Wendy Pitts - Upchurch Women's Institute
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Showing posts with label Upchurch Horticultural Society. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Upchurch Horticultural Society. Show all posts
Sunday, 21 April 2024
Friday, 13 October 2023
Upchurch Horticultural Society - October Show
October Show
Saturday 14th October 2023
In the Barn at the rear of 97 Chaffes Lane
Open to the public from 2:00pm
A showcase of adult and junior plants, vegetables, flowers and arts and crafts
Plants for sale
Fun auction of homegrown showcase items
Refreshments and homemade cakes for sale
Great benefits and discounts for all members
Over 70 years of village horticultural history!
Toilets
Ample free parking
New members always welcome
Membership - £10 per year
For more information, visit: https://linktr.ee/upchurchhorticulturalsociety
Upchurch Matters
Saturday, 9 September 2023
Upchurch Horticultural Society - September Show
September Show
Saturday 16th September 2023
In the Barn at the rear of 97 Chaffes Lane
Open to the public from 2:00pm
A showcase of adult and junior plants, vegetables, flowers and arts & crafts
Plants for sale
Fun auction of homegrown showcase items
Refreshments and homemade cakes for sale
Toilets
Ample free parking
Open to all new members to enter and have fun
Membership is £10 per year
For more information, visit: https://linktr.ee/upchurchhorticulturalsociety
Upchurch Matters
Monday, 28 August 2023
From the Potting Shed - August 2023
Sponsored by Upchurch River Valley Golf Course Ltd
Midsummer is rapidly approaching and the weather is warm and damp, and everything is flourishing. The internet is talking about apocalyptic hot weather on the way, but at the moment all is well in the garden. The Junkyard Mutt gets a walk each morning and evening, which allows me to watch what is going on around the farms. The local fields of wheat have largely been harvested and planted up again with either maize or sugar beet. The farming up here is intensive, and very little is allowed to go to waste, but then the soil is very good. The fields are large, and farming is definitely the biggest industry in this area.
The lawn appears to be improving but definitely needs a second high-nitrogen weed and feed. There are still a lot of weeds in it, but the wetter weather is doing a lot of good. Regular cutting with the blades high is helping it to improve, but it will need some serious attention to get it halfway to being decent. For now, I am happy with that and will take the long-term view as there are more important things to tackle in the garden.
The vegetable patch has been going well, and although everything was sown and planted later than normal this year, the crop is earlier than usual. I can only put it down to the quality of the soil and stress how important soil preparation is. The soil in the back garden has probably never been cultivated before and is a fertile clay loam. Everything has been planted in pre-dug trenches and pockets that have been refilled with a mixture of sieved soil and well-rotted compost. The Broad Beans have produced a bumper crop in excellent condition, which will store happily in the freezer for up to 6 months. That provides a good option for a “seasonal vegetable” up to the middle of January. Some vegetables will store frozen with little loss of quality, whereas others need to be eaten fresh. The first Marrow of the year has also been picked in July, and hopefully, the last will come in October. They will comfortably store in a cool, shady, dry spot for 3 months, providing another “seasonal vegetable” from July to January. The Early Potatoes are being harvested and I went for a salad potato this year called Charlotte. These will be taken fresh up until the end of October when the Maincrop will be ready for lifting and should last until February. The aim is to achieve self-sufficiency in seasonal vegetables and to propagate from seed. Everything then becomes fully sustainable from nature… I just need to put in the labour.
Broad Bean Harvest - First Marrow in July.
The Duchess is still slaving away in the cottage garden, battling to retrieve an overgrown plot of land. It is dominated by a large Sumac that has thrown up numerous suckers that require digging and breaking away from the main roots. Most of the shrubs have needed serious pruning to get them back within bounds, and the weeds are rampant. She will be waging that war for a long time to come. The back garden is a little better, but all the borders need clearance and are overrun with Day Lilies. We haven’t started on the containers, most of which are broken and rotten. It’s a question of salvaging the good stuff and discarding the rest.
There are a lot of period cottages up here in Suffolk, which is a county of villages. Ipswich and Lowestoft are the only big towns. There are a number of small market towns and hundreds of villages. As such, the villages are still a vibrant community. Stradbroke is smaller than Upchurch, but there is a Butcher, Baker, Community Centre, Library, Post Office, Sports Centre and Pool etc. Property is available, especially the cottages that need a bit of work, as most people want places that are already done up. It is also cheaper than Kent, and a modest property in the SE can get you something more substantial up here with money to spare. The pubs are still old village haunts and unchanged for decades. We recently visited the Huntingfield Arms near Laxfield and had a home-cooked cottage pie with seasonal vegetables for £9.50 and a good laugh with the Landlord. The ale in the Green Dragon in Bungay costs £3.20 per pint, and he has just put the prices up.
