The Inaugural meeting of the Patcham Gardeneing Network is on Wednesday 30th March at 7.pm in the Ladies Mile Pub Hall. We are looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible. Refreshments will be available in the pub ( so you can have a glass of wine or two!) and we have invited some local plant sellers to sell their plants on the night. Our first meeting will be to explain what ideas and events we have in mind for the coming months but we also want to hear from you. What would you like this new group to do? Is there anywhere you would like to go - as a group outing? What gardening subjects would you like us to cover - maybe 'pruning' or propogation? 

If you look at the events page you will see we already have booked some fantastic speakers but we may add more things if the interest is there. Maybe a seed and plant swap day or a workshop ? 

This meeting is free but we will need to set a membership charge in the future to cover our costs. However, we want the Network to be as inclusive and accessible as possible so our subscription will not be excessive. 

So tell your friends and come along or, if you can't make the date, email us if you would like to join the PGN on and we will be in touch. 

email:   [email protected] 

Welcome to the Patcham Gardening Blog page. The authors of this are not gardening experts but we have researched (a little) on the actions you can take in February to help your garden. 

Snowdrops and hellebores are now in flower bringing some joy to an otherwise cold month. The warmer weather this month has encouraged spring bulbs to grow with early daffodils and primroses breaking through.

If you have taken over a new garden, now is the time to do a soil analysis. You can ask firms to do this for you but you can always buy a kit from a Garden Centre. This will tell you whether you have an acid or alkaline soil. 

Its a good time to mulch your borders with a thick layer of compost or well-rotted manure. Its too early to plant out many seeds but you can sow sweet peas indoors or under glass. Early peas and broad beans can be sown outdoors. If you plan to grow 'early' potatoes buy the tubers as soon as possible and arrange them indoors on a windowsill in shallow boxes ( an egg box is ideal) with the 'eyes' uppermost to allow the tubers to sprout.