 3 pm. Fiona and I visited recently and for anyone who hasn’t been within the last 3 months, you’ll be amazed at how much work has happened with big changes to the gardens and plantings. It should be looking glorious in May when we visit, but we’ll need your booking and payment in advance, preferably this month, or at May’s meeting at the latest, so do remember to sort this out at the next meeting if possible. (Afternoon tea £12 – a complete meal in itself- and reduced entry of £7.25 pp) . Click here for the Aberglasney website.

Spring News and Upcoming Events

March 29, 2019March 29, 2019 / cothigardeners / 1 Comment

Cothi gardeners enjoyed another great evening and talk last week from Louise Austin, the project manager for the Twyi Gateway Trust, overseeing the restoration of the gardens and some of the buildings at the Bishop’s Palace at Abergwili, Carmarthen.

Using slides of old maps, photographs and the current detailed plans of the programme of works up to August 2021, Louise explained the several hundred years of history and multiple changes to the grounds and buildings, along with mention of several of the notable Bishops of St. Davids who lived at the Palace up until the 1970’s when the site was handed over to Carmathenshire County Council.

Click here for more about what’s going on over the year ahead, or if you’re interested in a trip to the site by Cothigardeners, do let Yvonne know.

Next month’s meeting, on Wednesday April 17th at 7.30 pm sees Gareth Davies from Talybont on Usk coming to talk to us about growing plants in containers – surely something we all do in some way, and Gareth will inspire us with lots of ideas for containers in 2019.

Other dates for your diaries:

Thursday 11 April, 2pm. Farmyard Nurseries, Llandysul for nursery tour with Richard Bramley followed by tea/coffee and cake. Richard has asked whether we would like a demonstration or talk when we visit. If you have any preference, then please let Yvonne know and also confirm if you would like to attend. Richard has a massive range of plants including the National Plant Collections of both Primula sieboldii, ( above, which will probably be at their peak in his polytunnels) and Sarracenia (Pitcher) carnivorous plants, so there will be lots to see.
Wednesday 22 May, 3pm. Mad Hatters Tea Party, Aberglasney. Afternoon tea £12 per person, plus reduced entry fee £7.25 per person (total £19.25) to be paid by April meeting, please. Form on the entrance table at meetings, or let Yvonne know if you would like to attend.
Our annual Garden Safari, planned for early June. We’re looking for members to open their gardens, large or small, for members to visit.It is always interesting visiting other people’s gardens as there’s invariably something new to learn, even for the more experienced gardeners among us. Is there someone willing to host a shared picnic lunch please? (members to bring food). Exact date to be confirmed in due course.
Sunday 7 July, Ceredigion Growers Plant Fair, 10-3pm – forms for volunteers and cake/plant donations available at next month’s meeting.
Our August meeting’s growing challenge – edible flowers/leaves in any form, eg cordial, flowers, leaves, cake – edible leaves. For some more ideas on what we can grow, try looking at www.maddocksfarmorganics.co.uk/edible-flowers-list have lists of edible flowers, how to grow them and how to crystallise them. And also for some edible wild plants https://matteroftrust.org/14760/62-edible-wild-plants-that-you-didnt-know-you-can-eat; .
Finally advance notice of our May 15 th meeting when Steve Lloyd from Hergest Croft gardens is coming to Cothi, and is going to be holding a workshop type meeting on plant propagation of all types. For those who’ve never visited Hergest Croft it’s on the borders of England and Wales and has been in the same family for over 4 generations. Click here for more. The extensive gardens include a fantastic kitchen garden, herbaceous borders, perennials and a massive collection of over 5,000 different trees and shrubs. Steve went to work there from school in 1980, and is the head gardener. Over that time he’s propagated huge amounts of plants of all types, and will be bringing plants he’s grown for sale, as well as material to experiment with, and show us his favoured methods and tips. He’s also willing for Cothi members to bring along any plants which members have struggled to propagate and discuss best options. Steve not only has great experience, but is also a very enthusiastic speaker, so I’m sure we’ll all learn a lot from this evening. Book it in your diaries now!

