Thames Valley Horticultural Society
March 2019
Oh, such a commotion under the ground, when March called ‘Ho, there, ho’
Such spreading of rootlets far and wide, such whispering to and fro;
and ‘’Are you ready? the Snowdrop asked, ‘tis time to start you know’
‘Almost my dear’, the Scilla replied; ‘I’ll follow as soon as you go;
Then ‘’Ha! Ha! Ha! a chorus came of laughter soft and low,
from the millions of flowers under the ground, Yes- millions- beginning to grow.
Dear member,
Meeting held on 28th February
What a marvellous talk Paolo Arrigio gave us at our meeting. A talk that required no slides nor projector, but a display of seeds in brightly coloured packets. Did we know where our seeds and subsequently our vegetables, fruit and flowers come from? Well we thought we did, and if we didn’t, he soon put us right. Paolo’s family were 7 generations in the seed production business, and all are grown in northern Italy where the air is cool and growing conditions are as perfect as you could hope for in the modern world.
The Romans introduced many veg to our shores including fennel resulting in an amusing story involving Roman foot soldiers along Hadrian’s wall who spat out the chewed-up seeds, hence spreading the plant. The Boer war highlighted the mal-nutrition of the army introducing a need for food production; followed by WW1 which took its toll not only of men but growing techniques; with WW2 came the Dig for Victory campaign and the increase in allotments. There are sadly only a few genuine seed merchants in the UK and most of what we buy comes from China, Kenya and Chile.
Paolo began his seed tour with tomatoes naming all the best varieties with tips to sow basil among the, and then went on to zucchini or courgettes willing us to eat the male flowers gathered first thing in the morning.
Then he spoke of spinach, beans, chickpeas, round carrots, gherkins, chard and many more – all grown, harvested and packaged for market under the name of Franchi seeds (available at Adrian Hall’s garden Centre in Feltham).
A question and answer session followed the talk and I did manage to ask him what the future held for his products with the pending Brexit – ‘very difficult’ was his reply.
Ken gave the VOT and Eileen judged the small competition table with the following results.
Special Classes:
1. Flowering corm(s) in a container – Margaret 9 (white cyclamen)
2. A stored vegetable – Jose 9 (squash)
Other classes:
Cut flowers - Jose 8 (violas): Margaret 9 (mini daffs) Pot Plants – Barbara 8 (variegated kalanchoe): Margaret 8 (money plant) Barbara’s cup to Margaret Veg: - Margaret 7 (Italian kale)
A.O.B.
- There are no competitions next month but there will be a raffle as usual
- There has been an invasion by travellers on the Fordbridge Park site which may result in a more stringent operation of the gates. I do ask for the gate to remain open whilst we are gathering for the meeting and hope that the warden comes after we are safely inside the hall, but sometimes it is left open so I have to stop to lock it. I would recommend using the designated gates and not try to exit from the Kingston Road as sometimes it is locked resulting in cars having to reverse back down the drive. I am sure the authorities will be looking very closely at the gate situation so be prepared.
- My sympathy goes to our new member Mary, who had a minor accident whilst leaving the meeting. Fortunately, she was unhurt.
*** Meeting to be held on Thursday 28th March 2019 ***
Grand Fish or Chicken ’n Chip Supper and quiz,
in honour of our President Ken Willis to celebrate his 90th birthday
set up tables at 7p.m. food at 7.30-7.45p.m.
Jose