Garden Club
NEXT MEETING
Sunday 15th December
Annual Christmas lunch, meet at Jan and Claude's at 11.30. Please nominate whether you will bring a salad or dessert.
No meeting in January!
Meetings are held in the Cherry Gardens Uniting Church meeting room, at 7.30pm usually on the 2nd Monday of the month from February to November.
President: Ray Wise: raywise@hotmail.com.au or 0405 273 003
Secretary: Shirley Callaghan: shirleyc5159@gmail.com or 0403 801 916
GEORGE'S GARDENING SUGGESTIONS FOR December 2019
Gardening at this time of the year can be difficult if your preparation has not been thorough. Plants, shrubs and trees are easily stressed by lack of water or irregular watering. This can be compounded when you are away even for a few days during the holiday season. Electronic timers which fit directly onto a tap are very good but are restricted in the amount of irrigation outlets they can service. Neighbours or friends also can be very good if they have been given clear instructions on what to do and how long you expect the watering to take place. At this time of the year a quick sprinkle is not good enough.
Watering in the cool of the morning is always best.
Liquid feeding will keep plants growing strong.
Some plants may require shade to avoid the afternoon heat. (use old umbrellas, curtains, shade cloth of course, even a recently fallen branch!)
Harvest fruiting plants on a regular basis to encourage continuing production.
Keep your lawn a bit longer than usual and feed with seaweed tonic once a month.
Net your fruit trees before the birds have a chance to even test whether the fruit is near ripe.
Deadhead flowers especially roses to prolong flowering
20th Birthday Celebration for Cherry Gardens Garden Club Inc.
After months of planning our local garden club celebrated its 20th anniversary at the Blackwood Golf Club on 28th October. The Community event was supported by an Every Generation grant from the City of Onkaparinga. 82 people attended with about half being club members.
Certificates for 20 years of membership were presented by Geoff Eaton, Councillor for Thalassa Ward, to Ralph Stephens, Lyn Meese, Meredith DeRoos, and Marilyn Marsh.
Raffle prizes were donated by Rebekha Sharkie, Steve Murray, Sandersons Fodder, Karkoo Nursery and Blackwood Landscape and Firewood.
It was a most enjoyable evening with a good opportunity to catch up with friends and meet new people.
We were entertained by local musicians 'Walk Right Back' (Bill Semple and John Forrest) with a guest bracket by Vicki Kirss
Steve Murray Member for Davenport presented Life Membership certificates to Glyn Brown, Shirley Callaghan, Melva Bruce and Ray Wise.
We were all amazed and fascinated as we listened to Neville Bonney, our October speaker on the unique subject of Australian Bush Tucker. He has authored several books on the subject of Indigenous Australian Bush Tucker, his most recent being ‘Knowing, Growing Acacia for Food and Conservation’.
Neville was a native seed collector for many years with Greening Australia, having also been involved in Farm Forestry and Flower farming. In his early retirement he became increasingly interested and involved in the foods of our First Peoples, and then their food gathering and production methods.
Neville and Christobel, brought along many samples of the greens and herbs which they grow on their property, for us to pass around to smell and taste. Some of us took slips and cuttings to try and grow at home. Among other leaves we sampled those of Samphire, a nutritious salty tasting plant which thrives on the edge of salt pans. Samphire is also grown and eaten in Norfolk in the UK. We also sampled, smelled and tasted various native herbs such as Bush Parsley, Bush Celery, 4x Native mints as well as Bush pepper which can be grown in a cool climate and prefers shade.
Delicious teas can be made from leaves such as Lemon Myrtle or its cousin Aniseed Myrtle. Native limes can also be grown quite easily and are increasingly used in desserts. Desert limes can be frozen for two to three years and then used in chocolates!
An interesting fact is that better known Quandongs and Sandalwoods are related.
The NRM Board at Norton Summit runs workshops and interested parties can contact Val Hunt to register. The Rare fruit Society is a good organization to contact to source these fruit trees.
Christobel kindly judged the rose challenge entrants and pronounced the winner as Raelene Holliday with her entry 'Brass Band' an unusual, fragrant Apricot streaked rose which was indeed a delight to smell and behold.
At the end of the evening a wide selection of plants was auctioned among them an unusual “Lucky Plant” which grows very tall and slender.