Other events further afield which might interest CG members:

6 April, Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens near Horsham, West Sussex reopens after being closed for 9 years. 240 acres with Loder Rhododendrons, azaleas, magnolias.
Wednesday 10 April, 7.30pm, Boncath. Richard Cave of Melcourt Industries, who produce peat free compost, are coming to Llechryd Gardening Club, Boncath. He will be describing the manufacturing process of their products and will bring samples for us to handle and learn their various uses. Some CG members use their compost, and also some local growers including The National Botanic Garden of Wales and Penlan Perennials. Entry is free for visitors. They usually have a raffle.
RHS Cardiff Flower Show. Friday April 12th to Sunday 14th. Click here for more details. __________________________________________________________________________________

Finally after a lovely spell of weather, keep your eyes peeled around the garden, you never know what you might see. Common lizards seem to enjoy basking on our outside watering standpipe, as the late afternoon sunshine warms this spot. They’re as regular as clockwork, around tea time, and don’t seem to mind me pausing to admire…

See the separate page for the topical tips from last meeting, or click here.

Plants and Tips; Wildflower meadows; Which Compost to Use?

March 13, 2019 / cothigardeners / Leave a comment

A quick post to remind readers that anyone with any plants for sale to raise funds for the club can bring them along to the monthly meetings where we have a plant stall table at the rear of the hall. Just pop a label in with what the plant is and a fair price. Each year this raises a significant amount towards the cost of our speakers, so we’re very grateful to everyone who brings and buys any plants in this way.

Yvonne is also always pleased to receive any members’ topical tips, either before the meeting, or written up on the white board on the night. Everyone will have their own little tips and routines about the how’s, what’s and when’s of their gardening years, so why not pass these gems on to others in the group?

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I know a number of Cothigardeners have an interest in wildflowers and wildflower meadows, so am including a brief mention of the spring meeting of the Carmarthenshire Meadows Group, (CMG) which is taking place on the morning of Saturday March 23rd at the Red Dragon Hall in Drefach Felindre. SA44 5UG

There will be 3 different brief presentations on how CMG members make hay from their small or large meadows ( often a key part of managing a wildflower meadow) as well as a talk by Dr. Lizzie Wilberforce of the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales on managing grassland nature reserves. So plenty for anyone interested in creating a wildflower meadow area, large or small, to learn from. £3 per person for the morning’s meeting, beginning at 10.00 am. Refreshments included.

I’m convinced that all gardeners can learn a huge amount about how plants behave in natural communities from thinking about the spectacular effects that a traditional wildflower hay meadow can create.

Click here for more details on the CMG meeting.

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Choosing which compost to use for growing any plants in containers is always a tricky decision. Members may be interested in a meeting at Llechryd gardening club in Boncath on Wednesday April 10th at 7.30 pm, when Richard Cave of Melcourt Industries, who make compost from wood material, will talk about the process and bring along some samples. Held in Boncath village hall. Click here for more on Melcourt. I know some Cothi members use Melcourt and are very happy with it.

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Next Cothi meeting Wednesday March 20th at 7.30 pm for the talk about the restoration of Abergwili Bishop’s Palace garden.

Snowdrops; Bishop’s Palace Restoration project; Tea Party; Summer Plant Fair; Lan Farm.

March 5, 2019March 5, 2019 / cothigardeners / Leave a comment

The 2019 programme of speakers began last month with Cothi’s previous chairman Julian giving a talk/slide show on his passion for snowdrops. Not just covering the great variety of snowdrops in an attempt to persuade his audience that all snowdrops aren’t the same, it also dipped into when snowdrops might have arrived in the UK; how best to cultivate them; some of the amazing properties of snowdrops and a little bit about Julian’s project to assemble a database of Welsh snowdrops from pre 1850 sites. This has now probably passed the significant mark of over 150 forms from over 70 sites. It was great to see so many members at the meeting as well as several new faces, some of whom have donated snowdrops from their properties to Julian for his Snowdrop hunt.

