BretonHeath
www.bretonheath.me.uk

Three Villages Gardening Club

Background

We are a small friendly gardening club, centred on the three villages of Birch, Layer Breton and Layer Marney, about 5 miles south of Colchester in Essex.

The Club was set up in 2006 and currently has around 50 members, most living in the villages and surrounding area.

We are all very interested in gardening, we enjoy the company of others with a shared interest and we try not to get too technical! Gardening should be fun and in our Club it certainly is. Everyone turns up for every meeting if they possibly can.

When Do We Meet and What do we do?

We meet every month, usually on the second Monday at 7.30 in the evening. Normally we meet in Birch Memorial Hall during the winter months. In the summer we arrange perhaps two or three evening visits to gardens or other outside venues, plus a social barbecue for members and their guests. The December meeting always has a strong social element to it. Occasionally a few members get together in small groups for visits to gardens, guided talks etc. Many of us enjoy visiting somewhere in the company of a few others rather than going alone, so a little informal co-ordination is provided. Usually these are very small groups of perhaps up to 8 members who purchase their own tickets but share transport with someone they know. One very useful function provided by the Club Committee is to scan through the large number of courses and events and keep members informed of a few local ones that may be of interest.

In 2008 we arranged two coach trips, in order to increase the choice of places to visit without having to take our cars long distances. However this needs a very high take-up of places in advance in order to keep costs within limits. It is also difficult to find dates convenient to members when venues will accept coach parties; 'high season' times get booked up very early, and can be very crowded.

What Does it Cost?

Membership costs £15 for a calendar year (only £12 for existing members renewing for 2010) and there is a meeting attendance fee of £3 to cover hall expenses etc.

Contacts

The chairman is Geoff Russell Grant. You may email him - see contact page for address. He can be telephoned on 01206 330235; in many ways that is better, as you may want to ask questions.

We use email for most of our regular Club communications as it reduces cost and clerical time.

2010 Programme

The schedule of monthly meetings is set out below. Additional events may be shown separately as appropriate.

Bulk Purchasing Schemes

We run both spring and autumn bulb purchasing schemes. We also order snowdrops, aconites and bluebells 'in the green' in bulk. One significant benefit for bulbs and herbaceous stock is the range of species and cultivars available; few retailers stock a wide or predictable range, or provide a catalogue from which to draw up a planting scheme. We also belong to the Kings Seeds Club Purchase scheme, which gave a 50% discount on all club seed orders placed from their 2010 Club Catalogue. Members participating had to submit their order via the Club as part of a once-only annual ordering process, with each order individually packed and delivered to the Club.

Library

As a Club we have no central library yet. However, individual members have a huge range of material from books through advisory leaflets to course notes. One of our objectives is to make this source of reference available to all members. However we are well aware that setting up a complicated system is a waste of time unless members both wish and are able to make use of it. It may well be that publishing a bibliography will go a long way towards achieving something useful.

Hints and Tips

At present we do not intend to provide these on our own website. There is already too much information available, so we aim to provide links - see Links section at the foot of this page. We accept no responsibility for the content of these sites.

2010 Programme of Monthly Meetings

We usually meet on the second Monday of the month at 7.30pm in Birch Memorial Hall.

Details of visits in July and August will be posted once they have been finalised.

Links

Please Note:   Using any of the links below will open a new window in your browser. After visiting the linked site, close the new window to return to this page.

CLUBS AND SOCIETIES

• Royal Horticultural Society (www.rhs.org.uk)   Useful for many things including advice, gardens to visit and plant finder.
  The Plant Finder (www.rhs.org.uk/rhsplantfinder/plantfinder.asp) is particularly useful as it not only shows nurseries nearby, but gives their complete stock list.
• The Alpine Garden Society (http://www.alpinegardensociety.net)   Amongst other things, the Society holds an excellent Spring Show at Harlow each year.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

• Botanical Dictionary (www.botany.com/index.16.htm)   'What it says on the tin.'
• Horticultural Week (www.hortweek.com)   The newspaper for professionals.
• Nomix Enviro (www.nomix.co.uk)   Wholesale herbicide suppliers (do not sell to the public). Useful technical data. Not all products available for amateur use.
• Monsanto (www.monsanto-ag.co.uk/layout/industrial/information.asp)   Information on use of knapsack sprayers.
• William Sinclair. (www.william-sinclair.co.uk/)   Wholesaler. Composts, propagation, etc. Good information on products plus local stockist locator.
• The Gardening Website. (www.thegardeningwebsite.co.uk/category.do)   A portal to many useful sites.

PLACES TO VISIT

• The National Trust. (www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main)
• The Old Vicarage (www.e-ruston-oldvicaragegardens.co.uk)   At East Ruston.
• Hyde Hall (www.rhs.org.uk/Whatson/gardens/hydehall/about.htm)   The RHS gardens in Essex.
• Marks Hall Gardens & Aboretum (www.markshall.org.uk)   North of Coggeshall, off the A120. 18th century walled garden, ornamental lakes and cascades, parkland, 100 acres of developing arboretum, and acres of ancient woodland.
• The Beth Chatto Gardens (www.bethchatto.co.uk)   At Elmstead Market, just east of Colchester. Noted gardens created by Beth Chatto and her late husband. Good place to pick up garden ideas. Plants for sale and tea room.

PLANT, BULB AND SEED SUPPLIERS

• Church of Bures. (www.churchofbures.co.uk)   Wildflowers and grasses.
• Emorsgate of Kings Lynn.   (www.wildseed.co.uk)   Wildflowers and grasses.
• Marshalls Seeds. (www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk)
• Suttons Seeds. (www.suttons-seeds.co.uk)
• Thompson & Morgan. (www.thompson-morgan.com)
• Hart Canna (www.hartcanna.com/catalog.htm)
• Ken Muir   (www.kenmuir.co.uk)  Fruit Trees, strawberry plants, asparagus etc.
• J Parkers Wholesale (www.dutchbulbs.co.uk)   Dutch bulbs.
• Woottens of Wenhaston (www.woottensplants.co.uk)   Iris and Day Lilies especially.
• Growing Together (www.growing-together.net)   Local garden centre at Layer Marney, offering advice on gardening matters.

EQUIPMENT & MATERIAL SUPPLIERS

• Mower Magic (www.mowermagic.co.uk)
• Felco Secateurs (www.worldoffelco.co.uk)   Makers of top quality secateurs. For Felco servicing phone 01162 344 646. This number is for Burton McCall whose address is: Burton McCall Limited, 163 Parker Drive, Leicester LE4 0JP.
• Nigel Kay's Discount (www.kaysdiscountgarden.co.uk/1.html)
• Simply Control (www.simplycontrol.com)   Watering, heating controls etc.
• Just Green (www.just-green.com)   'green' products (e.g. biological controls) and advice. Based at Burnham on Crouch.
• Boddingtons (www.boddingtons-ltd.com/forestry/introduction.htm)   In Maldon. Supply plastic fencing products.
• Danbury Fencing (www.danburyfencing.com)   Fencing posts, wire etc. No prices on website. Visit or phone. Just south of Witham.
• Scarletts (http://ladybirdplantcare.co.uk/default.aspx)   Biological control information and products.

Page updated: 01 MAR 2010