It's like stepping back in time, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a more rural life.
UHS is always looking for new members and tries to encourage a fun attitude towards friendly competition. So if you want to grow your own fruit, vegetables, and flowers or even enter any of the shows we hold each year, please get in touch. We would be happy to hear from you.
If you are interested in becoming a member, (all ages are welcome), please contact Membership Secretary Tracy Wells: upchurchsociety@gmail.com
Sean Barry
Tuesday, 4 July 2023
From the Potting Shed - July 2023
Sponsored by Upchurch River Valley Golf Course Ltd
The Weed and Feed is getting to grips with the pathetic excuse for a lawn which is more weed than grass. The clay soil is starting to bake hard, so as the weed dies away the lawn looks even more sparse. Getting rid of the weed is the first step to restoring the lawn as the grass can recover later in the year, especially with an early autumn reseed. One good thing about a clay soil is that it holds a good edge where the vegetable patch has been cut out. Another large patch of the lawn will be lifted next spring to extend the vegetable patch, which has become more important to us as we aim for a greater level of self-sufficiency. Fruit and vegetables are an important part of the diet, and prices are getting silly, especially when a lot of the suppliers are local and do not have high distribution costs!
The vegetable patch is well up and running with very few casualties. A Muntjack Deer has been sniffing around and walking over the patch and taken the tops of some Broad Beans. A couple of Leeks were too delicate when dibbed in and given up the ghost. Otherwise, it is looking successful, although later than normal. Just starting to take a salad crop and doing a second sowing and will take the small Broad Bean pods when they reach 2” in length. The spares have now gone on the compost heap as we can’t even give them away as the local gardeners have been selling their seedlings for weeks… just too late this year.
Muntjack Deer in the garden!
The southern boundary was a tangled mass of bramble on the other side of the fence, which had grown up into the trees and then festooned down in a 20' high curtain which completely blocked the light to the southern aspect of the cottage. Armed with secateurs and loppers, I started on the inside and snipped my way through the brambles until finally emerging the other side to meet the neighbours in the cul-de-sac behind. This has allowed a lot of light and air into a previously dark and damp part of the garden, which will now become the courtyard. Having created a breach, I now need to widen it and clear the entire southern boundary. However, having now found the neighbours, I am enjoying a lot of pleasant conversation and have even been invited to join the Veterans’ Tennis Club. The Duchess has commented that since the breakthrough the activity level has tailed off and been replaced by warm air from the south!
I recently popped back to Kent for a visit to the Dentist, as you can’t get one up here. I left at 0930, got back at 1810 and spent precisely 10 minutes in the Dentist's Surgery. The main problem was traffic in Essex, which was jammed up between the Dartford Crossing and Colchester. However, as I drove north from Ipswich, the traffic disappeared and was replaced by open fields, a big blue sky and empty lanes (except for the tractor). There is a big contrast between Suffolk and Kent, an idyllic pace of life on one hand and dental hygiene on the other.
I would like to end this month by remembering my friend and neighbour, Don Diffey, who sadly passed away recently. When we first became neighbours, he complained that the ivy on my side of the fence was damaging the felts on his shed rooves. I replied that he shouldn’t have built them so close to the boundary, which he countered by saying they were the statutory 4” inside. However, things got better after that, especially when we had a wood burner installed as Don was a Carpenter. Rosey and I were sad to hear the news. We had 18 good years in Upchurch and send our sympathies and best wishes to Beryl and the family.
UHS is always looking for new members and tries to encourage a fun attitude towards friendly competition. So if you want to grow your own fruit, vegetables, and flowers or even enter any of the shows we hold each year, please get in touch. We would be happy to hear from you.
If you are interested in becoming a member, (all ages are welcome), please contact Membership Secretary Tracy Wells: upchurchsociety@gmail.com
Sean Barry
Friday, 16 June 2023
Upchurch Horticultural Society - Best Garden In Upchurch Competition 2023
Overall competition winners in 2016.
Tina and Roger Harris at 15 The Poles.
