Harvest Supper and Quiz October 7th

The trading shed has closed for the season now, but we may be able to open one Saturday in October, if there is a demand.

To celebrate the end of the growing season, you are invited to join us at 7.30pm at the Willis Hall, Church Crookham for a Harvest Supper and Quiz. Entry is free to members and £5 for non-members.

Please bring your own food and drink. ( before COVID we would have shared, but feel it is safer for you to supply your own food, drink, cutlery and crockery)

It would be helpful if you could indicate if you intend to join us then to help us set up the hall appropriately. Contact general.secretary@ccgsoc.org.uk or phone 01252 851532.

The World of Butterflies talk on 22nd September

Click the link to find out more details. The talk is presented by John Baker and is at 7.30pm at the Willis Hall, Church Crookham.

world of butterflies

Floral Art

1st November 10:00 – 12:00 at Crookham Village WI Hall: Eco-friendly flower arrangement in a pumpkin.

6th December 10:00 – 12:00 at the WI hall: Wreath making

contact Caroline Morris for further details: caroline.morris1958@gmail.com

Trading Shed opening extended until 21st October

There will be plants looking for good homes on all three weekends.

Hints and Tips for September

Autumn is early here this year. Leaves dropping, berries ripening and apples ready to pick in August. Although the apple crop is heavy this year, potatoes, beans and sweetcorn have not flourished for me in dry, hot conditions.

There are still the asters, chrysanthemums and Hederanthas (Schizostolis) to come into their own in September and October, I hope, but the late summer perennials like phlox and Crocosmia are giving up.

Here are some jobs you could do:

Harvest: Onions, main crop potatoes, sweetcorn, pumpkins and squashes. Apples and pears will mostly have been picked at the end of August this year. All apart from sweetcorn can be stored in a dark dry place. Sweetcorn cobs freeze well.

Autumn fruiting raspberries and beans will continue to need picking or they will stop producing more.

Collect seeds to share or keep for next year; store them in labelled paper bags or envelopes somewhere cool and dry. The garden Society runs a seed swap at their Spring Show and at the trading shed later.

Plant: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths and Muscari (wait until November for tulips); start to plant overwintering onions and shallots

Divide: herbaceous perennials that are overcrowded.

Take cuttings: of tender perennials like Fuchsia, Pelargonium, Salvias and penstemons and overwinter under cover.

Cut down: fruited canes of berries and tie in the new growth.

Lawns: scarify, aerate, top-dress and feed with a low nitrogen fertiliser …. or grow a wild flower meadow instead!

Church Crookham & Fleet Garden Society, Latest

Did You Know?

Frogs toads, newts, hedgehogs, slow worms and grass snakes are all great eaters of slugs so I would like them to stay in my garden. An untidy heap of sticks and leaves in a quiet corner will give them somewhere to hibernate. Do, please, remember this before lighting a bonfire!

Dead-heading: One wants to tidy things up at this time of year, but hydrangeas need their dead flower heads to protect next year’s buds; many other seed heads are a valuable resource for wildlife and the foliage is home for many invertebrates over winter. Wildlife does not like tidy!

Most important: Find time to enjoy your garden and perhaps visit someone else’s for ideas.

Store apples on racks somewhere dark and dry.

Dates for your diary – open gardens for NGS

4th September: Bramdean House, Alresford SO24 0JU

4th September: Blounce House, Blounce, South Warnborough RG29 1RX

7^th October 7.30pm: Church Crookham Garden Society Harvest Supper at the Willis Hall, Sandy Lane, Church Crookham