Plympton Gardeners Association

May News

Web Site

The PGA website has reverted to its previous address i.e. www.plymptongardeners.com

Next Meeting -THURSDAY 7^th MAY

The talk on Thursday is from Mark Wash of Trecanna Nursery. Looking forward to an interesting insight about his plants and nursery. I’m sure he will be bringing plants for sale! 7.30 start, free tea and coffee, raffle, informal competition and sales table.

There will be onion seedlings available for members to take home and grow-on for the heaviest onion competition. See below for more details. There should be sufficient onions for everyone and if by the end of the evening there are some left, then please feel free to take a second one to experiment with. There is no charge for this fun competition.

Community Council Spring Fair

On Saturday 9^th May the Spring Fair will be held at Harewood House and grounds. It runs from 10.00am – 3.00pm. There is always plenty to see and do. Plympton Gardeners will have a plant stall and we would be grateful for any plant donations that we can sell. Please bring them along to the meeting on Thursday or on Saturday morning – we will be there from 9.00am or just after.

Moorland Heating Ltd

We are pleased to announce that Moorland Heating Ltd will continue to sponsor our Summer and Spring shows. We are extremely grateful to them for their generous help. In return they would love to hear of any positive experiences you have of work carried out by them (probably no more than a sentence or two). They may use some of these testimonials for publicity purposes, but be assured that no names will be quoted. If you can help please send any experiences to me using this email address  and I will pass them on.

If you know of any local business or tradesman that would sponsor our shows then please let me know.

Free Water Butts

The City Council are offering free water butts to Plymouth residents as part of the BRIC (Building Resilience in Communities) project. If anyone is interested, they should get in touch using the details below.

BRIC Team
Street Services
Plymouth City Council
Ballard House
West Hoe Road
Plymouth  PL1 3BJ
T 01752 668000
E bric@plymouth.gov.uk
www.plymouth.gov.uk/

Trophy Return

Does anyone have a contact for the family of the late Fred Coniam? We would like to return trophies donated by him/them & also awarded to their family members. Please contact Chris Bishop if you can help – 01752 344048 or 07732 721595

Stannator’s Coffee Bar

Each Stannator has the opportunity to raise money for their elected charity throughout their year of office. Lloyd's chosen charity is the Ocean Conservation Trust, based at Plymouth Aquarium, where Lloyd is a Marine Park Ranger. 

As Stannator, Lloyd has the chance to use the Harewood House Coffee Bar for one week to help him raise funds. He is asking if any of our members would be prepared to make cakes for sale during the week - Tuesday 5th May to Friday 8th May. I'm sure that he would not turn down any offers of help if anyone can oblige. Please contact Lloyd on 07579 767124 or email lloydhills10@gmail.com   Come along during the week to support Lloyd.

Taunton Flower Show

Following a very successful trip to Toby’s Garden Festival last Friday, we hope that we can have an equally enjoyable day at the Taunton Flower Show on Friday 7^th August.  The details are:

Cost £38 pp

Pick-ups  -    Plymstock  8.00am;  Plympton  8.15;  Ivybridge  8.40   Departing Taunton at 4.00pm

To book your place see Phil on Thursday – payment by BACS, credit card or cash (sorry no cheques).

TV screen

If you were at the last meeting, you will be aware that we used the TV to screen the presentation from the South Devon Chilli Farm. This was not a planned feature but came about accidently following an issue with the presenter’s PC and the Projector connection. We received mixed feedback following the presentation, with some people saying they found the picture quality much clearer, but others (mostly from the back of the hall) saying they had difficulty seeing. The committee have decided to try using the TV again for a month with the suggestion that people who did have trouble seeing, should find a seat closer to the front. The use of the TV pre-meeting is a useful means of publicising items and passing on information.

Heaviest Onion Competition

For the information of new members, this is an informal competition held annually to see who can grow the heaviest onion. We provide the onion seedling in a pot and it is then up to the member to grow it as they wish. They can be grown in a pot, in open ground or in a greenhouse (if you want?) and their cultivation is entirely down to you e.g. what and how much fertiliser to give them and how frequently to water etc. The onions are brought to the meeting in October for weighing and should be entered as shown i.e. skins and roots should be left in place (earth/compost removed). The seedlings are of the same variety giving everyone an equal opportunity. There is a lot of information online about growing large onions.

Next Meeting

Thursday 2^nd April, at Harewood House. Doors open 7.00pm for a 7.30 start. The talk this month promises to be quite spicey! - It’s from South Devon Chilli Farm. We will have our usual free tea and coffee, sales/swap table, informal competition and the raffle. For any new members there is an explanation of the Informal Competition at the end of this newsletter.

Spring Show

Held on Saturday 21^st March, the show proved to be a success, despite the random power cuts that dogged us throughout the day (especially around lunchtime). Whilst entries were not as high as on some previous occasions, the standard was generally very good considering the awful weather in the months leading up to the show. Thanks go to the show committee for all their hard work and to the many members who exhibited and gave a hand with setting-up, stewarding and with the clear-up at the end of the afternoon. Thanks to all who attended and bought tombola tickets, plants and bric-a-brac. This income helps to offset the cost of putting on the show.