The hard work and skills of keen Upchurch gardeners will be recognised once again, thanks to Upchurch Horticultural Society.
The Upchurch Best Kept Garden competition was last held in 2019, before the Covid pandemic began in 2020, and was organised by Upchurch Parish Council.
UHS has now taken over the reins and brought the competition back for 2023.
Village front gardens will be judged at the end of June. And don't worry if you are out or on holiday - your garden will still be judged.
This year's 3 competition categories are:
• Traditional Garden
• Hanging Baskets & Containers
• Nature Inspired
The winners will be invited for presentations at the Upchurch Horticultural Society - Summer Show on Saturday the 1st of July.
Summer Show details are at >> https://bit.ly/3CmctXB
Good luck!
For information, please contact Membership Secretary Tracy Wells: upchurchsociety@gmail.com
Upchurch Matters
Monday, 12 June 2023
From the Potting Shed - June 2023
June will soon be here, and the summer is coming. May has been a better month with some warm sunny days, but there is a sharp wind up here which means that people are still in coats. Temperatures are definitely a couple of degrees lower than in Kent and still using the central heating. We are busy working on the garden. The Duchess is doing sterling work in the front, but the people are so friendly here that she seems to spend a lot of time chatting to passers-by. She did take me to task recently complaining that I was taking all the credit for the hard work, so I thought I would give her a mention. I am working out the back, and the vegetable patch is nearly complete, although there are still plenty of logs to cut. The chainsaw needs some 2-stroke, but the nearest petrol station is 7 miles away. Life in Suffolk is much more secluded, and a trip to the Supermarket is an expedition. Getting rid of rubbish is not easy as there are only 3 refuse collection sites in the whole county, and the wheelie bin is tiny.
The lawn has had a cut but is little more than a rough patch of grass and shows no sign of thickening up. I have been looking at local seed merchants, but they seem to specialise in paddock and livestock pastures. The best option for grass seed seems to be Amazon. A lot of standard lawn seed mixes are not very drought resistant, and conditions seem to be getting hotter and drier. It may not be a problem this year, but it is probably sensible to look for a mix that can handle drought better. Bermuda grass is a good option and is available from Amazon. It is slow to germinate and needs temperatures between 16°C and 22°C. Kentucky Bluegrass is easier and is also known as Smooth Stalked Meadow Grass (SSMG). It will turn to hay in hot conditions but is tougher than Ryegrass. I did look for Kikuyu, which is very tough but also very expensive.
Hopefully, your vegetable patch is up and running, and you may already be taking salad crops. As you clear a patch, re-sow more seed and keep the Lettuce, Radish and Spring Onions coming. Spring Onions are a good addition to stir fry dishes. Either cut lengthways or sliced. I also like to throw a fistful of sliced Spring Onions into a chilli or curry for the last 5 minutes to give a bit of crunch. Early Potatoes should be ready this month, and simply lift the whole root when the flowers start to fade. No need to cut down the haulms as this thickens the skins which is only required for Maincrop Potatoes. Early Broad Beans will be ready and should not be left too long. As the beans mature, they get tougher and need more cooking. A fully ripe bean can be eaten raw with a salad. Take a look at the “scar” where the bean connects to the pod. It should be green. If it has turned black, it has gone over. It is still perfectly edible but needs simmering for a while. Take your vegetable crops as they ripen so they are fully tender, and don’t let them get tough, stringy or woody.
The colour of the scar indicates the condition of the bean.
The borders and containers will start to billow and need some attention, and it will become obvious which plants are too close to each other. When planting young shrubs and seedlings, it is so easy to put them too close together only to see them grow and smother each other. Follow the planting instructions on the label or simply look them up in a book or on the internet. Height and spread will tell you how far apart to plant or whether it should go at the back or the front of the border. The clever bit is to check colour and form to achieve contrast. Dahlias and Fuchsia complement each other well and tend to flower from June through to the first hard frost.
We hope to establish a small fruit orchard next year, but at the moment, we have no fruit in the garden. In fact, I have not even seen an Apple Tree in Suffolk yet. There seems to be a complete lack of orchards up here and hardly any fruit trees in the gardens. Maybe I am walking around with my head down, but I haven’t noticed any blossom at all. I suppose the Cherries will be ripening in June/July and Strawberries, but all I can see are acres of Wheat. I miss the Braeburn Apple Tree from Oak Lane, the Victoria Plum and the ancient old Beurre Hardy Pears, which used to belong to the Vicar. June was the month when the trees would naturally jettison a lot of fruit as if to select the best ones for ripening. Then after June, it was the time to thin out a bumper crop before the branches got ripped off… happy memories.
