2024 Programme

Unless otherwise stated below, talk meetings take place at Catisfield Memorial Hall. Please aim to arrive from 7:15pm for a 7:30 start. Admission is free for members, £3 for non-members and includes tea or coffee and biscuits. Meetings finish by 10pm.

8th February - “The Winter Garden” – Mark Porter

Mark and his wife Jackie own The Down House, a 3-acre garden in the Itchen Valley. Mark's talk is about the garden in winter when there is a carpet of snowdrops and crocus, plus borders of coloured stems.

Members' competition: “First Flowers” – a display of your earliest blooms, 5 stems max

14th March – “Topical tips and new ideas” - Ray Broughton

Ray is a highly qualified horticulturalist, teacher, lecturer and examiner, with over 30 years' experience of addressing gardening clubs and societies. He makes a welcome return to tell us about new ideas and tips for our gardens.

Members' competition: “Happy Easter” – an Easter-inspired floral arrangement in a small basket.

11th April – first half "Wildflowers of Greece", second half "the Vegetation of Table Mountain including Kirstenbosch"– Gerald Ponting

Gerald is an experienced speaker on a variety of subjects. These talks cover two overseas areas for us in one evening, which is a first for the Club.

Members' competition: “Spring Spray” – an arrangement of spring blossoms, max 5 sprigs.

9th May Garden Plant Sale.

Our Spring Sale on Thursday 9th May will be supported by our Sponsors St Margaret’s Nursery, but to make the event a success what we really need are DONATIONS. We need all members to support the event so please try to find something to donate for this sale e.g. plants, cuttings, pots, tools, garden furniture, books… in short anything which could be related to the garden in any way.

Plants should be:

Healthy
Labelled: as a minimum state the type of plant and if possible the colour and size they will become.

This year we will be having a “bargains” table. Plants which are not fully labelled, weak, still very young or of which we have too many, may be added to that table.

Please bring your donations to the Memorial Hall between 3.30 & 5.15pm on May 9th. If this is not convenient please contact Susan at newsletter@catisfieldgardeningclub.co.uk and she will let you know where you can drop off your items, or make arrangements for their collection.

For the sale itself, please try to bring some loose change and boxes or bags to carry your purchases; we hope to have card payment facilities at the final payment table but won't have this for the raffle. There will be an express entrance for members who remember to bring their membership cards..

13th June – “Unusual plants available to the Brisith gardener” – Roger Hirons

Roger - who styles himself "The Plant Doctor" - provides a talk on the unusual plants available to us which we can grown in our gardens.

Members' competition: “Flaming June” – a summer floral arrangement, 5 stems max OR “Rude Food” – a weird and wonky fruit or vegetable.

11th July - Club Away Day – West Green House, Hook

Arrive from 1pm, introductory talk 1:30, guided tour by the Head Gardener 1:45 for 1 hour. Cream team 3pm, depart at 4pm. Ticket price is £28.

Photo of Garden of a temple at Myoshinji, Kyoto, Japan

8th August – “Heavenly Hostas” – John Barker

John and his wife June hold the National Collection of Hostas (well over 1300) in their Hamshire garden, which has featured in Monty Don's BBC programme. John describes Hostas as "The Perfect Perennial".

Members' competition: “Picture Perfect” – either a beautiful painting or drawing OR a stunning photograph of something in your garden, both with a botanical theme and in a maximum size of A4.

12th September - “Gardening for Climate Change” – Kelvin Mason

Kelvin is a lecturer in horticulture at Sparsholt College and he is going to provide for us information to help us cope with changing conditions

Members' competition: “Autumn Glory” – a display of late summer blooms, max 5 stems.

photo showing Nick Gilbert addressing members at one of our awaydays

10th October - “Soil Formation and Management” – Chris Bird

Chris is also a lecturer at Sparsholt College and is always a favourite with Club members. Chris provides us with everything we need to know about creating the best growing conditions for our gardens.

Members' competition: “Good Gourd” – carve a Halloween-inspired pumpkin or other gourd. No naked flames, please!

14th November - Annual General Meeting

Our AGM, followed by a free supper buffet and inter-table quiz with prizes

2023 Programme

9th February - “Right Place, Right Plant” – Chris Bird, Lecturer at Sparsholt College

9th March – “Container Planting with Bulbs for a year of colour” - Tim Woodland. Tim will bring bulbs to sell.

13th April – “Growing Vegetables” – Ray Broughton

11th May - Garden Plant Sale.

8th June – “The Secret History of Vegetables” – Martyn Cox.

