Creepy crawlies, friend or foe?

Ken chatting to Pat over refreshments

Our speaker for June, Ken Whittaker, recalled that he was last with us exactly five years ago to the day on 11th June 2019, one of those strange coincidences. This time he gave an amusing talk on the change of approach in the gardening world to what we once considered as “pests”, a wide range including next door’s cat, slugs and aphids amongst others. He shared his thoughts on how to live alongside them, create the right environment to deter them and control problems without chemical intervention, welcoming audience participation as he went along.

Christie’s rose

Ken was accompanied as before by his wife Toni, his Executive Logistics Facilitator (ELF) whose helpful interventions added to the enjoyment of the evening. After his talk he drew the raffle whilst Toni had the difficult task of judging the monthly competition which was again well supported with beautiful entries. Our club photographer was in the kitchen doing refreshments this month so apologies for the quality of the pictures which don’t do them all justice especially against the brown curtain. Christie’s deliciously perfumed rose took 1st place with Audrey’s peony 2nd and Pia’s foxglove 3rd. There was a lot of member interest in Rosalie’s Deutzia ‘Strawberry Fields’ too.

Audrey’s peony

Members chatted to Ken and Toni over refreshments as well as collecting plants and seedlings for a small donation to the club, brought in this month by Brenda & Christie. We had earlier discussed replacing our monthly book and magazine stall with gardening paraphernalia as well as spare plants, and that will start next month. We even talked about Christmas!

Pia’s foxglove
Competition entries before judging
Rosalie’s Deutzia ‘Strawberry fields’