After the talk, and following the interest in a similar auction last year, Julian auctioned off a number of his snowdrops, most named or linked with historic female galanthophiles, to put across the message that it isn’t just sad old blokes who fall under snowdrop’s spell! It raised a useful £54 for club funds, with top price going to one of the two snowdrops on offer named after chaps – Cedric’s Prolific, selected by the great Beth Chatto from bulbs given to her by the artist Cedric Morris, whose garden it originally came from.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________Next month’s talk at 7.30 pm on Wednesday March 20th sees Louise Austin from Tywi gateway Trust coming to talk to us about the big project to restore the gardens at The Bishop’s Palace, Abergwili, Carmarthen. Click here for more information on the trust’s aims, but for those who’ve never visited the site, it was the private garden for the Bishops of St. Davids and has a history going back several hundred years. Louise will tell us much more about what’s been done already, and how anyone interested can get involved with volunteer work. By coincidence, Julian and Fiona visited the site 2 years ago after contacting the trust, and although there aren’t huge numbers of snowdrops on the site, were able to collect a small sample of a late flowering form to include in his snowdrop database. There is a lovely old walled garden, as well as wonderful woodland walks surrounding the main Palace building which has been the site of the Carmarthenshire museum for many years. An aerial view of the site below, from the 1950’s…

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The Cothigardeners tea party at Aberglasney has been booked again for this summer after the success of last year, with a date of Wednesday May 22nd at 3 pm. The brilliant tea is £12 pp and a reduced garden entry of £7.25 pp for any members attending. Julian will need names and payments by the April meeting at the latest please, so we do hope many members will be able to make it, and once more we’ll be aiming to wear some sort of mad hats… ( though you don’t have to !) Whether we can manage weather as special as last year remains to be seen…

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Yvonne announced at last month’s meeting that there will be another plant fair this summer, on Sunday July 7th at Coronation hall Pumsaint. Although Ceredigion Grower’s Association will be hosting this year’s events, the gardening club will still have a plant stall, tombola and provide the refreshments, so make a note in your diaries, and look out for more information on how you can be involved and help out, before the big day, or with actual volunteer help on the Sunday. Again, it will be interesting to see what the weather is like this year!

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Last year, we were delighted that Karen Thomas from Talley joined Cothigardeners, and for those who don’t know, Karen is another member who has designed and made a beautiful garden which opens for charity under the National Garden Scheme, by arrangement. Having visited a couple of years ago, I can vouch for what a special place it is, and Karen joins the 4 other Cothi members who open their gardens some, or most, years in this way – a really impressive thing for such a small club, and all 5 gardens have been created by the current owners, which is even more special. So do think about getting up to see Karen’s really interesting and beautiful garden this year – you’ll get a very warm welcome, and the views are spectacular. Click here for more information on the garden and when it opens to the public in 2019.

Winter Gardening Weekend 2019 – Llandysul February 15,16,17th

February 8, 2019 / cothigardeners / Leave a comment

A reminder to everyone that the excellent annual winter gardening weekend held in Llandysul takes place in just under a week’s time. It starts on Friday February 15th at 10.00am and is open on Saturday and Sunday as well, each day until 5 pm.

Once more it’s taking place in the Tysul Hall Llandysul, (SA44 4QJ) and for those who haven’t been before the event is once more being staged by Richard Bramley and his team at Farmyard Nurseries. The format, as always, is a fantastic garden show style stage display of plants, with huge numbers of plants to buy in the hall along with a range of other stallholders. Entry is FREE, and in addition to all the plants, there are 3 different speakers each day – again no charge to turn up & listen, though it’s a good idea to get there early, since seating is more limited than at our Cothi meetings.

For a list of speakers, topics and more about the event, click here.

For those who haven’t been before, it’s a great way to start the new gardening year, maybe catch up with friends and maybe come away with some great plants and new ideas to try out.

A few years back we bought some Cyclamen coum plants, to try in the garden, from Farmyard at this spring event. This is what some of them and their offspring looked like this week after a bit of TLC. Who says you can’t have colour in the garden in February?