13th July - Club Away Day – Longstock Water Gardens

10th August – “The Gardens of Japan” – John & June Barker

30th August – Club Visit to Hayling Donkey Sanctuary

14th September - “The Darien – orchids, terrorists and kidnappings” – Glenn Duggan

12th October - “Preparing Dahlias for Winter” – Nick Gilbert of Gilberts Dahlias

9th November - Annual General Meeting

2022 Programme

10 Feb 2022 - "The Perennial Borders at Wisley" - David Jewell

10 Mar 2022 - "British Alstroemeria & The UK Cut Flower Industry" - Ben Cross

14 April 2022 - "From the Dales to the Dolomites" - Graham Poynter

12 May 2022 - Garden Plant & Item Sale

9 June 2022 - Members' presentations

14 July 2022 - Club away day

11 August 2022 - "Interactive Pruning" - Chris Bird

8 September 2022 - "Putting the Garden to Bed" - Roger Hirons

13 October 2022 - AGM, Quiz and Buffet Supper

11 November 2022 - "An Evening with Fred Dinenage"

2021 Programme

11 Feb 2021 – “Everything you want to know about dahlias” – Michael Mann

11 Mar 2021 – "Going Green(ish): How I learned to stop fighting nature and work with it in my garden instead" - Susan Kavanagh (via Zoom) + quiz

8 April 2021 – "Millenium seed bank project" - Sue Bosson via Zoom (in association with the Tender Shoots Garden Club Network)

13 May 2021 – Plant Sale

10 June 2021 – Neighbourhood walk with clues

8 July 2021 – "The Great Barn, Titchfield Abbey and Shakespeare" - Kevin Fraser

12 August 2021 – 60th Anniversay cheese & wine event

9 September 2021 – "Growing Sweet Peas for Exhibition & Pleasure” - Jim McDonald

14 October 2021 – “Heritage apples” - Chris Bird

11 Nov 2021 - AGM, Bingo and wine

2020 Programme

Thu 14 Feb 2019 7.30pm – “Everything you want to know about dahlias” – Michael Mann

Thu 14 Mar 2019 7.30pm – “Growing vegetables in raised beds” – Barry Newman

April-October - Meetings cancelled due to Coronavirus

Thu 12 Nov 2020 7.30pm - AGM via Zoom

2019 Programme

Thu 14 Feb 2019 7.30pm –“The Modern Kitchen Garden” – Barry Newman

Thu 14 Mar 2019 7.30pm – “Planning & Planting for the Year Ahead” – Steve Austin

Thu 11 Apr 2019 7.30pm - “12 Months of Colour” – John Negus

Thu 9 May 2019 7.30pm – Garden Plant & Garden Item Auction. Your chance to donate and bid!

Thu 13 June 2019 7.30pm -"Making Gardening Easy & Economical so that you can spend more time sitting in it!” Roger Hirons

Thu 11 July 2019 1.30pm - Visit to Exbury Gardens

Thu 8 Aug 2019 7.30pm - “Bees & The Gardener” - Paul Summersgill.

Thu 12 Sep 2019 7.00pm – “Growing in containers and plant nutrition” St Margaret’s Nursery

Thu 10 Oct 2019 7.30pm - “Everything you wanted to know about growing roses” - Stewart Pocock of Pocock Roses.

Thu 14 Nov 2019 – 7.30pm AGM, Quiz, short talk & Buffett Supper.

2018 Programme

Thu 8 Feb 2018 7.30pm – Show Craft – an insight into what a National Judge looks for, with tips on presenting, fruit,

flowers– John Trim National Judge, TV Gardener & horticulturallecturer.

Thu 8 Mar 2018 7.30pm – Windowsill Orchids – Tips and tricks in growing orchids (members are invited to bring their own

plants along for advice) – Tony Nappin.

Thu 12 Apr 2018 7.30pm - Plant Propagation from seed/softwood cuttings & Colourful Summer Containers – Peter Chivers

Thu 10 May 2018 7.30pm – Garden Plant & Garden Item Auction. Your chance to donate and bid!

Thu 14 June 2018 7.30pm - An evening with Fred Dinenage, MBE. Television presenter, broadcaster and author Fred has

had a TV career spanning more than 50 years. Fred will give us a talk about his life and his time

in television.

Thu 12 July 2018 1.30pm - Visit to Staunton Country Park and talk and personal guided tour by Chris Bailey, Head

Horticulturist with a tea. Please note this is an additional event to our Club's Programme

(traditionally we do not have a meeting in July. There is an additional charge of £13 per person

for this event. Transport will be self drive anyone requiring a lift should contact the Secretary

Judy Tedore

Thu 10 Aug 2018 7.30pm - Ventnor Botanical Gardens - Brian Kidd, Radio Solent Gardener who is undertaking one of his last

talks for us..

Thu 13 Sep 2018 7.30pm – "The Dutch in the Second World War" - Peter Gulikers. Peter is our first International Speaker who

is a guide at the Eywitnessmuseum, Beek, The Netherlands. This is a fascinating museum which

takes a human perspective to the Second World War. Peter will provide a fascinating insight

into how the war affected the Dutch people when their neighbours Germany invaded them.

Thu 11 Oct 2018 7.30pm - Madeira – a horticultural paradise - Matt Wakefield – followed by “Economical gardening” a

short talk by Club Member Judy Allen.

Thu 8 Nov 2018 – 7.30pm AGM, Quiz & Buffett Supper. Our end of Club Year followed by an excellent free buffet and a
light hearted Quiz.