June is also the start of summer and time for outdoor living. Get the patio cleaned up and brush down the garden furniture. Smarten up the chiminea and think about the marinades and punches. If you have some friends, you might like to invite them around. If you don’t, it doesn’t really matter. There is a saying up here that goes... “Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits”…. company will only spoil that. However, a pint of Green Jack Golden Best will compliment it wonderfully.
UHS is always looking for new members and tries to encourage a fun attitude towards friendly competition. So if you want to grow your own fruit, vegetables, and flowers or even enter any of the shows we hold each year, please get in touch. We would be happy to hear from you.
If you are interested in becoming a member, (all ages are welcome), please contact Membership Secretary Tracy Wells: upchurchsociety@gmail.com
Sean Barry
Upchurch Horticultural Society - Summer Show
Summer ShowSaturday 1st July 2023
In the Barn at the rear of 97 Chaffes Lane
Open to the public from 2:00pm
Exhibits of homegrown flowers, vegetables, arts, crafts and baking,
including a junior section
Fun auction of exhibits to finish
Refreshments and homemade cakes for sale
Toilets
Ample free parking
Open to all new members to enter and have fun
Membership is £10 per year
For more information, visit: https://linktr.ee/upchurchhorticulturalsociety
Tracy Wells
Membership Secretary
Upchurch Horticultural Society
Upchurch Horticultural Society
Wednesday, 3 May 2023
From the Potting Shed - May 2023
Sponsored by Upchurch River Valley Golf Course Ltd
The year seems to be flying by, and May is approaching. April had a sting in the tail with some wintry weather, and the wise gardeners up here in Suffolk are telling me not to plant out until after the first full moon in May. I cannot remember a frost in May down in Kent, although a few years back, we had a frost on 29th April, which clobbered my seedlings. A local landscaper has been in and taken down a number of trees in the garden and along the southern boundary within the fence line. This has allowed a lot more light and air into the garden, which will be more noticeable in the summer without a canopy of leaves taking all the light. The brambles and undergrowth are slowly getting cleared, and things are starting to take shape.
The lawn should be growing vigorously in May, especially if it got a weed and feed in April, and any re-seeding will start to show this month. Keep cutting and scarifying if you are keen, and it should look full, green and weed-free in time for the BBQ season. I have yet to get started on the lawn, as much of the time is spent logging up after the trees came down. It is the first time I have split logs with an axe, and there is definitely a knack to it. The Sycamore splits quite easily, but the Acacia is hard work.
The sod has been cut for the new vegetable patch, and the turves have been placed green side down in the ditch, which is now 80% full of all the trimmings and clearing up. The soil at the surface is a fertile loam, which starts to turn to clay at a depth of 6” and becomes yellow at 12”. It is full of roots which need to be cut and cleared with a sharp spade. I am digging trenches down to a depth of 12” and have given up on the idea of double digging. That should be sufficient for most vegetables except maybe for Parsnips, which can go a lot deeper... I will see if I have the energy. The seedlings are up and running in the shed, including Broad Beans, which I have started in pots. They normally go straight into the ground in March, but the patch isn’t ready yet. Similarly, the New Potatoes are still waiting to go in, not to mention the Maincrop, but still time. I usually get seed potatoes from B&Q, but they are few and far between up here, so I bought mine from DT Brown of Stowmarket. The longer you wait, the more deals the seed merchants offer, but you risk missing out on the popular varieties. I have gone for Charlotte as an early this year instead of Rocket. It is a salad potato, and it will be interesting to see what it is like. However, they offered a good deal on Picasso, which in my opinion, is the best mashed potato.
The sod is being cut - Turves green side down.
The spring bulbs are still putting on a good show, although the Daffodils are finishing up. It is best to deadhead the flowers, let everything die down and then tidy up at the end of the month. The borders will be getting going, and there is a good opportunity for basal cuttings from a lot of perennials and division of clumps to increase stocks. The Easter Bank Holiday is traditionally a time to purchase hardy annuals from the Garden Centres and start making up containers. Annuals are also ideal for filling gaps in the borders due to winter casualties.