Amazing things, so go along next weekend and be surprised.

There’s also a great on site refreshment area serving hot drinks, cakes and such like. A great day out, whatever the weather.

There’s also an easy to access car park about 100 yards before you get to the hall, on the left, just off the lower one way system in Llandysul.

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A little further away, after our first meeting at Pumsaint on Wednesday February 20th, there’s also another FREE event in Carmarthen called Seedy Saturday, which is an opportunity to swap seeds and ideas, as well as buy a range of recycled gardening tools, supplied by Self Reliance Cymru. This takes place from 10.00 am to 3 pm, in St. Peter’s Hall, Nott Square Carmarthen (SA31 1PG). Click here for more details.

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AGM and February Meeting

January 22, 2019January 23, 2019 / cothigardeners / Leave a comment

The new year for Cothigardeners began in customary style with the AGM held in the hall, followed by a shared meal, and another fiendishly challenging quiz set, and hosted by Derek, ably assisted by Tina. A total of 39 members, out of the current membership of 57, was a great turn out, possibly aided by everyone wanting to escape yet more Brexit related wall to wall media coverage, on the night of the vote of confidence in the government.

Apologies were received from Jenny, Gordon, Karen, Anthony, Ann, and Nina.

The chairman and treasurer’s annual reports were read and passed, thanks given to all on the committee for their stirling work in 2018, and then the election of new committee members took place.

The new chair for 2019, Yvonne, was elected, with other changes to the committee : Alison joining to help with meet and greet; Rosalind taking over refreshments; Jenny and Fiona as programme secretaries; and Julian taking over as website administrator.

After discussion over the new reduced (for 2019) single and new couple membership fees for the year ahead, the AGM was closed.

Many thanks for all the members who joined us for the AGM and supper, and particularly for the excellent and varied food offerings which everyone brought along and which ensured no one went away hungry.

Some pictures taken by Fiona capture some of the action, particularly as we were randomly split into teams for the quiz.

It seems a long way away, but the first meeting of the year is on Wednesday February 20th at 7.30 pm in Pumsaint hall. Our ex chairman Julian returns to the front of the hall for one last time to give an illustrated talk titled “Confessions of a galanthophile”.

Want to know a bit more about snowdrops?

Julian and Fiona own the only garden open in South and mid Wales in 2019 for the National Garden Scheme’s snowdrop festival.

Julian will explain why he loves snowdrops, tell you a little about snowdrop species and their distribution as well as some interesting facts about snowdrops. He’ll talk a little about snowdrop myth and history, snowdrop cultivation, and some of his favourite cultivars. You’ll also hear a bit about his ongoing Historic Welsh Snowdrop Hunt, which is slowly establishing a unique collection of Welsh native snowdrops from pre 1850 sites.

Finally there will be a quick fire auction of some snowdrops to raise funds for the club, and a range of named snowdrops will also be available for sale.

More information and photographs of snowdrops at their garden can be found on their website …Click here for more.

Free to all members, as always, and just £3 for visitors. Arrive any time after 7 pm to join us, and have a chat and hot drink before the meeting starts at 7.30 pm.

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The complete programme of speakers for 2019 is now available on a separate drop down web page. More events will be added as and when they are confirmed, as separate posts or on the separate Events Page.

If you’re not already following us, do click on the tab to follow, or follow us on Facebook, and make sure you don’t miss out on any Cothigardeners news.

If you have any news or ideas you’d like discussing on the blog pages, or at the committee meetings, do email Julian, the new website administrator, on this email: cothigardeners@gmail.com

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Terrific Terry; Fantastic Festive Food; Final Call for Committee Members; AGM date for your diary

December 14, 2018 / cothigardeners / Leave a comment

Terry Walton – The Life of a Media Allotmenteer

Terry Walton made his long delayed visit to Cothi Gardeners for our November meeting. He was certainly worth the wait and gave us a highly entertaining and informative talk.

