Page 54 • The HERALD • 11th May 2023 v SEND ALL YOUR NEWS TO THE HERALD v ✿ DOWN THE GARDEN PATH ✿ Fred Hurst 023 8084 2191 or 07761 467217 • Grass Cutting • Garden Clearance • Hedge Cutting • Fallen Trees Cleared • Mini Digger Hire with Operator • Property Clearance • Small Demolition • Tractor Flail Cutting FULLY INSURED v FREE QUOTATIONS All Aspects of Garden Work Undertaken • Driveways • Paving • Artificial Grass • Turfing • Decking • Fencing • Hedge Cutting • Landscaping Hythe Garden Contractors Family company established 1977 For a free quotation please call 023 8084 3556 or 023 8084 0378 RPD Landscapes Building & Paving • Patios • Driveways • Fencing • Turfing • Brickwork • All Property Repairs Free Estimates 07707 390791 023 8007 0386 Smithwood Landscaping Professional Gardening & Landscaping • Garden Redesign • Astro Turf • Trees & Shrubs Carefully Pruned • Rockeries Designed • Fencing • Ground Cover • Seasonal Tidy Ups No Job Too Small as I am a Local Gardener Any advice over the phone is freely given Contact Gary (Master Landscaper) 07707 433194 BEAULIEU HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY For the May meeting, Beaulieu Horticultural Society members welcomed Martyn Cox who gave a most interesting talk entitled ‘ e Secret History of Fruit’ Martyn is an experienced horticulturalist, an award winning garden writer, with a regular column in the Mail on Sunday and the author of numerous books and magazine articles as well as being a TV presenter and speaker. So it was no surprise that he was able to draw on his journalistic and gardening expertise to introduce members to some fascinating stories behind the history of some familiar fruits. He began with ‘Succulent Strawberries’, which can be summer fruiting only or perpetual ever bearers. We are familiar with wild strawberries which have been eaten by people around the world since ancient times and were probably brought to Britain by the Romans, but their fruits are very small. All the modern hardy, succulent varieties result from an original cross between a strawberry from Virginia USA and one from Chile. ‘Fantastic Figs’ are native to the Middle East and Western Asia and are hardier than many people suppose. A g tree in the garden of Lambeth Palace dates from 1556. Also contrary to some people’s ideas, there are no dead wasps in gs, just seeds. Martyn’s planting advice is to restrict the root growth and to choose a sunny position, with Brown Turkey as the preferred variety. e ‘Great Grape’ was domestically cultivated 8,000 years ago in Georgia and the Middle East. In England, 46 vineyards were recorded in the Domesday Book. e famous Great Vine, a Black Hamburg, at Hampton Court Palace was planted by Capability Brown in 1768. It still bears plentiful fruit and is the largest vine in the world, measuring 36.5m (130 ) long and 4m (12 ) in circumference. ‘Tangy Gooseberries’ were considered ‘the fruit t for a King’. ey are a native plant, cultivated since the 15th century, and important as they are the rst so fruit of the year and crop well as far north as Shetland. In the 19th century gooseberry clubs were popular and competitive. e record for the heaviest gooseberry was set in 2013 at 64.49grams (2.27ozs), about the size of a large hen’s egg. ‘Awesome Apples’ surprisingly are members of the rose family. e wild variety, malus sieversii, originated in Kazakhstan and spread following the Silk Road. Malus domestica has been cultivated for thousands of years and now there are more than 7,500 known varieties of which over 1,000 have been created in England. Many local traditions have been inspired by apples and they have long featured in art and literature. ‘Pears’ have been used as a food since prehistoric times and appear to have originated from central and Eastern Europe. ere are at least 3,000 known varieties of pear grown worldwide, with the most dominant varieties developed by the French. Martyn also included ‘Healthy Blueberries’ which are North American natives. ‘Ravishing Raspberry’ which are not always red. ‘Zesty Citrus’ originated in China and can only be successfully grown in the UK if given frost protection in an orangery, which then became a must-have feature on the estates of the ‘well-to-do’. Finally he posed a conundrum. Should we call rhubarb a fruit, as technically it is a vegetable? So Martyn concluded his entertaining and enlightening talk with food for thought. Future meetings: Saturday 13th May, 11am, East Boldre Village Hall for a Plant Sale and Co ee Morning. Tuesday 16th May, 7.30pm, East Boldre Village Hall, for a talk about ‘Drought Resistant Gardens’ by Janette Merilion. Garden visits in May and June are for members only. Membership is £10 per annum, visitors are welcome to the talks £2. For membership details please contact Lynne Hubbard: 01590 612408. Your Local Horticulture Society Needs Your Help! Dibden Purlieu, Hythe and District Horticulture Society are pleased to announce the date of the next Horticulture and Cra Show on Saturday 29th July. is event was started in 1904 and has been a popular event in the local calendar since then. Only WWI, WWII and the Covid pandemic have prevented it happening. Every year, cups are awarded to worthy winners in many di erent categories. A new committee is now running the show and would like to know some of the history to the names behind those cups especially when it is a memorial cup. It would also be good to know why the cup was being awarded in that class of the show and display this by the Cup on the day of the show. e cups are as follows: Vegetables: e Collop Cup, Carpenter Cup, Cyril Topp Memorial Shield; Flowers: e McLeod Cup, Linda Memorial Cup, Barber Cup, Pocock Vase, Wilson Cup; Fruit: e Fred Nutbeam Cup; Cookery: e Frank Blunden Memorial Cup, Halstead Cup; Floral Decoration: e A.M. Du Cup; and Photography: the Musselwhite Memorial Cup. hytheanddibdenpurlieushow@gmail.com or call: 023 8084 3576 If you would like a show catalogue they are now available from e Herald O ce, Hythe Library, the Council O ces at e Grove and St Andrews in Dibden Purlieu. If you have any information that will help them please email: Bartley Horticultural Society will be holding their Annual Plant Sale on Saturday 13th May. eir next meeting will be on Thursday 18th May for a talk by Gillian Taylor titled ‘For the Love of Roses’. en on Thursday 15th June they are planning a visit - arrangements to be con rmed. On Thursday 20th July for a talk by Martyn Cox titled ‘Clever Ways To Grow Vegetables’. Meetings take place on the third Thursday of the month at Copythorne Parish Hall, Pollards Moor Road, Copythorne SO40 2NT at 7.30pm. New members and visitors are always welcome. Visitors fee applies. For more information you can write to them at: Mavis Cottage, Pollards Moor Road, Copythorne, SO40 2NZ, call: 07789 352505 or visit their website: www.bartleyhs.org.uk For the Love of Roses
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