Our first meeting after the summer outings was a talk entitled Winter Gardening from Maggie Brown a lecturer at Pershore college. She emphasised that the soil is the beating heart of the garden and we must look after it.

Maggie is passionate about ways to care for the soil through the winter and stressed that we should never leave it bare but cover with leaves or even old newspaper covered over with grass cuttings or bark chips to protect it from bad weather.

She also strongly advised people to consider planting a green manure such as clover, ryegrass or white mustard on their vegetable patch, these take up nutrients which makes the soil less likely to waterlogged.

She ended by telling us not to maintain a particularly tidy garden in winter as a lot of insects such as ladybirds and lacewings will keep the garden healthy for us.

Maggie was an energetic and amusing speaker with excellent tips for the winter garden.

Anyone interested in joining us at Breforton should contact Barbara Jenman at barbjenman.bj@gmail.com or check the website for more details.

ANN WHITE