2018 Annual General Meeting - Minutes

Our 2018 AGM minutes are now available for you to read. They are displayed on the Notice Board on club nights. You can also request your own copy by contacting our secretary, Cate

Plant Sale & Coffee Morning in Wetheral - 19th May 2018

 
Despite the Royal Wedding celebrations,  VGC had a great morning too.

Here is a quote from Jude -

"Well, what can I say, other than an enormous thank you to all of you for supporting the busy event this morning....
The hard work you all put in was so much appreciated and I think that it will prove to be well worth the effort.

Janice, your non-stop plant sorting, pricing and labelling was awesome. (Tell Nick I totally failed in his request to me to prevent you taking home any more plants!)

Isabel, thank you for the beautiful advert you posted and your sterling work manning the tills.

Anne S. (the committee awaits you!) for assisting in the kitchen.

Ruth and Marilyn for organising the tables, decorations, and refreshments.

Joan for absolutely everything you did, not least with the broom!

Caroline for floral art and Lotto management....I still haven't paid

Anne MacD for keeping the purse and manning the tills and paying the bills.

My beloved for putting up and taking down the banner and kerb notices, putting tables/chairs out and back in again, and many wheelbarrow trips full of plants up the cinder path before porridge this morning.

If I have missed off any other please pass on my thanks.
And to the unknown person who stole the kerb notices from Plains Road......."

Sweet Peas - Thursday, 1th May 2018

Kevin Preston is a man who absolutely loves Sweet Peas. He is the largest amateur Sweet Pea grower in this country and is a National Champion winner. He lives near Carnforth and gave an inspiring presentation which included a slide show and lots of plants with which to illustrate his talk (and sell afterwards).

The scale of his growing and dedication to showing perfect specimens of these lovely blooms was awesome. Kevin is a professional gardener but his hobby is sweet pea growing. During spring and early summer he is often out on his large plot from 4am until 10pm, especially when 'tying in' and snipping unwanted growth such as tendrils are the specific requirements for dedicated sweet pea growing. Kevin also plants 5000 annuals for cut flower production!

To begin his talk, Kevin discussed commercial compost and stated that generally, the more you pay, the better the quality will be. However, there is an increasing tendency now for compost providers to include recycled waste within their product. If someone, somewhere, puts garden waste into their green bins which includes weedkiller or other chemicals, the ongoing contamination of the recycled end product will affect the future success of seeds and plants grown in it! Kevin buys 300 bags of commercial compost, mainly from Ireland, each year. He also uses 200 barrow loads of horse manure each season and to produce at least 7000 perfect Sweet Pea plants annually. An interesting point he made about spring sown sweet peas (his preferred planting time), is that in February, the compost is too cold to successfully germinate seed. Therefore he piles the bags of compost inside his home to warm it up first....he has a very understanding wife!

Kevin is rigorous in his growing hygiene, always washing recycled pots before use. He puts a small amount of vermiculite / perlite and grit sand into the compost, before sowing seeds from the second week in February. His seeds are not 'chitted' or soaked.

All of his 7000 seeds are germinated in his conservatory before putting out into cold frames or unheated greenhouses. Sowing continues until the second or third week in April. Planting outside is not started until the beginning of May. He never plants them out before May.

The prodigious root growth of Sweet Peas was demonstrated and suggestions were given about pinching out the growing tips to produce side shoots which always make for better flowers. With the Spencer variety of Sweet Pea, a 24-inch long stem with four flowers on each stem is the goal.

Sweet Peas grow about a foot each week, and as they are susceptible to blowing over, must be tied weekly to their canes. 5-6 hours are spent each evening on this task!

Sweet peas prefer a moist growing medium but suffer if waterlogged. Bees cannot access these flowers, as the keels on the petals are too tight. Breeders have to pollinate hybrids by opening up the flower heads, and this aspect of Sweet Peas means their self-pollinated seed is always true to that plant variety.

Introduced into this country 150 years ago, all original flowers were pastel shades. Now there is a huge array of colours available but no one has managed to produce a yellow bloom....yet.

With his other talent as an award winning flower arranger, Kevin Preston is a man who has dedicates his life to growing flowers, but his overriding passion is for Sweet Peas.

The 'original' Sweet Pea, Cupani was first cultivated by a Sicilian monk, Father Francis Cupani, who found this intensely scented wild sweet pea growing near his monastery in 1695. 

“Behind every successful man, there is a woman”

(Mark Twain)

Kevin is ably assisted and encouraged by his wife, Viv - who is a lecturer in horticulture.
 

Written by Jude Jansen + Pictures courtesy of Viv Preston

Various reference sources used

 

Summary of Kevin's Advice
Compost : Price usually ensures quality : Mix vermiculite/perlite with sand : Warm compost before sowing e.g. house temperature
Good nutrients in soil usually means that plants are less susceptible to pests & diseases ( viral or fungal). Use manure & fertiliser such as fish, blood & bone
Seeds don't need to be chitted or soaked. Sow in deep compost 1cm apart. (Kevin uses 2 litre pot for 50 seeds). Germination is in 10days. The root system is very long. Kevin advises that seedlings be grown on in 1 litre pots with 2 seedlings
The difference to flowering between autumn & spring sown sweet peas is 2 weeks. Kevin starts to sow in the 2nd week in February
Pinch out axial shoot to encourage side shoots, where best flowers come from
Never plant out before May. If there is significant temperature variation then bud drop occurs
Bees can't pollinate flowers so seeds collected come true from parent plant
SPENCER VARIETIES	OLD FASHIONED VARIETIES Grandifloia
Only type for showing where form & Shape are essential 24” stems	Great for scent
- Have frame of vertical canes up by June - Tie shoots in with twine, as more gentle on the plant - Remove excess growth side shoots & tendrils, so aim is for show standard blooms - Once axial shoot is at the top of the cane, the whole shoot is untied, lain on the ground for 2'. Then stem is retrained vertically	Look lovely on wigwams. Once growth is at top of wigwam, wind the axial shoots back down the frame to encourage flowering to continue
Show Standard. 12 vases of different colour 15 stems per vase 24”straight stem Perfect flower formation Peak flowering 2nd /3rd week July