No. 81 April/May 2013

In this issue: 1 It’s Show time!

2 New Editor for the Newsletter!

The Living Soil

Membership Re-newals

3 An Impossible Match to Win.

4 Sales Hut

5 Easy Ginger Cookies

A Slice of Rantipole Cake?

Companion Planting

6 Diary Dates

7 Visit to Holden Clough Nursery

Vintage Jewellery Wanted

Feedback?

8 Changes to the Show Schedule

IT’S SHOW TIME!! Well not quite! But time flies by. Now we should all be thinking about the sort of things we might grow, make, paint, or photograph during the next few months so we can have a bumper Show in August.

The Show Schedule is being delivered with this Newsletter. It will also be on the website, so you have no excuse for not knowing about it nice and early!

Hon. President George Cowgill

The

Newsletter

Go on - have a go! You know you can do it!

New Editor for the Newsletter!

Welcome to Norah Ball who has taken over as Editor of Clitheroe Garden Club Newsletter on a tempo-rary basis. We thank her very much for taking on this job.

She has already made changes as you can see. Although this is her first newsletter she has already incorpo-rated Committee suggestions into the Show Schedule and produced posters for the Coffee Morning for North West Air Ambulance.

Our Club is very fortunate that there are a few members who will use their skills and precious time for the benefit of all.

This ‘Thank You’ comes from all the members and Chairman.

The Living Soil If you attended our talk on 7th March you could be forgiven for thinking that you had wandered into The Comedy Store by mistake. If you didn’t attend you missed a real treat. John Steedman gave us a laughter- filled evening whilst still imparting some interesting knowledge about soil and composting.

One question from a member was how to differentiate between the eggs of worms and snails so that we can destroy the slugs but preserve the worms which do so much good in the garden. He explained that the snail eggs, which look like little

pearls, are very different to worms’ eggs which are probably too small to see. The New Zealand flat worm de-posits its eggs under stones and leaf debris, but is not as yet too much of a problem. There are 25 species of worm working at different levels in our gardens.

A couple of the many tips he gave were to liquidise a banana skin with a little water and use that to fertilise houseplants as it is full of nutrients, and that the best comfrey to use as a fertiliser in the garden is Russian comfrey Bocking 14 which can be dug straight into the soil and won’t end up colonising your garden.

Our next talks are on Wednesday 3rd April, The Strange and Beautiful World of Carniverous Plants by Mr Alan Leyland and on Wednesday 1st of May, Tulips Past and Present by Mr Matthew Smith.

Carol Hill

Membership renewals A huge thank you to those members who have renewed nice and early.

Can I just remind those of you who haven’t yet renewed that we do need a completed membership form: it is our record that you have paid and is also needed to compile the list for the newsletter deliveries. Also this year we have a new form and are asking for extra information. If you don’t receive your next newsletter please contact us.

Carol and Elizabeth

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An Impossible Match to Win

As I write, in early March, I know that all gardeners are full of anticipa-tion for the Spring and Summer ahead of us. Suddenly, we have lots more energy and are so pleased to get into the garden to use it. How-ever, I do have something on my mind.

You see, in the match between Team Dorothy and Team Wildlife, the score is:

Team Wildlife 5 - Team Dorothy 0

Team Dorothy is on home ground and neither of us in the team is ema-ciated ...... but ...... the mole (or are there lots of them?) is easily win-ning.

Being lovers of wildlife, we wished only to send the creature into the fields at the bottom of the garden, so we bought a sonic mole deterrent (£20). It makes a noise every 30 seconds and we are on the second set of batteries now. (£8). We lost sight of it the other day as a large new molehill engulfed it and we had to dig it out – still working.

We were told that moles dislike vi-brations so, smugly, we knew that a day aerating the lawn with a very noisy machine that stabbed plugs of

grass and soil and flung them into the air would do what we needed. No chance! It (or they) didn’t even get a headache.

Ah! Scarifying should do the trick! A whole day of machinery tearing at the grass will wreck its peace and quiet. But, no! Next morning, more new hills appeared.

Years ago I knew we had succeeded with mothballs. People used to use them to keep moths away from their clothes. They are made of a chemical called naphthalene which is toxic, flammable and a carcinogen and be-came a banned substance in 2004. Enquiring at garden centres and hardware shops for old stock led no-where – my best remedy had disap-peared! Andrew thought he would search on-line. Amazingly, he could order them from ‘Amazon’, £2-99, post free. They arrived in the post in two days. (I may be naive but I did-n’t know you could buy banned sub-stances so easily).

