The Rhydlewis Gardening Club Autumn Produce Show 2013

Here we are almost in September and you can tell that autumn is upon us; the earth smells of fungi and there is a chill in the evening air. We celebrated a good growing season with our autumn harvest of exhibits. Well done to all the winners, and an even bigger thank you to everyone who took part.

The Five Vegetables class was almost as colourful as the flower classes; the winner was Janette Sharman with Dilys Davies coming second. 

Kathryn Horton, a new member, with her winning tea cosy in the Homecraft knitting class. She was placed second in another Homecraft class.

 Joy Hayles, right, who hasn't exhibited before, won two of the Flower classes and was placed first and second in two Homecraft classes.

Winner of the D&G Williams Shield for Homecraft,  the Rose Shield and the Floral Cup was Pam Evens. Congratulations, Pam, an extremely good result for a regular competitor.       

The winner of the Vegetable Cup was Janette Sharman who displayed an excellent array of vegetables in most classes, as well winning classes in Homecraft and Flower Arrangements.

Don't forget to put the next meeting in your diary; Sue Parker is coming to talk to us about wild orchids on Tuesday September the 24th - 7.30pm as always.

The Summer Party in full swing

 July 30th brought Rhydlewis Gardening Club's Summer Party to Nina and Jim's cottage, Rhos Hill. 



We had a break in the clouds for the party, after a drizzly start to the week which allowed everyone to wander round our half acre. 

Luckily, this year has been kind to most of our gardens and our veg plot as been blossoming. We've given veg away, and beans, peas and courgettes especially are coming out of our ears, we've eaten so many.

 Naturally, most people brought a dish from their garden's produce to go on the table  - everything from our lovely tennis-ball sized beetroots to gooseberries and other soft fruits, rich, eggie quiches and delicious,  inventive
salads and other delights to compliment the round of cold beef.

The evening stayed dry, if not bright and some brave souls managed to sit outside and enjoy their food, chatting to late in the evening. 

It was particularly nice to see new members, we do hope you can come again; it's the Produce Show next and the programme is already available from Rhydlewis Post Office or, by attachment, from Nina and Jim.

Thank you for coming and sharing our garden with us for one summer's evening.

Garden Visit June 2013

 A fine day for our garden visit to Sychpant  near Newcastle Emlyn, where Doreen and Billy Driscoll garden with skill and humour combined. Over twenty of the gardening club came to wander through the sunny garden, chuckling at the horticultural jokes and admiring the skill and determination of the gardeners. Doreen is always working on her garden; the Japanese garden is the latest addition.  The various themes were entertaining and imaginative, and I also loved the vegetable plot, which was the only conventional part of the garden, I think! The pictures will give you some idea of how original and successful her planting and landscaping is.

Afterwards we all went to the Riverside Cafe for stupendous veggie buffet meal. 
Still bathed in sunshine, some of us ate and chatted by the Teify in the Riverside garden. 
Everyone seemed to have a good time.

So now we turn our attention to the Summer Party; it's just all fun, fun, fun this time of year for Gardening Club Members.

Spring Show 2013

The Spring Show was voted a success by everyone who attended; the weather has been bitter for so long, with almost no let-up after a extremely wet winter, which 

made every single entry a triumph of gardener over climate.

Well done all exhibitors, and congratulations especially to Janette Sherman, who won the Derrick and Barbara Calow Memorial Cup, to Liz Climmer for her unusual and near-perfect spray of forsythia, which won Best in Show, and to Erica Knight for winning Best Exhibit Class 23...those pesky club tulips!

September Meeting

Waun Llan

Jillie Hollins, owner and gardener at Waun Llan in Llandyfriog, gave the Gardening Club a witty and fascinating talk, telling us about her life, and the gardens she has created around the globe, as she moved from country to country with her husband Rear Admiral Hollins.

She told us how she created a garden in desert conditions (put a seed into the sand and water it, and it will grow), and on the slopes of Gibraltar; how she dined with Lord Mountbatten and loved and trained horses for most of her life. She told us that, on returning to Britain, they searched everywhere for the right house for retirement; her husband Hugo wanted a river for the fishing and she wanted several acres that would challenge her landscaping skills. They searched the UK, but when they saw the house in Llandyfriog, knew it was for them. 

Jillie has a way with hostas, geraniums and climbers. She's diverted a small run of the Teifi to create a natural area of brook and wilder plants and she is, in my view, especially creative with her trees. but I was impressed, not only with her understanding and knowledge, but with her humility as a gardener. She said that she was creating this garden not only for her own joy, but for that of the people in this area of Wales...if the family are at home, it's open to the public...and that Waun Llan's beauty will live after her, which is something she works toward.

We had a lot of questions for Jillie, after the talk. My favourite of the tips she gave us...search charity shops for items that can be used as vases, especially if you plan to give your arrangement away...and she'd taken her own advice. She'd brought with her two attractive and original arrangements of herbs and late flowers and kindly donated them to the raffle; one was in a ramekin, the other in an elegant lidless teapot. 

a small section of Jillie's garden

We were delighted to give Jillie a donation for the Pembrokeshire Sea Scouts; an organisation that really helps young people not only learn to love the sea and boats, but also shows them how to value and challenge themselves as they grow.

THE PRODUCE SHOW 2012

We held a very successful Produce Show on Tuesday 28th August, especially when the summer weather is taken into consideration. There were some superb vegetable exhibits  (Dai Jones' onions spring to mind!) and the displays of garden flowers were wonderful. Beth Cook's fantastic chocolate birthday cake, in the form of a blooming garden, was a particular talking point, well done on winning a first prize, Beth, in your first Rhydlewis G C Produce Show.

The winner of the cups are as follows;

Vegetable Cup - Janette Sharman
Rose Shield - Pam Evans
J.T. Davies Shield  - Dia Jones
Floral Cup - Pam Evans
Best Exhibit in Show - Eluned Jones
D&G William Shield for Homecraft - Pam Evans

A huge congratulations to all the winners, and a massive thanks to everyone who exhibited their fruit, flowers and homecraft items...now you can all start planning your bulbs for the Spring Show

Bryn Collen from the garden

On Tuesday 31st July, we held our annual summer party. This year it was at Bryn Collen, Jenny’s house. Jenny and her late husband Jim has maintained this extraordinary garden, with plants from all over the globe, for many years, and we were all praying for a sunny evening so that we could enjoy strolling around. The rain held off for an hour or two and, apart from a couple of muddy areas at the bottom of the valley, everyone managed to stroll most of the garden and enjoy the displays, which, despite the bad weather this year looked good.  

Bryn Collen is a great house for a party, plenty of room and lots of things to start a conversation. There was an excellent turnout for the party, with three new members arriving that evening; Vicky from Brongest, and Liz and Gary, who are newcomers into Rhydlewis.

Everyone had helped supplied the potluck supper and supplement the joint of cold beef and side of cold ham that club funds had contributed. The puddings were particularly exquisite, with bannofi pies, pavlova and trifle to tempt.  

 So a hearty thanks to Jenny, who organised the event. The next club event is the autumn show. The schedule for entries is now up on this site on its own page; please do enter whatever you can and please do encourage your children and nieghbours to do the same.