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Newsletter September 2014

Important: Change of Venue! Please note that the Catholic Church Hall is NOT

available for our meeting on Wednesday 24th

September (it’s being redecorated apparently!) so this

month’s talk will be held instead at St Peter’s Hall,

Free Street (behind the Waltham Tandoori), at the

usual time of 7.30pm. Keely Gallagher from Veolia

Environmental Services will be talking about “Turning

Waste into a Resource” – a really important subject,

given the amount we throw away! Keely is the

Regional Communications & Waste Minimisation

Manager for Hampshire and so is well placed to know

about the difficulties of how to turn such a negative

into something more positive! The Club would also

like to take this opportunity to say thanks all those

people who regularly provide us with tea and biscuits.

The Annual Social Evening

Don’t forget it’s time to buy your tickets for this

fabulous evening at the ‘early bird’ discounted rate of

£10 each – but hurry because tickets will £15 each at

the start of October. This is a brilliant bargain with

super food and a highly regarded speaker!! This year’s

dinner is on Friday 17th

October at the Jubilee Hall.

We are lucky enough to have as our guest speaker

Andy McIndoe, Managing Director of Hillier Nurseries

and Garden Centres. Amongst many other things,

Andy is well known for his superb designs for the

Hillier exhibits for RHS Chelsea, which have won him

many prestigious gold medals. His talk is called,

tantalisingly, “Losing the Plot”. It promises to be an

excellent evening so contact Gill Stainer now on

01489 893384 and make sure you get hold of your

tickets at the bargain price of £10! And of course on

the night don’t forget to bring with you your choice of

drink and a glass to pour it into!

The Gardening Club Butterfly Garden

Now that the plants have had a year to settle in, the

butterfly garden at the start of the railway line walk

has begun to make an impact. The long, dry summer

resulted in a very short flowering period for some

things, namely the buddleias, and we have not seen

the numbers of butterflies we would have liked.

However, some volunteers who walk their dogs in

that area have reported seeing a few! Earlier in the

year I spotted Orange Tip and Brimstone visiting

aubretia and hyssop, and recently I saw one Small

White and a Tortoiseshell. Hopefully, if temperatures

don’t drop too much the buddleias will have another

flowering, especially after dead-heading and the

recent rain. At the time of writing, the asters, sedums

and caryopteris are just coming into flower and

should attract any late butterflies.

There will soon be a plaque there saying:

‘This garden was originally designed and planted by

Chris Smith, 1950-2006. “In your lives try not to worry,

try not to hurry and take time to smell the flowers on

the way.” The garden was redesigned and replanted

In this issue:

Important: Change of Venue!

The Annual Social Evening

Our Butterfly Garden

Can You Help Us on Film Night?

Poisonous Plants and Growing Vegetables

Best-Kept Allotment Competition

Working Party Volunteers Needed

Mowers and Fruitcages

Waiting List

Water Supply

The Shop at the Shed

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in 2013, retaining the original idea to use plants which

are attractive to butterflies.’

Many thanks go out to the small band of members

who have kept this garden looking so good! We could

do with a few more helpers so that no one has to do a

‘double shift’. If you can spare a little time to help our

beleaguered butterflies, contact me on 01489 891470.

Ann Magrath

Can You Help Us on Film Night?

The Gardening Club is the partner charity for the

Community Film Night at the Bishops Waltham Junior

School on Wednesday 10th

September when ‘The

Grand Budapest Hotel’ will be showing. We need help

on the night, please, with refreshments and also with

donations of raffle prizes, biscuits and little home-

made cakes. Helpers needed from 6.15pm.

ON THE ALLOTMENTS

WARNING: Poisonous Plants and Growing

Vegetables

Many plants are poisonous to people and animals.

The production of toxins by plants is a defence

mechanism but the poisons can have hugely beneficial

effects, such as the painkiller morphine, obtained

from poppies. Morphine (an opiate) is also a killer in

high doses. Other such poisons are found in many

species such as foxgloves, deadly nightshade, etc.

What is not generally known is that many otherwise

edible plants can also be toxic – for example potatoes

(same family as deadly nightshade), garlic, nutmeg

and many others. Some only have or develop toxins in

certain circumstances: tomatoes have toxins when

unripe which are not present when ripe; some beans

such as butter beans or lima beans are toxic if eaten

raw. The following websites have more information:

www.rhs.org.uk/advice/Profile?pid=524

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_poisonous_plants

But here’s the important bit that most of us don’t

know: Members of the plant family Apiaceae such as

parsnips, carrots and celery can cause SEVERE

problems under certain conditions.

These conditions are where the leafy parts above the

ground (not the edible root) are handled on a sunny

day. The reaction shown in the picture above was

caused to a gardening club member soon after

removing his surplus parsnips on a bright spring

morning up on the allotments. This is NOT an allergic

reaction, it is the effects of poison (phytotoxicity). It’s

a chemical burn and can happen to anyone. It can be

treated with steroid creams, but it is very painful and

alarming.