Terry

The first part of the talk was about how, after retiring from his career as MD of a precision engineering company, he came to be a media allotmenteer appearing on various radio and television programmes. Currently he is a regular Friday afternoon feature on Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine Show and on Radio Wales. Both shows are live broadcasts; for the former he manages to perform his various tasks, often one handed, while communicating via mobile phone with the studio.

First Slide - with Jeremy Vine Terry Walton 2

He started gardening on an allotment as a child of 4, building up the number of plots he managed to 11 and growing vegetables which he put into veg boxes and then sold to local householders. It being illegal to sell produce from an allotment, he only charged for the box itself and not the veg it contained. By the time he was 17 he was able to buy his first car. He continued to garden his allotment throughout his career, as a hobby.

Terry gardens organically. His allotment is about the size of centre court at Wimbledon, water is collected from a nearby mountain stream and he has an unheated greenhouse on site. He uses a 4 crop rotation which reduces pest problems and maintains fertility, has no paths (they waste growing space!) and is self-sufficient for all his vegetables, freezing summer crops for winter consumption. Seeds that require extra warmth for germination are placed in the airing cupboard at home for 48hrs, moved to a windowsill and from there out to the greenhouse.

Parsnips:

Don’t sow in the ground
Germinate the seeds on damp kitchen towel, wait until the root shows then
Plant into fibre pots with the bases removed, 2 to a pot. This way they can be planted out without disturbance and the root will not be obstructed and so is less likely to fork.
In due course plant out in a drum for long roots, or into the ground under a fleece cloche, thinning to 1 per pot and at a distance of 9” apart.

Leeks:

He grows early, mid and late season varieties.
They are sown into seed trays, 35/tray, so a total of 105 every year.
When approx. 6” high he uses a crowbar to make a hole in the ground into which the leeks are dropped.
A piece of 6” long, 3” diameter plastic pipe is then placed over each leek which will allow them to grow long and straight, and increase the length of blanched stem.

Beans:

To germinate, place in a freezer bag half filled with semi moist compost.
Plant into recycled polystyrene cups (which keeps compost warm and so gives them a head start)
Once planted out in the ground, water twice a week with a watering can of water with a handful of lime dissolved in it. This helps prevent flower drop.

Courgettes:

To help reduce mildew early in the season, mix 1 part milk to 1 part water and water or spray over the leaves – mildew likes acid conditions to germinate.

Peas:

Germinate as for beans
Plant out in a shallow trench.

Lettuce:

To keep continuity and avoid a glut, sow into pots 6 each of Iceberg and Lollo Rosso every 2 weeks, then plant out.
Grow under cloches in March, then in open. Keep going until October
Sow cut and come again in greenhouse for the winter

Onions:

Don’t wait until the end of the season to start using them, use from when they are big enough.
When drying off make sure ventilation is good. If weather is bad dry in the greenhouse on mesh to give greater circulation

Brassicas:

To combat Cabbage White decimation spray with water in which rhubarb leaves have been soaking for 3 weeks. Repeat after rain. This deters the butterflies.
Or grow under netting/enviromesh.
To prevent Cabbage Root Fly place 2 pieces of damp proof membrane, with V shaped cuts, around base of each plant.

Carrots:

Grow in drums for longer, straighter roots
Harvest through the winter.
Sow in February in greenhouse under bubble wrap for an early crop.
Sowing into the ground: dribble in compost, then seeds and then cover with more compost for good germination.
Cover with enviromesh to avoid Carrot Root Fly

Potatoes:

Earlies – Grow in a drum in a cold greenhouse. Place a layer of manure mixed with compost in the bottom
Add the potatoes and then add layers of the manure/compost mix as they grow until the drum is full
In the ground use green manures and well rotted manure in the potato bed for a good crop

Peppers:

Alternate with Coleus carina or French Marigolds to help with White fly.

Spring Onions:

Sow in buckets every 2 weeks

Tomatoes:

Drape bananas over the tomato trusses to help ripening later in the season – the ethylene relased by the banana skins helps ripen the fruit.

