Jim Paine 15 October 2024
There was an excellent turn out for this very popular topic. We were delighted to be joined by Jim Paine an experienced garden club speaker. Jim’s background is in Environmental Science and International Conservation. Jim and his partner Clare established the Walnut Tree Garden Nursery in Norfolk in 1998 from which he retired last year.
17 September 2024
Ian Bedford
We were delighted to listen to Dr Ian Bedford’s presentation at our September meeting. Ian is an etymologist of well over 40 years standing having worked for much of that time at the John Innes Research Centre in Norwich following a childhood spent observing and catching butterflies on the Sussex South Downs. His core theme for the evening was how to get a ‘balance’ in domestic gardens between plant life and the invertebrates which share the same environment but are frequently viewed merely as ‘pests’ by gardeners.
Peter Bradley
July 16th
Linda then introduced the speaker, Peter Bradley, who has been Senior Site Manager at RSPB Sandy for 20 years. Peter started his talk with the history of the site at Sandy. The Greensand Ridge land was purchased by Captain William Peel in 1850 and he built The Lodge which is used today for the RSPB shop and also Peter’s office. Captain Peel died in 1858 in the Indian Mutiny and the land was passed to his brother, Arthur, who built the main house in 1870. In 1934, the house and land were sold to Sir Malcolm Stuart who established the gardens around the house. The RSPB acquired the site in 1961 as they needed a bigger headquarters for the growing organisation. The RSPB conducts research to promote wildlife and has approximately 1.2 million members with 200 reserves across the UK.
Simon White
18 June 2024
Simon White, who has given talks to this Association on previous occasions, explained that he had 43 years’ experience with Peter Beales Roses, having been with them since July 1981. In his initial comments, he mentioned ‘Uncle Toms Rose Tonic’ which, although apparently expensive, the quantity produced when diluted was such that it was, in fact, very reasonably priced and which he recommended as being the best rose tonic which should be applied every 14 days; it was also good for potatoes and other vegetables.
Geoff Hodge
21 May 2024
Geoff is a freelance gardening writer, editor and broadcaster who specialises in pests and diseases, vegetable gardening, pruning and propagation. His interest in growing vegetables started at the age of 14 when he began growing leeks in his mother’s garden in Wales. He peppered his talk with amusing anecdotes from his broadcasting and judging days.
16 April 2024
Cottage Farm Nursery is located in the village of Cardington. It was established in 1971 and is well known to many of our members. It stocks a large selection of plants and the staff provide knowledgeable and friendly advice to visitors. We were so pleased to be joined by the owner Martin Cooper for this meeting.
There was a large turn out for this month’s meeting which was on the subject of Clematis. The speaker was Peter Skeggs-Gooch who gave a talk entitled ‘A complete guide to Clematis’. This was a combination of his talks on ‘Clematis for Every Season’, ‘Different Ways with Clematis’ and ‘Planting, Pruning and Care’.
20 February 2024
We were delighted to welcome back Russell Attwood who had taken us through the principles of ‘no dig’ gardening last year. Russell was so informative and entertaining during that session that we knew we were in for a real treat this month and we were not disappointed. Russell is a very experienced gardener and retired biology teacher. He is secretary of the Kettering Allotments Society and is a very keen pumpkin grower. Russell’s slide presentation was entitled ‘A Passion for Pumpkins’ and he certainly demonstrated that. We understand that he not only grows them on his allotment, but he eats them every day. Russell also showed wonderful examples of pumpkin carving undertaken by his wife at Halloween.
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At the first meeting at the beginning of the year, it is usual that the talk is given by a member of the association about their garden. On this occasion, we were fortunate in having two speakers, Gilly Cowan and Caroline Hay Davison, talking about and describing their own, quite different gardens in Biddenham.
