Maldon & Heybridge
Horticultural
Society 
Maldon & Heybridge
Horticultural
Society
Newsletter
June 2008
May Meeting
A double bill and plenty of practical advice from our speakers - firstly Brian Arbuckle on the Recycle Now programme for people to use a home composter to keep ‘greens’ and ‘browns’ waste out of landfill. Compost bins are available with back-up information on a web site (www.recyclenow.com), on helpline numbers and newsletters to ensure users avoid mistakes and keep at it! Our pertinent questions were answered and limitations of the bins discussed as they cannot achieve the necessary heat to kill weed seeds and they are tricky to turn the contents and protection from rodents by means of ground mesh is advised if not sited on concrete! Recycling makes a real contribution by keeping 200 kilograms per household each year out of land fill. He had explanatory leaflets for all and a couple of prizes were won in a guess-the-date quiz eg first recorded landfill site was 3000BC in Knossos, Crete! I hope we are all doing our bit…
Next Richard Ford and his wife Mary were introduced, they are from Park Green Nurseries near Stowmarket who started a general nursery in 1983 but soon specialised with their interest in Hostas. They have won Golds for Hostas at Chelsea but now exhibit and sell plants at other shows, there being only 3 specialist nurseries for Hostas in the country. The case for growing Hostas was persuasively argued and a brief history given since the first seeds came to Great Britain in 1796. There are arguably 50 species in the wild (Japan, China and Korea) and some 7000 cultivars of all sizes, with differing leaf forms and colours. They will tolerate shade but, contrary to most printed advice, prefer a more open position with up to half full sun and half in shade. They need moist soil not wet, organic material to hold moisture and a good surface mulch which also helps to deter slugs. He advocates mini pellets every 4 inches for slugs. A single variety can go in a 6 to 8 inch pot and will produce a thick clump in 3 to 5 years. Use a good tub compost and only half the rate of All-purpose plant food not more than twice a year. They can be divided with a clean cut by knife as seeds do not come true and micropropagation is very expensive. But treated like shrubs as a deciduous hardy perennial they can be left for 20 years without division. Great advice, clearly put by an expert was enjoyed by all with lovely slides to look at and there were some of their plants to buy too. Members had refreshments, the raffle was drawn and the society’s ‘shop’ had a variety of goods and plants to be snapped up. Tony Froom
Janshaven Cup
The winners of the May round were 1st Mrs Linton with a peony, 2nd Michael Shrimpton with an Ena Harkness rose and 3rd Glynis Hopkins with a candelabra primula
June Members Meeting – Tuesday 17 June
Our speaker this month is Keith Price with a talk on ‘A year on the allotment’. Allotments and growing your own in general seem to be very popular themes this year, both on TV and in the press, as more people wish to eat fresh fruit and vegetables that have not been flown halfway round the world before reaching the supermarkets. There will also be the usual shop, plants for sale, raffle and refreshments.
Janshaven Cup – don’t forget your entry for the June round of the competition – one stem or branch with flowers/berries from your garden, to be named (common or latin name)
Summer Show 2008 – Saturday 26 July
One more newsletter before this year’s Summer Show - it comes round so quickly, so here is your reminder. Pull out those Year Books and have a good look at all those classes and mark off all those you could enter, ear mark all your flowers, fruit and vegetables and make a special note of them so you can nurture them, specially feed them and don't forget to talk to them - they do respond! Seriously though, we would love to have as many entries as possible to make it as fine a show as we can produce and to show that a strange year of weather can still produce good quality fruit, flowers and vegetables with a little bit of our help.
As always any problems or extra Year Books please get in touch with me on Maldon 858556, please leave a message if I am not in and I will get back to you. Gillian Coppen, Show Secretary.
Best Kept Front Garden
We have received several entries for this year but would like more, so if you find a garden you think should be considered either contact me or another committee member and we will approach the tenant.
It costs nothing and the garden owner only has to say "YES" and we will do the rest. The prestigious Maldon Town Cup waits to be won by anyone in Maldon or Heybridge. Gillian Coppen
Diary Dates
Thursday 12 June
MHHS Committee Meeting, Moot Hall
Tuesday 17 June
MHHS Members Meeting, URC Hall, 7.30pmThursday 10 July
MHHS Committee Meeting, Moot Hall, 7.45pmSaturday 26 July MHHS Summer Show, URC Hall
On Sunday 6th April Liz Dunkin and I decided to take a trip to Thetford to visit Desert World Gardens. This garden is owned by Barry Gayton who gave the MHHS a talk at the March meeting, which was entitled the Hidden Nurseries of East Anglia.
