March 2026: "The Humble Potato" - John Trim

John Trim is an expert on growing vegetables, particularly for shows. He is a Fellow of the National Vegetable Society, show judge and horticultural lecturer.

John started his talk with some information about the history of potatoes, from when South American people gathered wild potatoes and exposed them to frost to make them more palatable, through their introduction in Europe around the 16th Century (in terms of England it is now thought that Drake, not Raleigh, brought them over), to when they became popular for eating and growing thanks largely to French pharmacist Parmentier and pioneering Scottish breeders.

His advice included:

• grow potatotes in bags to discourage slugs
• in this area plants early potatoes in mid-March and maincrop in early April
• for larger potatoes, gouge out all but 1 or 2 eyes from the seed potatoes
• there is no need to chit maincrop potatoes
• to avoid scab, wash the skins of seed potatoes (before chitting where appropriate) and keep fertilizer at the bottom of bags, away from potato skins
• to avoid eelworm, don't grow potatoes in the same spot in the ground for at least 4 years after a crop
• late blight seldom hits 1st or 2nd early potatoes so concentrate on these if it's a problem
• cut down haulms 3 days before lifting potatoes to help the skins set

John mentioned that his favourite potato to grow is Kestral although he also recommends Charlotte and Picasso.

Above: John Trim listens to a question from Club Chair Glenn Duggan

The Members' competition was entitled “Easter Parade” and entries consisted of a hat decorated for Easter using fresh flowers, foliage and some Easter ornaments. There were only 3 entries so all of them won a prize, photos can be seen below:

February 2026 - Part 1 - "How to Grow Roses Successfully" and Part 2 - "Rose Rustlers Saving Old Roses" - Glenn Duggan

Due to a last minute speaker cancellation Glenn brought forward the talk which he had intended to give in August, but in fact this was quite timely since it meant that we learnt about growing roses ahead of the Club's visit to Mottisfont rose garden in May.

In part 1 Glenn told us about the many different types of rose which are available and provided his advice for successful rose growing, which included:

• ideally, grow in soil with a pH of 6-7.5.  If you cannot achieve this it may be best to grow your roses in post
• position them so that they get 6-8 hours of sun in the summer
• water well when first planted and add plenty of mycorrhizal fungi (e.g. rootgrow), once mature water weekly
• feed in accordance with the instructions on your feed packet, roses dislike being overfed
• mulch around the base
• deadhead regularly
• prune when dormant (for information about pruning see the February 2025 newsletter in our Archive, you will need this year's password)
• don't overcrowd them

In part 2 Glenn introduced us to the Rose Rustlers of Texas, one of a number of groups of people who take cuttings of old roses from places such as homesteads and cemeteries and propagate these to ensure that they do not die out.



The Members' competition was for an arrangement titled “The Winter Garden”consisting of a display of a maximum of 7 stems of anything members could find flowering in their garden that would fit into the club’s vases.  To avoid any suggestion of bias Glenn decided not to act as judge and instead four of our Club members - Doug G, Neil R, Jen G and Karen Y - did the judging.  The winning and all other entries can be seen below.