PAST EVENTS 2009 - 2010
 

IGC SEPTEMBER 10  2010 MEETING: HERBS AND ROSES

 The meeting on September 10 was full of variety with five mini-presentations on culinary and medicinal herbs. Lavender, Fennel and Rosemary had their own interesting profiles while the history of Medicinal Herbs proved a fascinating topic. Culinary Herbs ended with a mouth watering description of a five course meal with useful herby suggestions at every stage. The whole morning was very well received and our thanks go to Stella Dennet, Rosemary Robinson, Gill Howl, Heather Hicken and Jacky Jezewski for all their hard work and enthusiasm.

The morning ended with a splendid pot luck lunch, lots of fresh garden produce in many of the dishes and a convivial time was had by all. After lunch Anne-Laurence presented her work on companion planting for roses, another useful topic with lots of interest.

Both sessions have resulted in lots of information to be posted on the web site so do look there for references at the Herbs workgroup & Roses Work Group pages links..

The success of the Study Groups could be seen in the day’s programme and it was very encouraging.

Several new members were at this meeting which was very pleasing.

Our next monthly meeting is on October 14th and details will be sent out nearer the date as will the information about the Plant Morning on October 2nd, an extra event suggested by Guy and Caroline Spencer.

May 10 AGM & Rose Group presentation - photos from AGM.htm

Talk by Erica Lainé on Thursday, 8 April, 2010

 Once again we were treated to a lovely, well-informed presentation by Erica.  This time on the transition from the ‘enclosed’ physic gardens of the middle-ages to the Italian and ultimately, French, Renaissance garden, with its formality - topiary, sculpture and orangeries.  All this was accompanied by a lovely array of illustrations and photographs, bringing the talk vividly to life.  Thank you Erica, we all enjoyed it enormously and learned a lot too!

We rounded the morning off with a pot luck lunch, and miraculously, as usual, a delicious meal appeared as if from nowhere.

For those of you who missed it, it is a wonderful presentation - the presentation is available should you wish to see it, email your Web master at Richard@chezcalou.fr

BENEFIT DAY - 20TH MARCH 2010

A great day was had by all on Saturday, 20 March - Benefit Day for Allan and Sheila Wilson.  We were greeted by the Wilsons' with a hot coffee in their lovely kitchen and soon we got to work on their garden - trimming, cutting, pruning and clearing.  Although only eight of us could make it in the end - I think we made quite an impression on the garden!!  Feeling very happy with the results, we were treated to a delightful lunch - thank you Sheila!


March Meeting

The meeting on March 11 was well attended and proved an interesting mixture of images and regalia in the shape of a collection of old gardening tools and gardening books, plus a slide show of some very unusual and old gardening tools. Peter Vining had put the show together and brought in the tools with a few others supplied by members. The instrument for making faggots for the fire was still being used by Peter and Alex to bundle up cut bamboo. Among modern tools, the geared shears were recommended for gardeners with arthritic hands.

Several members spoke about their favourite books and shared gardening tips with all.

These are being collected together and will be put on the web site.
 
 
Gardener’s Question Time
 

IGC Christmas Gardeners question time at the Spencers'  Thursday 10th December 2009

 What a great turnout we had for this event.
As we arrived, we were met with the aromas of mulled wine and mince pies, a beautiful Christmas tree and a table groaning with a variety of delicious treats donated by members.

The panel of experts Pat Cabourn, Gill Howl and Katie Butler were ready for the onslaught of questions, of which there were many!

Questions ranged from pruning wisterias, problematic buddleias, pests and diseases, lunar gardening with waxing and waning moons, various vegetables, organic gardening, nettles and weeds!

The team held it together and battled their way through, all questions answered and discussed.......great fun!

 A lady in Cornwall, who is moving to France, stumbled onto our website and had sent a question about apples -  just in time for the quiz!

A big thank you to Caroline and Guy for their hospitality, members who donated cakes, for the brave panel, and to all members who turned up.

Also a thank you to Patricia Goddard, who sent the recipe for her delicious chocolate covered oranges (recipes on our website)

look forward to seeing you all next year

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all

Carol
(President)