Fruit will be blossoming, and the small fruits forming, so provide trees with a good mulch to provide a slow-release feed, which they need at this time of year. Miracle Grow is a good all-round fertiliser to use as we get well into spring as it is high in phosphate and potash, which generates root growth and encourages flowering.
May is a very busy month, but everything for the summer should be planted out by the end of the month, and then all is set. Personally, I will concentrate on the vegetable patch and just tidy the borders this year. Next year we hope to start creating a cottage garden in the front, but you can’t do everything at once... and it is meant to be fun... stressful gardening is a contradiction in terms. If I can get the trees logged up, dig out the vegetable patch and get the seedlings planted out by the end of May, I will be delighted.
If I can’t do all that, I will have to drown my sorrows... which sounds like a good option!
UHS is always looking for new members and tries to encourage a fun attitude towards friendly competition. So if you want to grow your own fruit, vegetables, and flowers or even enter any of the shows we hold each year, please get in touch. We would be happy to hear from you.
If you are interested in becoming a new member, (all ages are welcome), please contact Tracy Wells: tracywells0312@gmail.com
Sean Barry
Monday, 3 April 2023
From the Potting Shed - April 2023
Sponsored by Upchurch River Valley Golf Course LtdApril is upon us and there is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. As the temperatures warm up and spring takes a hold, everything gets going. I miss the Kent orchards which are spectacular when the buds burst and the blossom starts to show. I haven’t seen a single orchard up here in Suffolk, which is more Sugar Beet and Swede. Nothing wrong with that of course, just not so pretty! The weather has turned wet and cold again and slowed down progress. It is very manly clearing brambles (without gloves of course) with rain and sleet lashing your face… but also very stupid. I have made some progress on the southern boundary, clearing the undergrowth and discovering all sorts of old tools and discarded bottles. Apparently, the previous owner was a publican who had a local pub and quite clearly had some good parties in the back garden.
I have yet to make a start on the lawn, and the recent cold snap appears to have slowed it down a bit and bought a bit of time. It is pleasing to see the birds gathering up the moss for nesting material, although it is leaving large bare patches where there is very little grass. At least moss is green. April is the month to give the lawn its first Weed & Feed. High Nitrogen to get it going and green it up, and if possible two weed killers to start clearing all the weeds. Weed killers vary in effectiveness, so it is best to find a product that has two or even three to help eradicate all the weeds. Cutting will also clear most annual weeds, so lower the blades a little and aim to cut every two weeks. Seed can be sown into bare patches, but wait a few days after applying the Weed & Feed.
Now is the time to get the seedlings going, so dig out the trays and give them a good rinse, unless, of course, you did it when you planted out last year… ? Use a good compost for seedlings. A lot of cheap, poor-quality compost has appeared in the garden centres in recent years. The seeds will germinate naturally but then struggle to generate much growth and are too tender for fertilisers. Some seed is best going straight into the ground, like Parsnip, which doesn’t like being transplanted, so follow the instructions on the packet. Most will germinate within 7-14 days, except Parsnip, which seems to take weeks. When they do show it is hard to differentiate them from the weeds. Seedlings in trays should be uncovered once the leaves start to show or else they are prone to fungus infection, which kills them off.
Leek seedlings ready to pot on.
Tidy up the borders and clear out the weeds unless you have already done so. I like to turn the soil over with a hand fork which makes short work of the weeds and looks so good afterwards. The Snowdrops have gone over now, but collect the seed heads and plant them about 1” deep and they should come up next year. That helps to spread them out into drifts rather than tight clumps. The Daffodils are in full force and just what you need in early spring to cheer things up. The Tulips will follow but are not so long-lasting. Personally, I like strong vivid colours in spring and go for bold yellows and reds. However, there is a myriad of colours available these days for those who prefer contrasting pastel shades rather than clashing primaries.
There is a lot to do now, and it can seem a bit daunting, but by the end of May, you can take your leisure and enjoy outdoor living. It is good to invite family and friends around for a BBQ and completely show off all the work you have done while maintaining extreme modesty and pretending that it is nothing.
There is nothing wrong in taking satisfaction in your labours, and it is a great pleasure at the end of the day to prepare a meal, pull a cork and see where you have been. Also, the sleep of a labouring man is sweet even though his back may hurt in the morning. Another good thing is that the Laithwaites wine box has arrived, so I need to get the Gruner Vetliner in the fridge in time for the evening entertainment.