Garlic:

Best varieties to grow are UK ones

Strawberries:

Plant up runners and scrap original plants after 3 years
Cover with netting to avoid bird predation

Other tips:

Keep a wormery for excellent, rich compost
Collect sheep droppings, place in a hessian sack in water for 3 weeks, use the water as a plant feed
Use green manures e.g. vetches and ryes
Use nematodes to help reduce slug populations – repeat every year once the soil warms up.
Use a pressure spray to blast aphids off plants then water well to drown them.
To grow giant pumpkins feed them 6 pints of beer a day!!

Book signing

Some topical tips from Julian:

I thought we were doing well this year with being ahead of the game in the garden and struggled to think of any topical tips for late November, but Fiona then reminded me we’ve still got to plant our tulip bulbs, still need to cut back the roses, and still need to raise pots off the ground to stop problems with freezing – so there you go, no time to put your feet up just yet. And a few suggestions for a dry day.

Cothi Gardeners Christmas Lunch at the Forest Arms, Brechfa

A highly successful end to the Cothi Gardener’s season. A high turnout of members contributed to a thoroughly enjoyable lunch – excellent food, festive atmosphere and great company. A big thank you to George and Louise and their staff and to all who came to make it such a success.

Apologies for the poor quality of the photos but light levels were challenging!

Committee Members Needed

As those who have attended the last few meetings will already know, we have three committee members retiring from their current committee roles in January. A huge thank you to Brenda and Yvonne, our programme secretaries and Julian our Chairman. All members should consider serving on the committee at some point to help the club to continue forward into the future. It isn’t onerous and is often great fun. Obviously it’s very important to find someone prepared to take on the role of chairman. It would be for 1 year with the option of continuing for a maximum of 3. Please give it some serious thought and if you are prepared to join us then please give your name to Julian by 9^th January 2019

Finally remember to put the date for the AGM in your diary: Wednesday, January 16th at 7.30pm. Bring a plate of food to share and be prepared for Derek’s Quiz!

Membership renewals:

For existing members who renew their membership before or at the AGM in January the fee will be £10 (normally £14).

In addition, the committee decided that we should introduce a new fee for couples. This would normally be £25 but will be £18 if renewed before or at the AGM in January 2019.

All that remains is to wish you a very Happy Christmas and peaceful, healthy and productive 2019

Fungal Fascination; Committee Commitment; Membership Renewals; TERRY WALTON; Christmas Lunch

November 8, 2018 / cothigardeners / Leave a comment

Fascinating and Phenomenal Fungi

Bruce Langridge enthralled us with his enthusiastic and informative talk on ‘Fascinating and Phenomenal Fungi’ at our October meeting. Knowing very little about fungi when he arrived at the National Botanic Garden of Wales 15 years ago where his role as Head of Interpretation was “to create interpretation that informs, entertains and fascinates all Garden visitors, whatever their age, gender or background”. Finding that the NBGW included a meadow of international importance for fungi fired his enthusiasm to find out more and raise awareness of this amazing and important form of life. His annual Wales Fungus Day, started in 2013, has been taken up by the Mycological Society in 2015 and expanded into a National Fungus Day.

Embroidered Fungi

Bruce gave us a potted history from fungi’s evolution over a billion years ago to the present day when it is thought that there could be over 100 million different types. The importance of fungi to the planet’s ecosystem is huge. 85 – 90% of plants have a symbiotic relationship with one sort of fungus or another (fungi don’t photosynthesise and plants are not always very efficient in taking up necessary nutrients from the soil). Certain fungi are indicators of old meadows which have not had modern farming practices applied to them. The pink Waxcap is on such example (coincidentally Julian had counted nearly 70 of these in one of his meadows that afternoon). Some fungi are edible but Bruce advised caution as there are often ‘lookalikes’ which are poisonous; or in one case an edible one can be infected by a poisonous one! In addition, picking wild fungi causes damage to the fungus through trampling and soil impaction. Other fungi such as Dutch Elm Disease, Ash Dieback and Honey Fungus kill plants, while others have hallucinogenic properties eg. Magic Mushrooms and Fly Agaric and many have been used in Chinese and Japanese medicine for 1000’s of years. One of the top 5 most poisonous fungi in the world, the Destroying Angel, was found by Bruce locally.

