We would be grateful if you could spare 5 minutes to give us your feedback on this years’ Capel Show

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You can also scan the QR code below to be taken to the survey:

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Don’t be surprised to see an invasion of scarecrows when passing through Capel between now and mid August.

Capel Show is set to take place from 12 noon on 18^thAugust and the scarecrows want to be sure you don’t forget to come along!  The Horticultural Society celebrates its 125^thAnniversary this year and their Flower Show in the Grand Marquee sits alongside an amazing display of Classic Cars.  In addition a traditional village fete and Fun Dog Show and so much more provide a great afternoon’s entertainment.  Beat the queue and buy tickets in advance www.capelboxoffice.co.uk £5 per adult children under 12 free.

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Congratulations to this year’s Allotment Competition Winners

Judged Best Recreation Ground Allotment:     Alf Shepherd

Runner up:                                                        Martin Earp

Judged Best Temple Lane Allotment:     Terry Ward

Runner up:                                               Viv Taylor

This year, because the general state of the two allotments sites has vastly improved, Dave Goodall, our allotments judge, suggested we present ‘runner up certificates’ at both the Capel Rec site and Temple Lane.

The Society has been delighted to be able to do this in recognition of all the effort that has been put into cultivating what is ultimately pretty heavy clay soil in need of constant attention most of the year round.

Judging is based on general cleanliness and cropping of the allotment.

Despite the lack of rainfall most of the crops growing were in good condition and the ground was relatively weed free.

1st prize Capel Recreation Ground allotments

1st Prize at Temple Lane allotments

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Whoops!  We’ve had several enquiries about the Robot Model Class and inadvertently forgot to add the appropriate detail – sorry.  Please click here for all the info you need.

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Garden work for July 2018

Flower garden

It will soon be mid-summer and many of the earlier flowering perennials start to look rather forlorn. It may be worth your while to be ruthless and cut back foliage that is straggling. In particular, hardy geraniums, delphiniums alchemia mollis (Lady’s Mantle) should all benefit from this treatment.

Stake sunflowers and autumn perennials like Michelmas daisies to help them through the time when the wind will blow. Remember to keep your mower blade raised in dry spells, allow the grass to grow to 3cm. Shade and ventilate the greenhouse.

When roses have come to the end of their first glorious flush of blooms, try to give them a feed of a complete fertilizer as this will help with the second lot of blooms. Don’t forget to dead head them as well. Outdoor chrysanthemums will also need a feed, one with a high potash content to help the flowering process.

Early in the month dig up and divide dwarf and intermediate bearded irises if they have been undisturbed for 3 or more years. Tall bearded irises should be treated in a similar way towards the end of the month.

When roses have come to the end of their first glorious flush of blooms, try to give them a feed of a complete fertilizer as this will help with the second lot of blooms. Don’t forget to dead head them as well. Outdoor chrysanthemums will also need a feed, one with a high potash content to help the flowering process.

Vegetables

July is a good time to be buying new strawberry plants, or propagate from your own runners. You should aim to replace all the strawberry plants that are 3 years or over. Remember to remove runners that are not needed.

Plant out sprouting broccoli, calabrese, winter cauliflower, kale and Oriental greens. Place bricks or tiles under developing marrows and squashes as it helps to prevent rotting and will aid ripening.

Early crops of new potatoes, early peas and broad beans will soon be finishing, make sure to clear away the top growth as soon as possible to make room for catch crops such as the round carrots and beetroot.

Complete leek planting as soon as possible. Sow swede by the middle of the month. Lift shallots when their foliage has yellowed and turned over. Make sure to dry them out completely before storing.

Tomatoes should be stopped after 5 trusses have set. If the bottom leaves start to turn yellow it is better to remove them and let the trusses develop in the sunshine. Keep an eye out for any sign of mildew and spray appropriately. The same goes for potatoes. If there is a bad attack towards the end of the month and it is too early to harvest it is better to remove the haulm and burn it safely, or take it to be re-cycled.

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Garden work for June 2018

Flower garden

June is the month when weeds go rampant, so a bit of time spent with a hoe will pay handsome dividends, even if the back does ache afterwards! Make sure ties on climbing roses or other plants growing on walls, arches, and such like are secure. There may be storms in July and if the plants are torn away from their supports it will mean a lot of time tying them up again.

