Please be aware that whilst we always do our best to assist the less able, accessible parking is limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
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Congratulations to the following keen Capel allotment holders.
Clear Silver Cup (Recreation Ground allotments)
1st Prize Mr & Mrs Shepherd, Allotment 10.
Highly commended Mr Martin Earp, Allotment 4
Hough Silver Cup (Temple Lane allotments)
1st Prize Terry Ward, Allotment 24
Highly commended G & P McConnell, Allotment 12
Judging took place on Sunday 16 July when a great improvement in general upkeep and appearance was noted at both sites. The judges were impressed with the amazing displays of artichokes and thoughtful planting of flowers to help pollinators. Congratulations to all our allotment holders.
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Help is at hand – check out recipes, both sweet and savoury submitted by members of our Society. All have been tried, tested and are thoroughly recommended – enjoy!
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Our village show just gets better year on year! The Horticultural Society is expecting a record number of exhibits in the Grand Marquee. Have you thought what you might enter yet? It is all about participation – dozens of different classes including flowers, fruit, vegetables, home baking, photography, handicrafts and so much more, designed to appeal to you all, regardless of age and aptitude.
Outside you will find the superb fete featuring traditional and contemporary craft and produce stalls, delicious afternoon teas, the Copthorne Silver Band, hog roast, pizza stand, Mexican food, beer tent and loads of stuff to keep the children happy including donkeys, owls and other animals. Dog lovers will not want to miss the Fun Dog Show, sponsored by Cobbydogs, (is it possible to insert link to p20 of Show Schedule) which starts at 2 p.m.
As if that wasn’t enough, the Classic Car Show will this year be featuring a record number of vehicles. An amazing mixture of cars from the glamorous to the every day.
All this for an entry fee of just £5 per adult whilst children 15 and under are free. Tickets can be purchased online at capelboxoffice.co.uk
Pick up a schedule today from Capel News or Carters, check Capel Horticultural Society Facebook page or download here.
Come along and support this local community event. We look forward to seeing you there, and, who knows, you might even win a prize!
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This coming Sunday, June 18th from 1 – 5pm there is a unique opportunity to visit nine lovely and varied gardens in Weare Street and Woodlands Drive (RH5 5JA). The gardens are being opened in aid of Alzheimer’s Research UK, the country’s leading charity for research into the causes, treatments and prevention of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. Tickets cost just £5 with under 13s going free. There will be parking at Stylehurst Farm and tea, coffee and cake at Newlands. You can buy your tickets on the gate of any of the open gardens or in advance from Carters or Capel Newsagents. Please do come and support this good cause whilst enjoying some hidden horticultural gems.
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Photos from our Plant Sale are now available to view in the Gallery
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Garden work for May
Flowers
Unless there is prolonged rain (which can happen!) water all newly planted trees and shrubs with a bucket of water every 4 days for a 2m tree.
Clip evergreen hedges but make sure you will not disturb birds
Once the danger of frost has passed, plant out cannas and dahlias.
Finish planting summer bulbs like gladioli.
Divide congested groups of daffodils when not flowering and leaf growth is finished.
Spiraea should be pruned by up to one-third to allow light and air in.
Cut back mildewed pulmonaria leaves to ensure health new growth.
Acclimatise tender plants by covering with horticultural fleece at night for about a week so that they can get used to outside conditions.
Divide waterlilies if they are not flowering well.
Vegetables
Provided your asparagus is established you can start cutting now.
Runner beans and zucchini should be sown early on. Because our garden is a veritable slug and snail city (even though we have a lovely lot of thrushes who help keep the snails under control) we generally start our runner beans in the greenhouse and plant them out at the end of the month. To give runners the best chance, sow them individually in the divided plastic trays (24 to a seed tray). Try to get the beans out before they start shooting too much and become tangled up with each other.
Remember to earth up your spuds by about 10cm when the shoots are well above ground.
Early on in May complete sowing cucumbers, courgettes and squashes in pots for planting out at the end of May/beginning of June.
Make sure you have a succession of lettuce and other salad crops by sowing a small amount every 10 days or so.
To control codling moth in apple trees hang up pheromone traps.
Make sure radish and brassica do not dry out to ensure good growth.
For heavy strawberry crops give them a tomato (high potash) liquid feed every week or two.
Support broad beans with a strong string and post structure.
At the end of the month, plant out sweet corn. Make sure that they are squares, rather than rows to ensure pollination.
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Our annual Plant Sale takes place on the morning of Saturday 13 May in the Village Hall. Home-grown vegetables, perennials, shrubs, geraniums and bedding plants will all be available.
As you tidy up your garden this spring, rather than discard unwanted plants, why not pot them up to bring along and donate for the Society to sell to others.
This is a very popular event – last year we had sold out by 11.30am – so get there early for the best selection. Tea and biscuits will also be available.
Further details: Sally Griffin. Email: sallygriffin321@gmail.com Tel: 01306 712870
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Using green manure
I have taken on one-third of an allotment located at the Recreation Ground. A full sized allotment is just too much for me, although someone else has just done that and made a marvellous job of reclaiming it from years of disuse. I started nearly two years ago and grew potatoes on it for the first year. The first early and second early crops were relatively successful. The same could not be said for the main crop, on which I had started out with high hopes. Quite what went wrong, I am not sure, but I suspect lack of fertility played a part, so I decided to manure the plot using the traditional method of green manure. It was, and still is, an experiment.
I started sowing my crop of Phacelia tanacetifolia, ( sorry, there is no common name that I know of), at the start of October last year and completing it by the end of October. Here is a photo I took of the crop in mid-April this year:
The fork is there to show the height of the mature crop, nearly a metre. It was just about to flower and by all accounts once the flowers go to seed it becomes highly invasive, so I was glad that I have been digging it in over time.
The idea behind green manure has been used for a long time by farmers when they used to sow nitrogenous crops lie red clover, as well as field beans and even radish to plough into the soil. Not only does this incorporate nutrients but also the organic plant material is useful in building up the worm population. I have noticed that this is already happening on the areas where I have dug some weeks ago. Before incorporation I only saw a worm on rare occasions, now they keep cropping up.
I hope to report in more detail later in the year when my onions and flowers have been raised.
Chris Coke
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Vegetables
Plant second early potatoes in the first half of April, with main crop in the second half of the month. Example varieties of second earlies are Anya, Catriona and Charlotte. Main crop varieties include Cara, Desiree, King Edward and Majestic. There are loads of others.
Pot on tomato seedlings into individual pots when they have their first set of true leaves.
Protect pests of brassicas and carrots by covering the crop with horticultural fleece. Make sure to secure all the edges. Stronger protection is needed if wild birds are a problem.
Now is the time to sow beetroot, carrots, Swiss chard, summer cauliflower, kohl rabi, lettuce, leeks, radish, turnip spring onions, peas and perpetual spinach.
Sow late maturing brassicas such as Brussels sprouts for transplanting in June or July.
Complete planting of shallot, onion sets and seed-grown onions.
Other jobs
For garden wildlife now is the time to sow direct annual flowering plants like marigolds, nigella and cornflower for insects and seed heads later. Oregano and thyme are loved by bees too.
Your lawn would benefit from a spring lawn feed. Products that include moss killer as well as fertiliser are useful. Once the moss killer has worked it will need raking out and removed. I have found that it takes ages to breakdown in a compost heap and is almost impossible to burn,, so the only way to get rid of it is to bag it and take it to the recycling centre (always assuming the MVDC allows us to do this in view of their policy to close these centres for one or two days a week).
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