UHS is always looking for new members and tries to encourage a fun attitude towards friendly competition. So if you want to grow your own fruit, vegetables, and flowers or even enter any of the shows we hold each year, please get in touch. We would be happy to hear from you.
If you are interested in becoming a new member, (all ages are welcome), please contact Tracy Wells: tracywells0312@gmail.com
Sean Barry
Wednesday, 29 March 2023
Upchurch Horticultural Society - Spring Plant Sale
The Paddock, Upchurch
9:00am - 12:30pm
A wide variety of locally sourced plants will be available at
great prices with experts to assist you with your choice.
Homemade Cakes - FREE Parking
For more information, Email: upchurchsociety@gmail.com
Sponsored by Upchurch River Valley Golf Course Ltd
Upchurch Matters
Wednesday, 8 March 2023
From the Potting Shed - March 2023
Sponsored by Upchurch River Valley Golf Course LtdMarch is here and with it the spring, which means that the garden swings into action for another year. The real work starts in April, but if the weather is fine, it is worth getting off to a good start this month. We are pursuing enquiries about a parcel of land on our southern boundary with a line of Sycamore trees that when in leaf cast the house and garden into shade.
The lawn, moss in our case, can get the first cut in March with the blades high and scarify it with a spring tyne rake to get out the dead thatch and clear any winter debris. That will freshen up the lawn, get it standing upright and allow air and light to get to the roots. Most of our lawn will be lifted for a vegetable patch, so I will just rake around a marked-out area and leave the rest. Tidy up any edges with a half-moon cutter and then leave till next month when it will start growing vigorously.
Dig over the vegetable patch, lift the remainder of the winter vegetables and add a general fertiliser. New Potatoes should be in by March if they didn’t go in by February as they take approximately 3 months to come to harvest. My favourite is Rocket which can be ready in 11 weeks, so February planting will give you a crop in May unless it’s a cold spring. The first sowing of Lettuce can be done in March under glass followed by successive monthly sowings through to July. Although winter varieties of salad crops are now available and I intend to experiment with a winter Spring Onion this year to see if it is true! Broad Beans can also go in this month and the more frost-hardy varieties could have been planted in February. The Leeks are well up now in seed trays and getting sun and light on the south-facing bedroom window sill. I will leave them a little longer, then pot on into 3” pots and put them in the shed.
The Duchess has made a brave start on the borders and pruned back the ancient roses… maybe a little early, but then what do I know? The unwelcome shrubs are getting cut back savagely, and the undergrowth is getting cleared. Meanwhile, I am clipping away at overgrown honeysuckles and brambles, and slowly, the garden is getting tidied up. A local landscaper has given us an amazing price for removing two large Acacia trees, some tall Sycamores, grinding the stumps and trimming 60m of conifer hedge. So he will be starting at the end of the month.
Revenge for the low offer!
The momentum should be building with April and May, the really busy months, just around the corner, hopefully with some fine weather and the longer evenings. But you can do as little or as much as you like. We are just getting to work on a retirement cottage with a lot to do, and really looking forward to the project ahead. However, if you just wish to tackle a small project in the garden this year, then now is the time to start getting to work so you can enjoy it when the summer months arrive.
The land here in Suffolk is very open, and with bare trees, you can see for miles, Norfolk and Lincolnshire even more so. Big brown ploughed fields stretch as far as the eye can see, ready for this year’s crop. The people here are close to the soil, and land management is important. Rivers are dredged, banks built up, sluices in place to water the fields with ditches and gullies cleared for drainage. When I was a boy, one of my favourite programmes was Out of Town with Jack Hargreaves, and I feel like I am starting to live that life. I have a black dog. I just need to get a pipe. There is another accoutrement that goes with a dog and a pipe, but then there is nothing new about that.
UHS is always looking for new members and tries to encourage a fun attitude towards friendly competition. So if you want to grow your own fruit, vegetables, and flowers or even enter any of the shows we hold each year, please get in touch. We would be happy to hear from you.
If you are interested in becoming a new member, (all ages are welcome), please contact Tracy Wells: tracywells0312@gmail.com
Sean Barry
Wednesday, 15 February 2023
From the Potting Shed - February 2023
Sponsored by Upchurch River Valley Golf Course LtdWell, it finally happened, and we moved into Priory Corner Cottage in the quiet Suffolk village of Stradbroke on 16th December. It was probably the coldest week of the winter so far, so the oil boiler and central heating became the first priority. The property had been empty for 20 months, which meant two Autumns worth of leaf and tree debris to clear.