His garden lies on the edge of Thetford Forest and covers approximately 1 ¼ acres and it took us about one and three quarters hours to drive up there. We did not choose the best Sunday and it was very cold and snowing but this was his open day for the National Garden scheme, (he has another in July).
His garden was full of spring colour with daffodils and hyacinths predominating but many other plants to catch the eye, many pot grown magnolias just starting to bloom, an Auricula theatre, and many greenhouses. There was a greenhouse with tender tropical plants (Cannas at least four inches tall), I counted three greenhouses overflowing with Houseleeks many of which he is propagating, and three heated greenhouses two of which contained 50,000 cacti and the other about 25,000 succulents several of he has had all his life. Barry had many perennial plants for sale and he was very eager to help with any information we required. Needless to say we came home with several plants tucked under our arms, one of mine a Datura is doing very well in my conservatory. The garden is open on Sunday 6 July between 10.00am to 5.00pm for the National Garden Scheme. Gillian Coppen
Inter Society Meeting, 20 September 2008
There will be a meeting of local horticultural societies at Ramsden Bellhouse at 7.30pm on Saturday 20 September. The speaker will be Alan Mason, garden designer, writer and broadcaster. Alan has a garden in France which was featured in his Channel 4 TV series ‘Le Manoir’, he also presented the ‘Gardens without Borders’ TV series that looked at gardens in France, Italy, Spain and Holland. Tickets are £3.00 each.
Open Gardens in June ~ Village Open Garden Days
There are several open garden days in the local area during June, this is a brief round up:
Wickham Bishops Open Gardens & Flower Festival
Sunday 8 June, 11am – 5pm, Adults £4
Great Totham Open Gardens
Saturday 21 June, 11am – 5pm & Sunday 22 June, 1pm – 5pm, Adults £3.50
Tolleshunt D’Arcy Open Gardens
Saturday 21 June,11am – 5pm & Sunday 22 June, 11am – 5pm, Adults £4
For more details contact the Maldon Tourist Information Office, Wenlock Way.
Outing to Bressingham Gardens - Saturday 12 July
Our next outing is planned for July, all the details and booking form are attached to this newsletter
Christine Walkden is giving a talk for us in October, this is expected to be very popular so if you are interested please fill in the ticket application form attached as soon as possible.
Bumblebees
I had another email from Gillian Lye (Bumblebee Conservation Trust) concerning bumblebee nests. She is very interested in the nest site choice of bumblebee queens. She is asking for help with her research. She hopes to find out this year if bumblebees build their nests at the same site in consecutive years and if this is so, how and why this happens. They haven't come back to our garden this year, but if any members have had nests, especially if the bumblebees returned again another year, Gillian would really like to know about it. The more records of nests they receive, the more knowledge they can acquire and the closer they can get to providing the ideal nesting habitat for bumble bees. If anyone can help, I would willingly forward the information to Gillian or supply her email address. Shirley Thorp
Friary Walled Garden
Since I last wrote we have had another Openday and Workday - Sunday 4th May 2008. This came with the ideal weather for gardening. During the day there were thirteen volunteers for varying times. A start was made on erecting a 16 metre long plant support in the west wall bed and installing more plants in this place. We managed to get six (of nine) posts in but then this work was stopped due to an injury - a squashed and very painful finger. We hope to finish this work in June. Other jobs were:
1. Clearing vegetation growing along the edges of the paths
2. Re-tying the Kiftsgate rose and fixing a support above the gate to stop this very vigorous rose from catching on the gate
3. Cleaning out the shed and fixing storage shelves and racks so that things can be found easier
4. Measuring up for the replacement of some wooden edging in the East Bed
5. Checking which boards need replacing in the West Bed
There were other jobs - general weeding, preparing a bed for herbs, tidying the pond and removing the start of yet another wasps nest in the shed. Luckily, it was just the start of a nest and still quite small.
The garden is looking good - all the roses are now in flower plus many other blooms. Since this last May workday, individual volunteers have busy been working on various days, weeding and planting and watering. These included a party from Maldon WI who have undertaken to care for a selected part of the garden. I have been asked if the problem of foxes has been solved - well they have deserted the garden and there are no further signs of them. The next Opendays will be Sunday 1st June and Sunday 6th July. Arthur Cox