Hedges need regular attention now, and should be kept in shape, otherwise they can so easily get away from you making the task so much more difficult. Grass needs to be mown, but keep the cutter bar on a high level and the lawn will look greener for much longer. Do not put sprinklers on lawns, even if they do turn a dusty brown, as soon as the rain comes back they will recover with surprising speed. If you do water the lawn you are wasting a precious resource to no real effect.

Roses are at their best towards the end of the month. It helps to keep them cut regularly and feed with a potash feed to keep them blooming longer. If you want to have specimen blooms it is advised to take out the side shoots carefully, as well as the smaller buds, leaving just one strong one at the end of the stem. Keep an eye out for pests and disease. Keep mildew at bay by regular spraying.

As alpine plants finish flowering, trim them back to keep the plants neat and compact. It will also encourage them to make good growth for next spring. Any gaps or vacant spots in the rock garden can be planted with summer flowering annuals or bedding plants to maintain the overall colour. Towards the end of the month cuttings can be taken from the alpine stock to increase the number of plants. Root the cuttings in a sandy compost.

Vegetables

If you are growing tomatoes in the greenhouse plant some Tagetes minuta which is more potent that either the French or African marigold in keeping whitefly and nematode populations to manageable proportions. They also work wonders in the garden when planted as border plants near dahlias and so on.

In the vegetable plot, make sure potatoes are kept ridged up, otherwise the tubers get exposed and ruined. Late Savoy cabbage can be sown now – use a variety like ‘Ormskirk’. Winter cabbage like January King should be planted out now. Leeks should be planted out using a dibber to make a hole about 6 to 8” deep, and then water it in well. Continue to make successional sowings of lettuce. Ones like ‘Tom Thumb’ ‘Little Gem’ and ‘Mini Green’ are fast growing, and the right size for many people. Webbs Wonderful is superb but rather large.

Frost susceptible, fast growing plants like courgettes and so on should be put into their final homes assuming that there is no ground frost forecast. If it has been very dry, make sure that they have a good drink before and after planting them out. But don’t water them all the time. Give the roots time to settle down and then water (if necessary, and allowed) about once a week with a thorough soaking, preferably in the evening or early morning before the sun has got its full power switch on

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Garden work for May 2018.

Flower garden

As the days get longer and the sun seems to be urging you on it is as well to remember that frost is still a threat, so be careful about planting out tender plants, especially in exposed areas of the garden. Better to wait until June. Sow biennials like Canterbury bells and Sweet William. Fast growing hardy annuals such as calendula, clarkia, cornflower, and nasturtium can also be sown, but do it early in the month.

May is a good month to divide primulas and polyanthus after they have flowered. It is a simple job to dig up a clump and then split it close to where there are crowns of leaves. Give them a place that gets equal amounts of sun and shade, as far as possible. They are woodland plants and like to have the benefits of both types of environment.

This is the month to sow hardy biennials – such as Sweet William, Canterbury bells, and Wallflowers. Start hardening off all those bedding plants you have bought from the Plant Sale earlier in the month, by keeping them under a cold frame, or putting them out during the day and putting them back under shelter at night. Keep an eye out for watering; it is easy for them to become dried out in patches, especially if there is a wind blowing. Equally, do not over water, which can be just as bad, if not worse!

Vegetables

Early Brussels sprouts can be planted out, and it is these that usually produce the best sprouts. Make sure to give them space, just under a metre (3’ in the old days), this way you will get a better crop. The space need not be wasted as you can inter-crop with early hearting cabbage, or early cauliflowers that will be harvested before the sprouts take up all the room.

Runner and French beans should be sown at the start of the month in seed trays with a good compost, so that you will have healthy plants at the end of the month when they can be transplanted. Keep onion rows clear of weeds by hoeing. Remember to thin out carrots and beetroot when they are still seedlings, much easier to do and makes for a better crop all round.

Ground for outdoor tomatoes should be prepared in May. They like a good rich soil containing plenty of rotted garden compost. Avoid grow bags if you want tomatoes that are flavoursome.

