Maldon & Heybridge
Horticultural
Society 
Maldon & Heybridge
Horticultural
Society
Newsletter
July 2008
MHHS Summer Show ~ 26 July 08
By the time you read this there will be approximately two - three weeks before this years Summer Show, the flowers and vegetables have been growing at a terrific rate under your watchful eyes. So why not have a go at entering if you have not done it before, (all those seasoned competitors will know just what I mean when I talk about having a great weekend, chatting with friends, sharing tips and afternoon tea). There is a wide range of classes for you to peruse - from growing to baking and creating. Entering on the Friday evening with all the other competitors, checking your results, comparing tips over a cup of tea on Saturday together with picking up prize money and maybe a silver cup from the Mayor will make a good start to the weekend.
We want to make this another great show for our gardening calendar with as many entries as possible so make those show tables groan with entries please. Please submit your entry forms as soon as possible from Wednesday 23 July to me or any committee member who will pass them on. We would love to have any scones or cakes for the refreshments, which are available all day and anyone who has volunteered to help on our membership forms may have a telephone call asking for assistance. If you have queries on any of the classes or need a new show book please give me a ring (858556) and leave a message and I will get back to you. Gillian Coppen, Show Secretary.
Plant Stall
We are planning to hold a Plant Sale at the Show again this year and we would welcome any donations of plants. So if you have too many seedlings or are separating large clumps of perennials that we could sell please bring them to the show or contact a committee member to arrange collection, thanks.
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Membership
We now have 214 members of the Society, and are pleased to welcome several new members. We have a number of younger members who are interested in gardening and hope they will enjoy the various events that we organise during the year and will participate in the forthcoming summer show.
From the period August to October, we offer free membership to anyone joining the Society. They will receive a free membership card, monthly newsletters and events calendar, together with the Society’s Yearbook. Their subscription will run from 1 November 2008 to 31 October 2009. If you know of anyone who would like to join, they should contact the membership secretary or any committee member.
Shirley Thorp, Membership Secretary
June Members Meeting
The Chairman, Peter Gaywood, asked Members to report back on any front gardens they found of note for possible entry to the Best Kept Front Garden competition. All of us should be considering an entry in our Summer Show on 26 July and there are some tickets available for the Bressingham coach trip on 12 July and for Christine Walkden’s talk at the Town Hall on 4 October.
Keith Price was welcomed again by the society and he reminded us that his previous visit had been in awful weather during February last year. The speaker and his wife had provided prizes for the raffle and information sheets on basket and container growing and his talk ‘A Year on the Allotment’ was illustrated from the first choosing of the seeds, the ground preparation with bonfires at the end of the year to the rotavating of his 5-rod allotment and use of a powered back-digger. His close-boarded lidded compost container had been treated with 1 gallon of creosote to 1 gallon of sump oil and he insisted no air holes were allowed. He also used copious quantities of 5-year old straw-based (not wood shavings) manure on the land and urine in the compost heap. He used wood ash round pots to keep off slugs, also pine mulch, coal soot against celery fly and garden lime and Maxicrop seaweed extract as soil improvers and plant feed. Soap spray dealt with greenfly and greenfly and comfrey liquid for providing trace elements – easily grown and the liquid from the leaves should be diluted 1 teaspoon to 2 gallons of water. The slides showed how he and his wife grew the vegetables together with companion flowers such as asters, marigolds, Sweet Williams and sunflowers and the outstanding results they achieved. There was no further watering once the plants had been transplanted from their pots or his special gutter propagator and watered in with the manure and compost to help retain moisture. Meticulous preparation and attention to detail was evident in their way of working and they even provided a wildlife area too. Practical tips for vegetable growers with one or two contentious ideas but all food for thought! Tony Froom, Publicity Officer
Janshaven Cup We had a very good response to our competition on 17 June, the roses were lovely with gorgeous perfume. The winners were 1st Linda Lister with a Dark Lady rose, 2nd Vivienne Allen with a Compassion rose and 3rd was Len Wakeling with a hardy perennial. The other exhibitors were C Slade with a Dame de Coeur Rouge rose, B Shaw exhibited a patio rose, S Wade showed us Lonicera Sempervirens, J Wilmott a Dianthus, E Shrimpton a Crinodendron hookerianum and R Davis a sweet pea. Well done everyone! I know you will all say I am never satisfied – true – because I would really like to see our numbers rise to 12 entries next time. You could have some good practice at the Summer Show in July - happy gardening (if the rain allows – own up, who has been doing a rain dance?!) Margaret Hurley
Diary Dates
Thursday 10 July
MHHS Committee Meeting, Town Hall, 7.45pmSaturday 26 July MHHS Summer Show, URC Hall
Thursday 14
August MHHS
Committee Meeting, Moot Hall
There are no July or August Members Meetings
Heaps of advice All the well-known garden writers have recorded how they have tackled their own garden composting – revealing some following strict recipes and scientific principles but most allowing practical considerations to determine the speed and efficiency of converting their organic refuse to good compost. My brief summary is that the heap, however contained, should have AIR, nitrogen, lime, water and bacteria for successful aerobic decomposition. Without air (anaerobic) decomposition will be slower and less favourable, probably not hot enough to kill some weeds and diseases and usually resulting in slime and smells. The balance of carbon and nitrogen can be maintained by means of an activator or manure and lime will speed the process. All straw and dry materials should be wetted before using and some sort of covering provided in winter to prevent waterlogging. Heating up properly demands a certain mass – a metre cubed is good – and normally there will be plenty of bacteria on the roots of weeds put on without needing extra soil. The heap should be sited on bare earth or grass, kept moist, turned after 3 months and time will do the rest. I will report on my trials next year! I have just completed my Bumblebee Survey Forms from Gillian Lye (g.c.lye@stir.ac.uk) and it has opened my eyes and proved fascinating. Tony Froom
Friary Walled Garden
Sunday 1 June was another work and open day, we cleared more of the East Bed near the arch and finished the erection of the posts in the West Wall Bed. Some more photos were taken of work in the West Wall Bed and of the splendid rose, Madame Alfred Carriere. The next open and work days will be Sunday 6 July and Sunday 3 August. Arthur Cox.