The next afternoon, I gleefully un-covered mole tunnels and popped a couple of mothballs into each. Com-fortingly, they instantly disappeared round a corner and out of sight. Job done! Next morning, a new hill had appeared, in the distance, up by the gate. I could see two flecks of some-thing white on the new soil. Of course! It was dustbin day and some rubbish had blown in ...... but ....... as I approached I could see that it was not rubbish but two mothballs, carefully excavated and thrown out by the creature. The following day I

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found another mothball had been ejected.

Meanwhile, Val Bourne arrived for the afternoon. She is an RHS judge and writes for the Saturday Tele-graph gardening supplement. She was going to be the speaker at an-other group to which I belong.

She had noticed the molehills on the way in and so it became a topic of conversation. Val, of course, is very wildlife friendly, and she said, in quite a small voice, ‘We have never had moles in our garden’.

Now, I am not a mind-reader, but a shadow of self doubt went across Val’s face as she pondered what she would do to get rid of moles organi-cally. No suggestions were made.

A good friend suggested using a strong solution of Jeyes Fluid. I think the creature(s) thought it was a tonic and so have increased their productivity.

If you come to visit our garden, please don’t mind if your foot breaks through the turf and disappears down a large hole. We have bar-rowed away several loads of lovely soil to use elsewhere.

I must now confess to having darker thoughts about our underground garden visitors but these are tinged with interest and admiration.

You see, the tunnels have a small diameter, about 3cm or so, and they are smooth-sided. How does this tiny creature physically move all this soil

along the tunnels and up into the molehill some distance away?

Dorothy Richards

Editor: There’s a lovely Mongolian War Hammer for sale at the Club Hut. Perhaps that would be worth a try Dorothy!

The Sales Hut

Trevor Mitchell and Ted Woodend are now settling in at the hut and start-ing to make their own mark on Sun-day mornings. Sales have been brisk right from the start with many peo-ple paying their subs as well.

Marian has been busy at the tills with all potatoes, onions and shallots sell-ing out within the first weeks.

Peas and beans are still available so don’t go and start paying garden centre prices.

Some hardy early plants are on sale from plantings/sowings made last year. These are now starting to grow on well, but supplies are limited.

We should also thank Ted for giving the huts a good coat of paint pre-

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season, thereby protecting them from the scorching sun we are going to have this summer!!!!!

Prices of all commodities have been held at or near last year’s rates so come along and stock-up.

Good gardening to all from the hut team.

COOKERY CORNER Easy Ginger Cookies

Melt in large pan: 2 tbsps syrup; 2oz margarine; 1oz lard.

Add: 8oz Self Raising flour; 4oz sugar; 1 tsp ground ginger; 1 tsp mixed spice; 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda; 1 beaten egg.

Roll into balls, place on tray, no need to flatten.

Cook for 10 mins at Gas 4 / 180°C / 170°C in fan oven.

Result should not be hard (i.e. not a biscuit).

Will keep for weeks in foil in a tin.

Trevor Mitchell

A slice of rantipole cake? It doesn’t sound too appetising does it but rantipole is just another name for the carrot. It has had many names in the past including mirrot, birds nest, devil’s plague, gingidium, hill-trot, fiddle and lace flower. I think I’d prefer a slice of lace flower cake.

The ‘World’s Longest Carrot’ was grown in Nottinghamshire by Joe Atherton in 2007 and measured 5.84 metres (over 19 feet).

Carrots have the highest content of vitamin A of all vegetables and also contain vitamins B6, vitamin C and potassium.

Carol Hill

Companion Planting Many gardeners practise companion planting. Having lots of different types of plants, including flowers and herbs, will confuse pests that go for sight and smell.

The strong sulphur smell of onions and particularly garlic, deters pests. Aphids hate nasturtiums and parsley, but the poached-egg plant, Limnaan-thes douglassii, attracts the harm-less, wasplike, hoverfly which eats harmful insects. This plant grows so well in my plot that I use it as a green manure.

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There are some excellent and very different gardens in this local area. There are always some ideas you can take home to use in your allot-ment, garden, yard, plant tub or window box.

Below are the opening times for local gardens but look in the booklet for more details and many other Lanca-shire Gardens that open.

Waddow Lodge Garden, Waddington BB7 3HQ Sundays 26th May and 21st July (1-5pm)

Montford Cottage, Fence, BB12 9NZ, Sat 1st and Sun 2nd June (11-5pm)

Casa Lago, Whalley, BB7 9UG, Sun 9th June (1-5pm)

Great Mitton Hall, BB7 9PQ, Sat 15th, Sun 16th June (1-5pm)

Lower Dutton Farm, Ribchester, PR3 3XX, Sat 10th Sun 11th Aug (1-5pm)

All the garden owners are enthusias-tic and there is nothing in it for themselves except a lot of work!

If you don’t want to go to an open day but need a venue for your church group or club summer outing, that garden called Greenacre, Clay-ton-le-Dale, could make you very welcome with a gardening talk, tour and scrumptious cakes if you book in advance. Tel 01254 249694.