The entire plot was carpeted with fallen leaves, including all the gullies, drains and gutters. The garden is overgrown and neglected, and the previous owner, now deceased, had a habit of piling leaves and prunings behind the garage, sheds and summer house. Fortunately, there is a 4 feet deep redundant drainage ditch that terminates in the back garden, and the mountains of garden waste are being raked up and deposited in the ditch. That will compost down nicely and form part of the vegetable patch next year.
February is a quiet time in the garden and still in the grip of winter, however, winter bulbs and primula will start to show. Some impressive Snowdrops have already appeared, and we lifted some “in the green” from our garden in Oak Lane last year, and they are starting to show. We also brought some Primroses with us, which are looking healthy and coming into flower. Other than tidying them up, we intend to leave the borders alone for 12 months to find out what is in them.
The lawn is rather sparse and full of moss, and I have been making enquiries about seed merchants. A lot of the lawn will be taken up to create the vegetable patch, but it would be good to maintain a relatively small lawn and keep it in good condition. The plan is a bespoke mix of seed that will provide a good degree of drought resistance. It will be based on Canada Green which has a high level of Fescue, which spreads to fill bare patches. Then add additional Bermuda and Kentucky Bluegrass plus Kikuyu, which is used for landscaping in Africa! Also incorporating hard landscaping will give the garden a Mediterranean style.
A vegetable patch will be a big part of the new garden, and a plot has already been earmarked to get things started this year. The turf will be lifted and placed green side down in the ditch, followed by the pleasure of double digging. This only needs to be done once as it is more efficient to plant into pre-prepared trenches and pockets each year where the soil can be conditioned in the spot where the vegetables are to be grown. “Carpet bombing”, a vegetable patch with manure, does help, but it also produces a lot of weed between the rows. I have made a start by sowing some Leek seed which are sitting in the boiler room. They should germinate after 14 days and will then go in the shed, which has a clear plastic roof, or it will have when all the muck is cleared off. I have chosen a new variety called Porbella which has an RHS Award of Garden Merit and costs 99p from Amazon. The best 32 seedlings will be selected for planting, which should give us a crop from October to March, plus the best 2 plants to be left to go to seed.
One major problem is that the southern boundary is overgrown with a number of tall trees, which cast the whole house and most of the garden into shade. A successful garden, particularly a vegetable patch, needs a lot of sunlight and fresh air. At the moment, everything is very damp, and there is a lot of wet rot in the shed timbers, which will need repairing. I contacted the local council who maintains the patch of land between my fence and the adjacent road. They then discovered that the land is still owned by the builders who developed the neighbouring estate, and they have unwittingly been maintaining it for them for years! They now intend to stop doing it, so we will see how this one ends up.
There is still another month before work starts in earnest in the garden, and hopefully, your plans for next year are in place. I can’t wait for some decent weather to really get going this year. There is an annual Horticultural Show held in the Community Hall in the summer, which is directly across the road from the cottage. It would be great to enter some produce this year. At the moment it is a cold, wet, windy evening with mud and leaves all over the place. Adnams is the main brewery in Suffolk but there are a number of small and micro breweries producing an interesting selection of ales. So it is time for a pint of Green Dragon’s Chaucer Ale and to dream of giant Marrows and future glory.
UHS is always looking for new members and tries to encourage a fun attitude towards friendly competition. So if you want to grow your own fruit, vegetables, and flowers or even enter any of the shows we hold each year, please get in touch. We would be happy to hear from you.
If you are interested in becoming a new member, (all ages are welcome), please contact Tracy Wells: tracywells0312@gmail.com
Sean Barry
Tuesday, 17 January 2023
Upchurch Horticultural Society - Meetings and Events 2023
UHS meetings, talks and shows are held in the barn at the rear of 97 Chaffes Lane, Upchurch, and begin at 7:30pm. Event times are TBC. Talks and trips are for members only. Look out for show times and details nearer the date.
