Our March 9th meeting was an interesting and entertaining talk from Timothy Walker entitled ‘How to be a 21st Century Gardener’.

Timothy stressed how important the soil in our gardens is, but that we cannot change, only improve, it and that the best way to do this is by having our own compost heaps and using a general fertiliser (such as organic 6X) in February or March. It’s important to choose the right plant for your soil, try British native plants and plant carefully with a good soaking, with the aim of not having to water very often, if at all.

On the hot topic of growing in peat based composts he showed evidence that plants grow perfectly well without it. In fact, although gardeners always get the blame for the use of so much peat, it is sold in Ireland as fuel and it is that which accounts for much of the use. This has recently been outlawed in order to allow peat bogs to recover as they are such good carbon sinks.

On pesticides we were advised not to use them but to consider predators if we need to control pests in the greenhouse, otherwise let nature take its course!

We have no formal meeting in April, but our annual plant sale which will be held at Four Acres in Pond Hill on Saturday 25 April. All members are encouraged to get seed sowing!