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Newsletters |
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Take the Challenge
A few months ago mention was made of using comfrey as a fertiliser. At the time Shirley offered to bring in some comfrey leaves for people to try this for themselves. This month saw the distribution of comfrey to a number of members for them to have a go with and use as a sole fertiliser.
First the leaves need to be placed into a onion bag or piece of netting so that they may be hung in a bucket of water until the leaves become all yuk and slimy, remove the leaves and throw onto your compost heap or around your flower bed for them to continue to do good. From the resultant liquor you can now make fertiliser for your plants. Start at 10 percent to water and increase as you see fit but do not use neat. Let’s see who comes up with the best plant grown with comfrey. Use just one of your plants for this trial and see if using a natural product can give you as good a result as purchased products, try it before you decry it.
ORCHID HUNTING
Last month was billed as being an ‘In House Meeting’ where usually we discuss different aspects of orchids. When we arrived I could see that the screen and projector had had been set up so something else had obviously been arranged. When I found out that our Chairman David was giving a talk I knew we were in for a very interesting evening.
Now, when David, his wife Pamela and friends David and Sheila (also members) go on holiday they don’t head for the bright commercial lights, and exposing all on the golden beaches for a suntan, they explore the little trod wild countryside for native orchids.
Like the orchid hunters of yesteryear our intrepid group risk all for the sight of the more common and the very rare plants, sneaky snakes, swarms of bees, and strange plants that grab you unawares as you are crawling in the undergrowth. They had travelled to Rhodes and Kefalonia in Greece to check out the wild orchids in the region. Some were very pretty, some rather bizarre and some unusual. The only ones I can remember the names of are the Man Orchid and the Mirror Orchid and that particular one I thought was rather sinister looking being almost black in parts. There were a variety of colours and shapes and in some instances only one plant was found of a particular species.
The local landowners were pleased to see the group photographing the orchids and allowed them to wander over their land. They suffered some discomfort struggling through the undergrowth for the sight of some they had never encountered before. Pollen was a nuisance especially to Sheila who suffers from hay fever, thank goodness for anti-histamine pills. But to us the audience their efforts were well worth it, the photography was first class and the wonderful display of native orchids was a feast to our eyes, Thank you David & Co for sharing it with us and may you go on exploring many more times.
Brenda Editor, David and Pam went to Rhodes first and then David and Sheila joined them when they went off to Kefalonia. It is something they do each year and are amazed at the changes seen within the species that are there, each year the quantity seen is very variable be it in Ophrys, Orchis, or even the Serapias. It all comes down to nature as to what will be there at the time of travel even though they do try to vary this to suit the possible number of species they can find to photograph.
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July 09 Abridged |
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Angraecum Sesquipedale |