Examples of fungi brought in to the meeting

Bruce’s slides and examples demonstrated the diversity of shape and colour from the bright red Elf Cups to yellow Witches’ Butter and the Bird’s Nest Fungus, often accompanied by interesting and amusing anecdotes.

Finally, Bruce told us a little about lichens (a combination of fungi and algae and sometimes bacteria as well) and rusts and smuts. Lichens are a sign of pure air, however they do not like acid rain so many are dying out. The NBGW is the first Botanic Garden in Europe to try a conservation technique, transplanting rare lichens onto a willow tree in the gardens to try and save them. So far the results have been very encouraging. (https://botanicgarden.wales/about-the-garden/wildlife/lichens-in-the-garden/)

For anyone who is interested, Bruce runs fungi walks at the Botanic Gardens and also suggests joining the Carmarthenshire Fungi Group (http://www.carmarthenshirefungi.co.uk/)

Committee Members Needed

Membership

Due to the healthy state of the club’s finances this year, the committee has decided that there will be a one off discount for membership renewals as follows:

For existing members who renew their membership before or at the AGM in January the fee will be £10 (normally £14).

In addition, the committee decided that we should introduce a new fee for couples. This would normally be £25 but will be £18 if renewed before or at the AGM in January 2019.

Terry Walton

It’s hard enough getting those fiddly seeds into compost or trimming just the right side-shoots without holding your mobile phone to your ear and providing a running commentary to thousands of Radio 2 listeners at the same time.

If you haven’t already guessed, our speaker in November will be Terry Walton. “The Life of a Media Allotmenteer” promises to give us a look behind the scenes as Terry tells us about life on his allotment in the Rhondda and how he has given growing advice on the radio each month for over twelve years.

A gardener of over 40 years’ experience, Terry has worked plots on the same site since he was a boy, learning from his father and other allotment gardeners. Many of you will be familiar with his enthusiastic style, so do come along on November 21^st to meet Terry. Mobile phones not necessary!

Guests and visitors welcome, £3, to include refreshments. The talk begins at 7.30pm.

Christmas Lunch

November’s meeting is your last chance to book in for our Christmas lunch. It is to be held at the Forest Arms, Brechfa on Wednesday December 12^th from 12.30pm. The form together with the menu (which is also listed in a previous post) will be out on the ‘Meet & Greet’ table. You will need to give your food choices, noting any allergies/dietary requirements, plus a £10 deposit per person. The full cost of the lunch is £20 per person.

Topical Tips

Lilium regale – A fabulous scented species lily with large funnel shaped white flowers in the summer. The seed pods have just ripened and lilies are fairly easy to grow with fresh seed. Keep it in the fridge until maybe mid March and then sow it in a pot outside. You do need to keep slugs and mice away from them, but you can get good germination rates and it’ll take about 4 years for the lilies to flower.

Autumn planting

It’s a great time of the year for new planting now, before the frosts arrive, while the soil is still warm and with all that recent ‘wonderful’ rain having soaked the ground….

Winter Squash

For everyone with winter squash, it’s probably a good time to ripen them off for about 10 days in a warm, dry place to toughen and dry up the skins, before moving to a cool, frost free place to allow them to store well for longer.

Green’s Leaves; Fantastic Fungi; Terry Walton; Christmas Lunch

October 11, 2018 / cothigardeners / Leave a comment

Paul Green of Green’s Leaves Nursery

September’s meeting saw a very welcome return by Paul Green from Green’s Leaves Nursery. Paul once again built his talk around a fantastic and diverse selection of plants that he’d brought along, persuading us of the merits of plants which look great at this early autumn period and on into winter.

Ranging through grasses, trees and small perennials, there was something for everyone to enjoy, and the talk was laced with practical tips (remember to lift any outside pots off the ground over winter to prevent water logging and root death), to snippets of fascinating information (Alder Buckthorn is not only one of the main larval food plants for the caterpillars of the Brimstone Butterfly, but also originally the favoured wood for making high quality charcoal to incorporate into gun powder!)

