Our next meeting is on Tuesday 8th January, at 2pm in the Tournesol room at the Salle des Fêtes in Lauzerte. We will be having a fun gardening-themed quiz, with drinks and nibbles, so do come along and flex those brain cells and start thinking about the gardening year ahead.
Great news that we have enough people to confirm that our trip to Languedoc will be going ahead next May. Don’t forget that you will need to pay the next instalment by the end of December.
Many thanks to those who have already agreed to join us on the admin team, we can still take a couple more, so if you are thinking about it and would like to know more about what is involved, have a chat with Pam or myself.
To do this month
This is the time of year for taking a bit of a break from the garden – even Monty Don says there is not much to be done, but he does like to sow onion seeds on Boxing Day – these can be grown 3 or 4 seeds in a module of potting compost, and kept in a cold frame or polytunnel. He also suggests that this is good time to pay some attention to your tools and give them a clean and sharpen.
Those of you who like to browse through plant and seed catalogues, please note that we now have new numbers for both Dobies and Suttons, which will give you 50% off seeds. I will also be placing an order with King’s Seeds shortly after our January meeting, so please be ready to give me your list for anything you want from them (or you can send to me by email). I do have some catalogues to bring along, but you can also order your own copy from any of those suppliers, free of charge, or of course, do your browsing online.
Recent Events
At our November meeting, Chrissie and Guy Biddlecombe gave us a really informative and inspiring talk on Straw Bale Gardening which generated lots of interest and questions.
They really made it sound like a very appealing way of easily adding a raised vegetable plot – which would be particularly helpful for anyone with a lack of good soil.
Earlier in the month a small group of us had a thoroughly enjoyable visit to Les Jardins de la Poterie Hillen for autumn colour. Once we arrived, we realised why they waited and waited for the right moment, the Japanese acers were really stunning, and there was lots of interesting use of grasses and ornaments throughout the gardens – plus really delicious “gourmandises” in the Tea House. Highly recommended for another visit, and we were told that late Spring would be a particularly good time to go.
Below you should see a slide show of photos from our visit – click on one to see it full screen and then you can scroll backwards and forwards using the arrows to left and right of the photo (click the X top right to close the slideshow and come back to this page).
Our display at the Journée de l’Arbre was full of ideas and inspiration for growing in containers, of all sorts. Special thanks to Ingrid for organising everything and giving the demonstrations of layered bulb planting and thanks also to all those who helped out on the day.
Finally, for our December meeting, we had our Christmas lunch at Les Voyageurs, it was really a lovely atmosphere and most enjoyable. Special thanks go to Shirley Sears-Black for organising it so well – loved the little picture tokens with our choices on!
It has been a year of mixed emotions, but what a lovely group of people our gardening friends are. Make the most of the festive season, may it bring good health, warmth and comfort – see you all in 2019.
Belinda