What to do? Wear protective clothing if handling

plants in this family, especially on bright sunny days. If

you experience any irritation or itching, wash for 20

minutes under lots of running water. Do not ignore

what may start as a mild reaction – it can get worse. If

it does, seek immediate medical help.

The damage can be repaired!

Many thanks to the member concerned.

Keith Fry

Best Kept Allotment Competition

After the wettest winter ever, most plots dried out

surprisingly quickly in the spring. Much to some

people's surprise, we ended up with another really

good growing season this year with a late hot dry spell

bringing an early harvest for many allotment holders.

When it came to judging the winners of the Best Kept

Allotment competition, the judges once again had a

very difficult task, as so many of the plots were in

excellent condition. However, judging was made

easier by using the same criteria as in previous years –

ie the number of different plants growing; the health

of the plants; and the general tidiness of the plot –

and eventually a consensus was reached. The winners

are:

Best Kept Allotment Winner: Peter Burkett (Plots 3 &

13)

Runner-up: Tim Gover (Plot 131)

Best Newcomer: Richard Street (Plot 26)

Runner-up: Bill and Annie Britt (Plot 92a)

Best Children's Plot: Nicholas McGowan (Plot J)

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Congratulations to the winners, especially to Peter

Burkett, who has won for the second year running, a

tremendous achievement! The trophies will be

presented at the AGM on 28th

January 2015.

Simon Dorey

Working Party Volunteers Needed

Can you help on the allotments on Sunday 12th

October at 1pm? We need a working party to carry

out some maintenance on the public parts of the

allotments at Albany Road. Many hands make light

work so just turn up wearing stout, protective

clothing. We'll mainly clear overgrown public areas,

ditches, and vacant plots. We'll also deal with some

broken/overhanging tree branches. We need

volunteers armed with strimmers, brush-cutters,

scythes, loppers, chain-saws, or similar tools. We also

need people with trailers to help remove the rubbish.

We’ll provide refreshments as an enticement!

Simon Dorey

Please Wipe our Mowers After Use!

Please would people using allotment mowers give

them a quick clean inside when they have finished.

This is because the bits of grass inside the cutting area

build up and clog together, making the mowers

difficult to start. It can even mean broken starting

cords! To be done with care please, but to be done. ☺

Fruitcages

Another request: A number of birds have been

trapped in fruitcages this summer. Please could you

check your fruitcage regularly, either ensuring the

birds have an obvious escape route (they get into such

a panic…) or ensuring there really is no way that they

can get into them in the first place. ☺

Waiting List

There are a few spare plots available at the moment

so there is currently no waiting list. If you know of

anyone who might be interested in taking on an

allotment, please encourage them to contact me,

Simon Dorey, (01489 894428,

sjdorey@btinternet.com). Also, if any existing

allotment holders would like to take on an additional

plot, please let me know. At only £10 for a half-plot or

£15 for a full plot, our annual rentals are very low

compared with other sites, where rentals of £50 -

£100 are common. So an allotment here is a bargain!

Water Supply

Unfortunately we had a number of water leaks at the

allotments this season (some of which went

undetected for some time) so we have installed

additional stop cocks. This allows some taps to be cut

off from the supply but allows other to remain in use.

Please report water leaks immediately to any trustee

– the contact details for the relevant people are

printed out by the taps and are listed in the Allotment

Shed. The trustees will ensure that supply to the

affected tap(s) is cut off until the leak is repaired.

We all know that water is a valuable resource which

should not be wasted, but of course we rely on having

a good supply available, especially during a long hot

dry spell such as we had this summer. Also, we are on

a metered water supply. We consumed more than

600 cubic metres of water last year and our water bills

came to more than £400. So, please use water

sparingly and do not waste it – and please do not

leave water taps running. Simon Dorey

The Shop at the Shed

It’s been quiet in the Shop in recent weeks as

members have been harvesting their produce which,

of course, is the fruit of a lot of hard labour! In general

I have found it to be a good year although I was

unfortunate to go away during that very hot week at

the end of July which did not do my runner beans

much good as they were gasping for water on my

return! However, the French beans didn’t seem to

mind so that was some compensation. But we

gardeners must always be looking to the future and

soon we must be planting things which will give us a

good start to next year. In September we shall have

available:

Broad Bean seeds – Aquadulce Claudia is a very hardy

variety and will give a good crop of beans next May or

June, when home-grown vegetables are fairly scarce.

Onion Sets – White and Red. If you are keen to enter

the Show next year you should plant these now

because they will be ready for harvesting in June.

Even if you don’t show, grow some in the autumn and

some more of a different variety in the spring and you

should have a good supply of onions for about 9

months of the year!

Shallots – Plant at this time of year and you will get a

much bigger yield than if you leave it until spring.

Garlic – This has become a very popular vegetable to

grow and normally keeps well in the garage for

several months.

We shall also have a good supply of spring bulbs

available from about mid-September including allium,

crocus, iris, narcissi and tulips. For those of you who

find it difficult to get to the Shed at weekends I shall

be selling these at the monthly meeting on 24th

September so bring along a bit of spare cash!

Tim Gover

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