An enjoyable evening all round, and great to see several new members join us.

Bruce Langridge – ‘Fantastic and Phenomenal Fungi’

Next week’s talk on ‘Fantastic and Phenomenal Fungi’ by Bruce Langridge promises to be really interesting – Bruce is responsible for establishing the Wales Fungi Day at the National Botanic Garden of Wales, taking place this Sunday 14^th October and it’s been so successful that a similar event is now held at over 80 venues nationally. Click here for more information.

Terry Walton – “The Life of a Media Allotmenteer”

Advance notice for November’s meeting when our speaker will be Terry Walton on the subject “The Life of a Media Allotmenteer”. Terry promises to give us a look behind the scenes as he tells us about life on his allotment in the Rhondda and how he has given growing advice on the radio each month for over twelve years.

Guests and visitors welcome, £3, to include refreshments. The talk begins at 7.30pm.

Christmas Lunch

Initial bookings for the lunchtime Christmas meal at The Forest Arms, Brechfa are coming in, so don’t forget to sign up soon – there may be a limit on numbers which we could broach this year, with the increased membership. The cost is £20 per head. Please give your menu choices (including any dietary requirements/allergies) plus a 50% deposit when you book your place. The menu is shown below. The date is Wednesday December 12^th, 12.30 for 1 pm.

Monthly Tips

3 Tips from Julian……………..

I find myself collecting seeds from quite a few plants at this time of the year. Obviously It’s a good idea to collect them on a dry day if you can manage that, but also it’s worth labelling them and quickly storing them in the fridge so that they don’t become too dry which can easily happen if they’re left on the side in a warm house. We had a few days in Sussex recently and were fortunate to visit Gravetye Manor which was the home of William Robinson at the beginning of the last century. He was perhaps the driving force in moving gardens towards a more naturalistic, less formal type of garden design. However I didn’t know until this visit that he injured himself very badly after slipping on a stile whilst walking to church, and spent the last 25 years of his life confined to a wheel chair. But apparently right up to the end of his days, he loved scattering seeds of his favourite plants around his garden and meadows and enjoying the excitement of seeing what germinated.

Gravetye Manor flower garden

I’ve also found that the 2 pronged weeding fork I mentioned earlier in the year as a great tool will work as a bulb planting implement for small bulbs like Crocus and fritillaries, which limits the extent to which you have to bend over. But I’ve also found it’s not a good idea to twist it too much, or you end up with a single pronged fork! Which is still ok for bulb planting, and for using as a strut or support but not so good for weeding!

Finally I’m guessing a lot of people will have a surfeit of apples this year. We have, so I’ve been juicing and freezing a lot. This generates quite a lot of pulp and trimmings. I did read that mice and voles love apples (certainly our rats do!) So I’ve been scattering all the apple debris around near where I’ve planted my Crocus in the hope that the rodents are distracted by the smell and taste of this. And therefore leave the corms alone. In previous years I’ve sometimes lost 80% of newly planted Crocus within a few days (in spite of dousing them in Chilli powder and vinegar) with them being systematically dug up and eaten. Fingers crossed, but so far I haven’t seen any signs of dug out, chomped Crocus this year. Also although it sounds a bit messy, actually all the bits turns brown very quickly and they have the added bonus of attracting in the few slugs we currently have left in the garden, which can then very easily be dealt with at night if you go round with a torch. In whatever way you like to do that! Of late since bending not’s so good for me, I’ve been using John’s suggested method of stamping on them, though I suppose if I sharpened the spike on my weeding fork I could try skewering…

Garden Safari in pictures and an Invitation

September 7, 2018 / cothigardeners / Leave a comment

This year’s Garden Safari was a highly enjoyable occasion. Both gardens we visited, Ty Dwr and Ddol Brenin were looking lovely. Many thanks to Yvonne and Colin and Tina and Derek for allowing us to see their gardens and to everyone who came for making the afternoon such a success.

Ty Dwr