Proceeds go to the charities of course. Look in the booklet for the telephone symbol that indicates other gardens that open by appoint-ment.

Dorothy Richards

All the marigold family (tagetes), will put off nematodes and aphids. Grow them alongside tomatoes to reduce spider mite and fleabeetles in the greenhouse.

Oregano and mint deter cabbage caterpillars, aphids and fleabeetles in the garden. Rats and mice don't care for them either.

Grow foxgloves near potatoes to pro-tect against blight. Strawberries re-main healthier when borage is grown near them.

Trials have proved that levels of rust and thrips are reduced on leeks when grown with carrots, which they are supposed to protect from carrot fly, although I always use fine net-ting because I don't enjoy eating carrot-fly larvae.

If all this is too involved remember that nettle tea protects all vegeta-bles as well as giving them a liquid feed.

Good gardening.

Mary Alty

Diary dates You know that Summer is coming when the new National Garden Scheme (NGS) booklets appear. Those for 2013 have now arrived. There will be some at the Sales Hut and at all other Garden Club events.

Macmillan and Marie Curie Cancer Charities and Hospices are the main beneficiaries so if you visit a garden you are helping those charities.

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town. As well as raising money, it is an occasion for introducing the Club to potential new members. So, ladies and gentlemen, please look at home for jewellery that you no longer use and pass it to Carol who will mount and price it.

Finally, even if you have no vintage jewellery to donate, come and give support on the day. It only costs £1 to come in and that includes the coffee. Many thanks,

Dorothy

Feedback? We hope you like the new design and format of the newsletter. This change has given us the opportunity to re-jig it, hopefully into a more economical product.

Each issue will be produced as a standard A5 8-page booklet to help keep control of costs and ease pro-duction. Your thoughts and views of the changes are welcome via our email address (see back page) or through any committee member.

When production has settled down Norah will pass on the newsletter responsibilities to another who can undertake production on a more per-manent basis. (Volunteers needed.)

We all owe a debt of gratitude to Bill and Iris Gregson for their sterling work over many years in maintaining the newsletter.

What would we have done with-out them?

Visit to Holden Clough Nursery

We have booked a visit to the nurs-ery where BBC Young Gardener of the Year, John Foley lives. There will be a tour of the nursery and refresh-ments in the new Kitchen Garden Restaurant, Wednesday 5th June at 7.00pm. More details later. Mary Alty will arrange car sharing.

Vintage Jewellery Wanted!

Something a bit different this year as we try to raise money for our adopted charity, North West Air Am-bulance.

At our Coffee Morning on 13th April, 2013, from 10am-12noon, you can get the best coffee in town in the lovely surroundings of the Clitheroe Mayor’s Parlour.

Cakes, preserves and plants can all be brought in on the morning of the 13th from 9.00am. If you possibly can, make the plants look attractive by being well planted in clean pots – that way, we can get more money for them.

Please give tombola gifts to Pam or Lesley beforehand or leave them at the Sales Hut if they are things that won’t spoil.

This year there will be no books or bric-a-brac but instead there will be vintage jewellery. We hope this will bring in some different people and perhaps some young people from the

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Club Website: www.clitheroegardenclub.co.uk

Email address: info@clitheroegardenclub.co.uk

Items for the June/July issue should be sent in by 15th May to the above email address.

***CHANGES TO THE SHOW SCHEDULE!***

Enclosed with this copy of the newsletter, you will find the schedule for our Annual Show which takes place in August. Compared to previous years, there are some CHANGES. Please read about them now so that they don’t come as a surprise in August.

The Committee has made some rules easier to understand. Some restrictions have been removed so it’s easier for people to enter their plants. Trevor, our Show Secretary, has spent lots of time sorting out our suggestions.

Here are the Changes:

1 Each entry to the show is 20pence. Children’s entries are still free.

2 Prize money will now be £2 for first prize, £1 for second prize and 50p for third prize.

3 In Flower and Plant Classes, A Corsage has been removed.

4 In the same section, the class A Geranium Plant has been changed to A Pelagonium Plant because pelagonium is the proper name for the plants that people tend to exhibit. By using the correct name it avoids potential problems with a judge. A Geranium is a hardy plant that lots of people have in their flower borders. They are rarely exhibited.

5 In the same section A Bonsai – any size has been added as a new class.

6 In Classes for Vegetables and Fruit, A tray of Vegetables has been changed to A basket of Vegetables - mixed. (Any different kinds, any number.)

7 There are many changes in the non-Horticultural classes, as happens every year. Please check these out carefully.

8 There are several changes in the Children’s Classes. Please check them.

Finally, please have your trophies back to Trevor Mitchell at the Sales Hut or his house by the end of July. Please make sure that they are clean and gleaming.

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