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Saving Our Magnificent Meadows and Forthcoming Meetings

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The Cothi Gardeners meeting in July was entitled Saving Our Magnificent Meadows. This Lottery funded 3 year project is aimed at targeting 9 areas of wild flower meadows and grassland across the UK, raising awareness of the plight of such rare and fast disappearing special places and giving the public access and information. The talk was given by two National Trust employees based at Llanerchaeron who are involved in the part of this UK wide scheme in Ceredigion. Several National Trust farms in the county are involved in the project and we were given information about how they are tackling the problems of bracken and over grazing in order to encourage greater diversity of flowers in the grassland.

More information can be found at  http://www.magnificentmeadows.org.uk/

Anyone interested in meadows locally can find out more on the Carmarthenshire Meadows website by clicking here.

 

Cwmdu Meadow

Meadow at Cwmdu

The Cothi Gardening Club has much to look forward to in the coming months.

The August meeting on Wednesday 26th at 7.30pm is the Members Medley

The meeting will kick off with a review of the “Tomato Challenge”, so please bring a selection of fruit if you have them! Then there will be short presentations in 4 areas of the hall, followed by a buffet style refreshment. Can you please provide a plate of savoury or sweet items, drinks will be provided by the Club.
The intention is to have a casual, informative meeting  sharing our knowledge/ skills and disasters!

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At our September meeting on the 16th the talk is entitled South West China-Sourcing plants for our Climate and is given by the well known John Shipton.

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Looking to the following month of October we are very pleased to welcome Dr Noel Kingsbury the internationally known writer about plants, gardening and the environment. He is giving his popular and entertaining talk entitled, Women, Men and Gardening at 7.30pm on the 21st. Entrance to this event is £5 (free for members) including refreshments.

Please see our events page for more details

Guests and prospective new members are always welcome, so do come along and join us.

Pest Control and our Inspirational Visit

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June Meeting – Pests and how to get rid of them

George Sykes an entomologist gave us a fascinating and most informative talk using his wealth of experience advising governments at home and overseas to maximise crop productivity. He explained that the natural system is in equilibrium, but cultivating a garden upsets that, giving an opportunity for some species to multiply and become pests. He took us through the history of chemical controls to less invasive ways of dealing with common garden trials. He finished by saying that in many ways the human thumb is the best biological control! An informative and entertaining evening.

Ideas for controlling pests and weeds were also suggested by members during discussions after the talk such as milk for controlling mildew and ‘Grazers’ for controlling damage by rabbits, deer, pigeons and geese (http://www.grazers.co.uk/). See the gardening tips page for more information.

 

Inspirational Visit – Llanllyr Garden
On Sunday 28th June Cothi Gardeners had their inaugural ‘Inspirational Visit’ to Llanllyr garden at Talsarn (https://www.facebook.com/Llanllyr). We enjoyed the sunshine and were shown around the wonderful and indeed inspiring gardens by their creators Mr and Mrs Gee, the current owners of the property. Highlights were the rose garden which was in full bloom, the scents and colours quite amazing, the pool and the random flowering of white foxgloves throughout the garden giving a unity to the whole. The afternoon finished with a Welsh tea on the lawn – perfect!

 

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Gathering in the car park

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Chatting during the tour

Llanllyr tea (2)

Request from Llinos re Arum lilly /Zantedeschia

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Hi
does any of my fellow members have the hardy arum lilly /Zantedeschia. I had this in my previous home but despite buying the bulbs/ corms it does not seem to be the same.
I would be grateful if somebody could spare me a piece/clump as this is how I managed to get it growing before.
Regards
Llinos

BASKET MAKING COURSE 5th July, 2015

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On Sunday 5th July, at the Open Garden at Anne & Philip’s there will
be a basketmaker, Craig Dawe, who would like to run workshops as well
as have a stall.  Dependent on the interest, Craig would be able to
run two workshops with 8 people in each workshop.  Most people take
about two hours to make a basket. If one group started at 1pm and a
second group started at 3pm, then anyone who took more than two hours
from the first group could still continue while the second group were
starting and anyone in the second group would have up to 3 hours to
finish by 6pm.

Places are limited (8 people per group) and would need to be booked in
advance, with payment made at the next meeting.  The cost would be £30
per person including materials, with half being donated to the Roy
Castle Lung Cancer Foundation on the day.  Most basket making
workshops cost more than £50, so this is a good opportunity for
everyone, and the workshop would be local too.

If you are interested in taking part in these workshops, then please
let Yvonne know as soon as possible either by email
yvonne@clanlaw.org.uk, or phone 01558 650870.

