Tuesday 13th January, being the second Tuesday in the month, was Gardening Club night and the first meeting of the year buzzed with life and enthusiasm. Subscriptions were paid and willingly, representing the best value for money since the demise of green and pink shield stamps. Membership cards were issued containing the programme for the year with details of how to access the Club website. Discount vouchers for Brimsmore Garden Centre were given to all and sundry as though they were going out of fashion. These were not to be taken lightly as they give 25% off the price of most goods, including all the glorious seed potatoes which have replaced the Christmas paraphernalia which has been cluttering the shelves since August. Raffle tickets were sold, coffee drunk, biscuits eaten, and the great 2026 potato growing competition was introduced. And all of this before the speaker for the evening rose to her feet.
Katherine Crouch did not admit to any relationship with the tall, gangly but very talented Stoke City centre-forward, Peter, but she did know how to get and maintain the interest of a group of adults for whom 19.30 was dangerously close to bedtime! Katherine is a gardener from near Ham Hill with a pedigree as long as a bindweed root. She spoke about her allotment and how her cropping had developed over the years from mainstream vegetables such as carrots to more outre offerings such as Taunton Deane kale, rainbow chard, walking onions and other things that do not appear on the supermarket shelves. She offered many good ideas as to different varieties which could enliven the gardening diet and was not afraid of admitting to using industrial quantities of butter in her cooking!
Find Katherine’s website here
