Nocton and District Women's Institute

July Meeting

An already lively turn out for our July meeting was added to by the addition of a further three new members plus two visitors. The business section looked at the various Witham group events, both those held recently and those to come in the near future. Our entry in the Lincolnshire Show was praised and although it did not receive a prize, the full marks for interpretation and presentation were well deserved.

Lincolnshire Show entry

Also during June there had been a visit to Sandra Bright`s garden at Ulceby and a very delicious afternoon tea at the Bluebells café in Potterhanworth.

Sandra Bright's garden

This month’s Luncheon Club visit to the Tea House in the Woods at Woodhall Spa and Septembers’ planned trip to Denman will both bring further opportunities for good company and good food.

The competition – 'A Small Herbal Arrangement' – brought a plethora of very beautiful and ingenious entries with Jenny gaining first place, Vee second and Ann third. The raffle prize – a lovely collection of herbs planted within a colourful container – was won by Elaine.

Herbal arrangements

The talk for the evening came from Gail and John Summerfield of Westshores Nurseries and with the title “From Plot to Pot” they were encouraging and advising us on how to grow more vegetables to use in our cooking. We were reassured that anyone can grow vegetables virtually anywhere and that getting a good book is an ideal starting point. Although many garden centres now sell vegetable plants it is still better to grow from seed where possible and to concentrate on growing what you like to eat. A large amount of vegetables can be grown in a relatively small space using raised beds and grow bags as well as garden spaces and allotments. The benefits of using good compost, crop rotation and mixed planting of flowers and vegetables were also covered and a demonstration of a range of modified gardening tools for those with disabilities showed that this is a hobby open to almost everyone.

Gail and John strongly believe there are six major factors to successful vegetable growing; picking the right sunny spot, getting the soil condition right, growing from seed where possible, keeping the growing space weed free, not being too ambitious and persevering.

Finally remember that 'the best thing to help a plant to grow is the gardener's shadow'. The August meeting is on Monday 14th at 7.15pm in Nocton Village Hall and is another open meeting. Entitled “Birds of Prey and Owls” this is a talk and chance for “hands on” from Fixters Falconry. The cost is £3.50 for non members which includes refreshments.

For more information about our WI please visit the website at noctonanddistrictwi.weebly.com

Please note: due to the planned re-build of Nocton Village Hall the WI plans to hold its meetings from September 2017 to Spring 2018 at the Pavilion in Potterhanworth. The dates of the meetings will still be the second Monday of each month at 7.15pm.

Report and photos kindly supplied by Jane Kania