Gardening Tips and other Miscellany

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We have added a new page to our website for members to contribute any useful tips and information they may have – ‘Gardening Tips and other miscellany’. Elena and Julian’s homemade weedkiller recipes are the first tips to feature plus an interesting link from Elena to an article on Edible Flowers on lifespan.com.

Elena’s Homemade Weedkiller Recipe

1 gallon of white vinegar
1/2 cup salt
Liquid dish soap (any brand)
Empty spray bottle.
Put salt in the empty spray bottle and fill it the rest of the way up with white vinegar. Add a squirt of liquid dish soap. This solution works best if you use it on a hot day. Spray it on the weeds in the morning, and as it heats up it will do its work. Good to know!

Julian’s Homemade Weedkiller Recipe – use on paths, drives, yards etc

½ kg Salt
1 dessert spoon cheap wash powder
1 gallon hot water

Place salt and wash powder in a watering can and fill up with the hot water, stirring to dissolve.
Use a watering can with a rose and apply with rose close to the ground making sure everything is thoroughly wetted.
Repeat 4 – 5 times between mid March and September.

Also from Elena is a link to a useful article on edible flowers found in the newsletter from lifespan.com (to see the article click here) If you click on the link it will take you to the article from where you can download their edible flowers chart so that you can have it more easily to hand. Unfortunately it is in PDF format so I can’t reproduce it here.

Penllergaer Open Gardens

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Received from Tony Fitzgerald of Penllegaer

I am writing to gardening clubs in the South Wales area to give advance notice of two open gardens in Penllergaer on the above date. Penllergaer is at Junction 47 of the M4
The gardens have been open for one day in July for the last ten years and have been included in the Cuttings section of the Sunday Telegraph’s Garden Supplement for the last two years which has resulted in holiday makers to South Wales coming along to see the gardens.
This year we are suggesting that gardening clubs from further afield in South Wales may like to include a visit to Penllergare Valley Woods while in the neighbourhood. Penllergare Valley Woods is not well known in South Wales but it is an estate that is being restored to its Victorian hey day. A £2.3 million Heritage Lottery Grant saw the start of the restoration work and last month a further £1.8 million was awarded to cover the restoration of the walled garden and orchid house.

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THE GROWING CHALLENGE

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THE GROWING CHALLENGE

tomatoes

At our February meeting Daisy, our chairman, announced details of our ‘Growing Challenge’. Members were each asked to take a packet containing 8 seeds, 2 each of 4 varieties of tomato: Cherry Red, Cherokee Purple, Keith Rosanna and Orange Banana.

The challenge is to firstly germinate the seeds and then to grow them on to hopefully bear fruit during the summer. It is NOT a competition to see who can grow the biggest plant or tomato………. the idea is to pool results at our August meeting and find out which varieties worked best in which conditions, which had the tastiest fruit,  whether they all come true, etc.

So ………. EVERYONE can have a go be they windowsill, outdoor, greenhouse or polytunnel growers, novice or expert. It’s just a bit of fun which might actually generate some useful information at the end.

If you didn’t get your seed packet at the February meeting, more will be available at the March meeting or contact Daisy on 01558 65082

COTHI GARDENERS – AGM AND QUIZ

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COTHI GARDENERS – AGM AND QUIZ

Cothi Gardeners reviewed 2014 and started our new gardening year with our AGM and New Year ‘bring a dish’ supper on January 21st. Twenty five members of the club gathered at the Coronation Hall, Pumsaint for the evening to hear Chairperson Daisy expertly steer us through her report, the finances, and the election of the committee members for the coming year. We were given tantalising hints about the good things planned for 2015, for example a ‘Growing Challenge’, an inspirational garden visit and a website and blog.

After the formalities of the business part of the meeting we all relaxed over our ‘bring a dish’ feast and were entertained by Derek’s ‘slightly easier than last years’ quiz! It was an enjoyable evening marking the start of the new gardening year.

We are an enthusiastic and friendly bunch of gardeners who meet on the third Wednesday of every month in the Coronation Hall Pumsaint at 7.30. Members pay £12 for a year and visitors are most welcome for £2 per visit, which includes refreshments.

Why not join us for our next meeting on March 18th at 7.30 when the speaker will be Paul O’Neill. He will give a talk intriguingly titled ‘The Last Cow-the making of a NGS garden at Llwyngarreg.

The April meeting is about ‘foraging products’ and will be given by Jade Mellor from Wild Pickings who was featured in a recent Country Living magazine article.

We look forward to welcoming both familiar and new faces in March. More information available from Daisy on 01558 650829 or Elena on 01558 685321.