If you are taking part in the Potato Challenge to get the heaviest crop from a single potato in a bag, the key to success is to use Farm Yard Manure and to ensure that it has plenty of water, without overdoing it. As the shoots grow keep filling up until you reach the top of the bag.

Keep sowing lettuce in small batches in order to keep a succession going. They like cooler temperatures to germinate and once the daytime temperature goes above 20 C they will be less likely to pop up, so use May to ensure you have got them going.

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Whilst the sun might not have been shining Capel Memorial Hall was full of bright and cheerful exhibits at this year’s Spring Show on Sunday 8th April. Narcissi and other flowering bulbs sat alongside spring flowers, sticks of rhubarb and vegetable exhibits. The children’s entries put a smile on every face and the amazing home baking presented some mouth-watering treats. In this 125^thanniversary year for the Society a couple of Mrs Beeton’s recipes were included providing a great talking point and a test of modern culinary skills.

Exhibitors aged from 2 to almost 90 helped keep this well-loved event alive, next stop the Summer Show on Saturday 18 August.

Congratulations to cup winners, Suzanne Burlinson, Chris Coke and the two juniors Alyssa Chilvers and Joey Hopkins.

More photos on the Gallery page

TROPHIES and AWARDS, SPRING SHOW 2018

Hall Prize for Class 7, Best Collection of Narcissi   ………… Julia Forsyth

Hall Prize for Class 19, Best Bowl of Flowering Bulbs     …………  Dot Thorpe

Hall Prize for Class 23, Best Tray of Seedlings     …………   Chris Coke

Attridge Prize for Best Child’s Spring Garden on a Plate

Class 62 (5 years and younger)     ………..   Emilia Herrington

Class 72 (6 to 12 years)     …………  Joey Hopkins

SPRING SHOW RESULTS

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Garden work for April 2018

Flower garden

The garden starts to really get up and go after its winter doze. So, give your lawn a bit of attention in April, and it will give it the best chance of standing up to the worst that drought can bring later on. Here are a few things you can be doing as the weather warms up:

• Rake it lightly, especially if it has been treated for moss. Vigorous scarification should be kept for the autumn.
• Tidy up the border edges and take out the grass runners that have invaded the beds. Reseed bare patches.
• Feed the lawn with a branded spring and summer lawn feed that is high in nitrogen, use a spreader for larger areas.

In the flower garden start to put in support for perennials. In April, one of Capel knowledgeable horticulturalist’s garden used to look like a mini-forest in her day, but come June all her delphiniums, helianthus, and phlox were growing through the supports and not flopping all over the place. Top heavy plants like peonies and dahlias are best with a Y-stake or grid; pea sticks are useful for short, front of the border plants like penstomen. I have been cheating a little and have used short lengths of steel pig wire netting as a support, which works well but does look a little metallic to start with before the plants have grown up.

It is a good idea to leave a can of water in the greenhouse to warm up before you water, this will reduce plants getting a shock from icy cold water. If you are sowing fine seeds (like nicotinia) – water the compost first. This avoids washing the seed deep into it. As daffodil and other bulbs finish flowering, remove the dead flowers as this prevents seed formation and diverts more energy into the growth of the bulbs.

Vegetables

In well prepared ground, start your sowings for beetroot, carrots, Swiss chard, summer cauliflower, lettuce, leeks, radish, turnip, spring onions, peas and spinach. Sow other brassicas in trays for planting later. Remember to keep some ground back that is not too high in nitrogen and is ‘hard’ as they like to go into soil that is relatively compacted, otherwise they do not produce solid heads (for cabbage) or good buttons (for sprouts).

Watch out for hungry slugs and snails and take appropriate measures to control them, especially on the ‘baby’ plants, such as germinating lettuce and carrot. A single snail can munch its way through a whole row of seedlings overnight with all the delay that causes. There are seven species of slugs in the UK. Most live in or on the soil surface, but keeled slugs (Milax species) live and feed in the root zone. Slugs vary in length from 5 cm up to 12 cm for the large black slug (Arion ater). The later can be black, orange brown or even buff coloured.

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