Page 50 - ALG Issue 2 2022

West Midlands
Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Warwickshire
REPRESENTATIVE
Mr Tom Terrence
17 Stonefield Close, Walsgrave Keep, Walsgrave, Warks CV2 2PZ 02476 621350 tterrence@btinternet.com
MENTOR
Colin Bedford
West Midlands
0845 261 3672 cbedford.nas@gmail.com
Welcome to our new members...
Hawbush Allotment Association West Heath Allotment Association 7 Individuals
Kenilworth Town Council
Lapley, Stretton & Wheaton Aston Parish Council
Bidford On Avon
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New Tricks for Old Gardeners
Our first quarterly meeting of 2022 was held as a hybrid meeting with eleven members and the speaker joining via Zoom, and the rest present in actuality. In an effort to boost numbers we changed the order of business with the business section coming first and the speaker following on. The change seemed to work in that our percentage increase was in the region of 50%.
The meeting took place at the Friends’ Meeting House in Northfield. Following the usual introductions, the Secretary outlined the forthcoming quarterly meetings and the talks intended for
the year. With the increase in regional activities, the Financial Report showed that expenditure had been greater than for several years and the Treasurer was looking forward to the arrival of the next Regional Rebate.
The Regional Representative, Tom Terrence, announced that he was pleased to report that the search for a deputy may be coming to a satisfactory conclusion. The Malvern Spring Show and the Gardeners’ World Live Show
at the National Exhibition Centre were both scheduled to take place this year and the search for volunteers for both would shortly be underway as the invitations for speakers for the GWL Stand at the N.E.C. are sent out. After the lay-off for the pandemic, suddenly it is ‘all systems go’ for the two shows.
The Regional Mentor, Colin Bedford, has been involved with the creation
of three eco-friendly allotment sites. He had visited a town where self- management had been introduced several years previously, with ‘free’ NAS membership being part of the package. This free element was coming to an
end, and he had been to an A.G.M. to promote membership of the NAS as they moved to the next phase of their development. The theme of “Bugs, Bees and Broccoli” has been chosen for Allotment Week in August and he is encouraging member associations to develop this theme with extra ideas being available on the website.
The second part of the meeting
began with the arrival of the speaker, Katherine Crouch, Gardener of the Year 1999, BBC Gardener of the Decade 2008, and Chelsea Gold Medal Winner 2013. She addressed the theme of “New Tricks for Old gardeners” with great enthusiasm and some splendid photographs of her work as a garden designer. With a horror of ‘hard landscaping’ as favoured by many so-called landscape designers, she preferred bringing a low maintenance approach, using different textures and eye-catching colour, making plants bold and generous.
She gave us some useful tips: when growing tomatoes, put the strings in place at the start so they are ready as the plant reached them and does not need finding each time. She suggested keeping your thumbs up when hoeing to avoid bending and the resulting backache which can occur when adopting a thumbs down technique.
Finally, she revealed her favourite tools which included a horrendous-looking Japanese hori-hori knife, with a heavy serrated multi-purpose steel blade, sharp on both sides, with a semi-point, ideal for weeding. Just try explaining that to any passing policeman on your way home from the plot!
She gave us some useful tips: when growing tomatoes, put the strings in place at the start so they are ready as the plant reached them and does not need finding each time
If you wish to save the planet and attend a West Midlands Quarterly meeting virtually then ask your NAS contact to let you know when s/he receives the invitation to attend the next meeting in May, email me and I will send you the link which you then click on and, by the magic of the Internet, you should be whisked to the meeting at no expense other than the cost of a small amount of electricity.
John McNab,
West Midlands Region Secretary
Chrysanthemums Direct
www.chrysanthemumsdirect.co.uk
Holmes Chapel Road, Over Peover, Knutsford, Cheshire. WA16 9RA
We offer over 420 varieties, the widest range in the UK, suitable for both exhibition, garden interest or cut flower production on the allotment. All grown and dispatched from our nursery, in Cheshire from clean stock. Contact us for your FREE copy of our catalogue, or order online NOW
sales@chrysanthemumsdirect.co.uk 0800 046 7443
50 Allotment and Leisure Gardener