Our February talk, coming at the end of the week in which Winter at last tried to turn into Spring, featured the young horticultural entrepreneur Laura Brady, who runs a market garden at Brogdale Farm, near Faversham. A graduate of Harper Adams University at Newport in Shropshire, Laura has gained experience of agriculture and horticulture around the world (she has been firmly bitten by the travel bug). This told her as much about what she did not want to do as what she did. She decided to concentrate on quality rather than yield and set up a gardening business to focus on taste and...

Despite a summer that was first hot and dry and then wet, the gardeners of Ash & District produced a memorable show, as commented on by the judge: “The standard of the show entries was excellent. Please do let your participants know their produce look great and would certainly hold their own at a national show!”  It was a memorable year for apples with 10 entries, won by the Grannie Smiths entered by Val McCulloch. There were fewer flower entries, reflecting the weather conditions, although there was a good display of dahlias. The flower arranging classes proved popular, with a new...

It was an early start from Ash for members and friends , as we had anticipated a rather arduous journey as this particular weekend was one when the M25 / A3 Junction was closed due to the major road works there . However our driver Derek had done his homework and led us through the leafy back lanes of Surrey on his diversion route , with only a small amount of extra time incurred. Arrival at RHS Wisley was a pleasant surprise for those of us who had not visited in the recent past ; the very majestic new double row of matched trees into the new reception area – this avenue also extending...

The Society was very pleased to be invited to the garden of our President Christine Brown and her husband Albert, in Pudding Lane , on the evening of 26th June for our Annual Rose Show.  Several members had been in that garden many years previous for the same event, and we were shocked to see how much larger all those trees had now grown!     We were fortunate to have very pleasant sunny weather although it was rather breezy , which seems to be characteristic of our current summer ! Among the lovely borders and trees we relaxed with drinks and...

Arit is well-known as a presenter of several TV gardening shows from Gardeners’ World to Garden Rescue, she came to Ash at the end of November to talk to over 100 people interested in her idea that gardens and gardening promote wellbeing. After working in the fashion industry for about 25 years she started on a course in garden design and within three years won an award at Chelsea, part of the RHS New Shoots programme to encourage careers in all aspects of horticulture.  Her talk began with personal account of her experiences ranging over a number of aspects of her relatively short...

Our members were treated to a very  interesting talk by Dan Cooper  on ‘Growing a gorgeous garden in pots ‘.  It turns out that Dan ,who lives in Broadstairs , had no choice but to garden only in pots as his back yard was concrete over a void below. His great photos showed how he has created a magnificent space with good growth all year round. There, the many semi-exotic plants can survive the winter as the location has sea on three sides.  He gave us a good number of useful tips – using large a pot as it practical to cut down on watering requirement , grouping pots together to reduce...

The Society had planned our Spring visit so we could see the Daffodil Festival at Hever. We were met with glorious sunny spring conditions after having had many days of a miserable cold North east wind. So we felt released and joyful in visiting such a lovely garden.

For the first time, we had to hold the Show on a Sunday to ensure a full complement of judges.  There were plenty of entries (including several first timers) and lots of visitors.  The earlier date meant a splendid display of Daffodils, but only one tulip exhibit. The Cookery judge bravely sampled the gypsy tarts, a favourite of Kent School kitchens and pupils, and was happy to follow with the many delicious chutney entries, marmalade, Victoria sponges and cheeses scones. There were fewer large flower arrangements – competition from the Church, no doubt. There were...

At our meeting in February we took on the task of trying to compare 15 different composts which we had purchased from 3 local outlets.  We had decided to carry out this comparison because of the increasing number of compost brands and sub brands that are now available to the public. As the ‘peat-free’ revolution has taken hold so many more companies have entered this space, offering a really bewildering choice. Together with many claims about the superior performance of their product !   The commercial nursery operators are now mostly using peat reduced mixes...