We welcomed 22 members to our October meeting. There was a very full sales table and our awesome plant raffles. Both are our main sources of income, which help keep the club running. Thank you, members.
Each member was given a potato and a bucket, and will supply their own soil. We are holding a potato-growing competition to see who can grow the heaviest potato, as well as the best quality and quantity. Entries will be judged at our meeting on 4 February 2027.
For our pest discussion, we talked about the huge tiger (leopard) slug. Despite its size, don’t squish it, as it eats other slugs and decomposing plants.
Competition winners
Blooms: 1st Sue – wisteria, 2nd Shan – blue mist, 3rd Val – poppy.
Fruit: 1st Audrey – orange, 2nd Denise – orange, 3rd Sharn – avocado.
Vegetables: 1st Jude – artichoke, 2nd Audrey – broccoli, 3rd Sue – lettuce.
Preserves: 1st Denise – dried feijoa, 2nd Peggy – peach jam.
Next month, instead of preserves, we will be baking fruit to make a sweet dish.
We had an awesome visit to Earth Stewards Organic Urban Farm in Hamilton. They specialise in certified organic vegetable and fruit growing. As well as growing flowers, they grow several different vegetables side by side, as each helps the others grow and keeps pests away. You can visit their shop on Tuesdays and Fridays, from 9am to 4pm.
We had a couple of extra outings, including the Matangi plant sale and a visit to Rebecca, one of our members who is starting a flower farm. We also visited Roger Hunters in Auckland.
Our next meeting is on Thursday 5 November. Afterwards, we will visit members’ gardens and their neighbours’ gardens. We love seeing what is growing.
Also in November, we have our Christmas lunch at the Ngāruawāhia Golf Club and a visit to Jan in Cambridge to view her 190 hydrangeas.
For enquiries, please contact Laureen Slee on 027 764 1607.
