Our speaker for the Waveney Gardeners group for the February meeting was Bob Coutts (our president) who arrived laden down with pots, compost, and various twigs. He then went on to demonstrate how to prepare for spring starting with seed sowing with advice not to sow too early and to be sure one has enough space to accommodate all the seedlings under cover while the weather is cold. A perennial problem all gardeners complain about every year. He also emphasised the importance of clean pots and seed trays and if using rain water for the seedlings to use a fungicide to kill any spores. He showed us how to sow seeds and then went on to talk about potting on cuttings moving to a bigger pot and keeping an eye out for vine weevil especially in Fuchsias. Using his twigs of various trees and shrubs he demonstrated how to prune them, saying that timing was important and all stone fruit should be pruned in summer, apples and pears pruned now to encourage fruiting, and raspberries should also be pruned now. plants such as hydrangea, penstemon, and hardy fuchsias should be left until the end of March before cutting back. A very enjoyable talk with much humour and lots of questions from the members.