Coach Trips

TOBY’ GARDEN FESTIVAL TRIP – FRIDAY 1^ST MAY

The cost of this trip is £35 and it’s now open to friends and family. There are pick-ups at Plymstock, Plympton and Ivybridge.

Payment by bank transfer Plympton Gardeners   Sort Code 30-94-58   Account 0093 0198    Reference quote   Toby & your surname

or by debit or credit card at this Thursday’s meeting.    https://tobygardenfest.co.uk

Also

TAUNTON FLOWER SHOW TRIP – FRIDAY 7^TH AUGUST

For £38, this is a good day out. The venue is in a lovely park in the centre of Taunton. There is plenty going on and there are many refreshment outlets.  About Taunton Flower Show | Taunton Flower Show History.

Pay by BACS (details below) or by credit card at Thursday’s meeting.

Plympton Gardeners   Sort Code 30-94-58   Account 0093 0198    Reference quote   Taunton & your surname

Hare Spring Cottage Open Weekends

One of our most popular guest speakers, Stella Oxley, has 3 Open Weekends at her own garden in the South Hams. Make your own travel arrangements.

Friday 10^th, Saturday 11^th & Sunday 12^th April;   10.00am – 4.00pm

Friday 29^th, Saturday 30^th & Sunday 31^st May;    10.00am – 4.00pm

Friday 24^th, Saturday 25th, Sunday 26^th July;         10.00am – 4.00pm

Mill House, Ford, Kingsbridge;    Use postcode    TQ7 2LN;  Tel 07792 376805. Please check before travelling if the weather is dodgy.

Plants for sale and refreshments available.   www.harespringcottageplants.co.uk

Cheques

Due to the cost of processing, and the cumbersome process when trying to deposit them, we are no longer able to accept cheques. We will still accept cash for membership (£5) but for all other payments should be made by bank transfer or by debit/credit card.

Trading Hut

The committee have agreed that because of very low/no usage the Trading Hut in Stoggy Lane will no longer open on Sunday mornings.

Members are still able to buy, at competitive prices, supplies of fertilisers etc at our monthly meetings, or by contacting Phil Warren – 07892 623991 to request ad-hoc orders.

Onion Competition

We are once again running our popular heaviest onion competition and seedlings will be available at the May meeting for members to grow-on during the summer months. If you won’t be there in May, please ask a friend to collect an onion for you. Full details about the competition will be given in next month’s newsletter.

Trophies

If you are holding any PGA trophies please arrange to return them to us, preferably at next Thursday’s meeting

St Lukes Open Gardens

This popular and worthy charity is once again running its Open Gardens events. Three of those coming up are:

5th April Gnaton Hall near Newton Ferrers

26th April Morval Hidden Gardens near Widegates, S.E. Cornwall

3rd May Horrabridge Open Gardens

See their website for more information   https://bit.ly/2FVApUY

Guidelines for Monthly Meeting Informal Competitions   

This is, first and foremost, an opportunity for members to display things they have grown or made, for the interest and enjoyment of other members. (See note 1 below). The intention is that it should stimulate discussion and help members to learn from the skill and experience of others. We wish to encourage all members to participate.

The competition element is still valid but should be seen as a secondary consideration and not taken over seriously, bearing in mind that the judging is carried out by fellow members who are not qualified judges (see below). We have attempted to put in place some guidelines to make things clearer whilst at the same time being mindful that this is not a formal competition.

·         There are 3 categories:

                Fruit and Vegetables;

                Flowers and Plants;

                Craft (to include art, needlework, knitted/crocheted items and homemade models)

·         Only one entry per person, per category (see note 1 below)

·         No entries to be shown that have been entered previously

·         Judges’ decisions to be accepted with good grace.

·         Judging criteria will be based on a balance of quality of entry against quantity of entry (see note 2 below)

·         There will, generally, be just one winner per category.

Judging - at each meeting we look for some volunteers to act as judges. They are each given 3 coloured discs to correspond with three different categories. At the start of the interval the disc holders should inspect the entries on the show tables and vote for the entry they deem to be the best. The discs are subsequently counted and the winner identified.

Note ---

1.       Each entry must have the name of the exhibitor on a small card or slip of paper, placed face down to ensure anonymity for judging purposes. Also, if possible, a further card/slip of paper should give details about the entry e.g., variety of exhibit, name of bloom if unusual etc.

2.       For small/medium vegetables & and small fruit items, a minimum of three, preferably five, items must be submitted so that consistency can be assessed. For blooms, ideally, a minimum of three blooms is required, again, to show consistency. Small/medium are fruit and vegetables such as tomatoes, potatoes, peas, beans, carrots, parsnips, onions, etc.