AGM
Wednesday 1st February
Re-election confirmation of roles. Plus short talk and Q&A
“Planning for the year ahead”
Chris S
Talk
Wednesday 1st March
“The work of Plant Heritage and the National Collections”
Talk
Wednesday 5th April
“A year at Doddington Place Gardens”
April Plant Sale in The Paddock
Saturday 22nd April
Meeting
Wednesday 3rd May
Doddington Place Gardens
Sunday 14th May / Sunday 21st May
Planning for July show
Wednesday 21st June
UHS BBQ - Details TBC
July Show
Saturday 1st July
Meeting at Upchurch Allotments
Wednesday 5th July
Meeting
Wednesday 2nd August
Farm Visit
Thursday 10th August
Details TBC
Talk
Wednesday 6th September
“How artists and garden designers lead us up the garden path”
September Show
Saturday 16th September
Trip to RHS Hyde Hall
Sunday 1st October
Planning for October Show & Demonstration
Wednesday 4th October
October Show
Saturday 14th October
Role Re-election & Talk
Wednesday 1st November
“A gardener’s response to climate change”
Christmas Social Evening at
Upchurch River Valley Golf Course
Friday 1st December
For membership enquiries, please Email: upchurchsociety@gmail.com
For more information, visit: https://linktr.ee/upchurchhorticulturalsociety or scan the QR Code below.
Tracy Wells - Membership Secretary
Upchurch Horticultural Society
Upchurch Horticultural Society
Thursday, 1 December 2022
From the Potting Shed - December 2022
Upchurch Horticultural Society
Sponsored by Upchurch River Valley Golf Course Ltd
Autumn has finally started to get a hold and temperatures are dropping after a mild start to November, leaves are falling, and the rain is coming down. The only thing that appears to be going up is prices! East Anglia is a very arable farming area with lots of local produce being retailed by independent traders. So a weekly shopping trip to the market town of Beccles is proving to be an interesting experience. This town has two independent greengrocers and a weekly market stall offering excellent fruit and vegetables at highly reasonable prices. I was delighted to find a large torpedo shaped Marrow for £1.50, which allowed me to engage in my passion for stuffed Marrow. The shop owner was quite surprised that anyone could get so excited about a lowly vegetable. I really cannot wait to get another vegetable patch up and running, but we are yet to complete on the cottage and still living in temporary accommodation out on the marshes. We do like it here. It reminds me of how Kent used to be 50 years ago with wide open countryside and lots of peace and quiet.
After tidying up the landscaped area around the lodge, the management of the park have appointed a firm of landscape contractors to tidy up the rest of it. I appear to have become the gardening consultant, which makes me feel uncomfortable as the position is unpaid and leaves me susceptible to picking up the blame. They are doing a good job, but I wince watching a young lad prune the shrubs with a hedge trimmer.
A lot tidier, but the shrubs have been massacred.
Hopefully, all the tidying up in the garden is completed by now, and you can enjoy the quieter Winter months, possibly in front of a wood burner, which is a good thing to have these days. Now is a good time to order seeds for next year and a number of catalogues should already have been delivered through your door. I actually bought my seeds through Amazon and was amazed that I could buy them more cheaply than directly from the seed merchant. The plan is to take up part of the lawn to create the new vegetable patch, but just do half this year and then double the size next year up to 800 sq ft (approx 3 poles). That should be sufficient to feed the two of us. I have selected 16 varieties of vegetables for starters and will increase to 32 the following year. These are tried and trusted old favourites but will concentrate more on Winter varieties in the second year. This will then hopefully provide a number of crops to choose from each month of the year.
Other than looking after Winter vegetables and containers and raking up leaves, it is a quiet time of the year. Leek and Onion seeds can be started in December if you are keen as the large varieties need plenty of time to fully mature. That brings us to the end of the year and time to think about the year ahead… if you want to that is. I keep on extolling the virtues of a kitchen garden and try to encourage people to “grow your own”. It has been a long time since money has been this tight, and the professional advice is that it will get worse before it gets better. Now is an ideal time to create some space and start digging. If you need advice, contact the Upchurch Horticultural Society, who will be happy to help.
It has been a cold, wet day today, so I am going to knock up a Beef Pie with mash from Picasso Potatoes (the world’s greatest mash), Hispi Cabbage, Carrots and Leek in beef gravy… and a cook’s glass. That way, I can fill up on both vegetables and beer!
Happy Christmas, and I hope to be writing to you next year from Suffolk.
UHS is always looking for new members and tries to encourage a fun attitude towards friendly competition. So if you want to grow your own fruit, vegetables, and flowers or even enter any of the shows we hold each year, please get in touch. We would be happy to hear from you.
If you are interested in becoming a new member, (all ages are welcome), please contact Tracy Wells: tracywells0312@gmail.com
Sean Barry
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