Halton Gardening Group
The Gardening Group was established in 2012 with the aim of providing a forum to share information, swap plants and gardening know-how, and to improve the local environment of the village of Halton.
Meetings are held in the Coffee Shop at the Centre on the 3rd Tuesday of each month from 10 am to 11.30 am. (no meetings August, December or January).
All are welcome. You don’t need any gardening knowledge or expertise. We are keen to involve all sections of our community, and we are open to ideas and suggestions for individual and community benefit. We are enthusiastic amateurs with a varied range of knowledge and experience.
Contact either Anne Snowden (Secretary) on tel: 07523 182617 or Monica Williams (Chair) on tel: 01524 811068 for more information on the Group.
Our next plant sale will be on 16th May 2020.
Our most recent event – Autumn Plant & Bulb Sale September 2019
This was a new venture for the group not having held an Autumn sale before or sold bulbs in bulk so we weren’t sure what to expect.
In fact the sale went well and we raised a good amount towards our landscaping project so thanks to everyone who came to the Autumn Plant and Bulb Sale & Coffee Morning.
The sale profits, together with those from the previous sales, will go towards hard landscaping work and replanting at the Centre:
The slope to the left of the Centre steps has been much admired but is dangerous to work on and needs to be terraced to provide safer working conditions. Terracing will also allow the addition of more workable soil, and a proposed low retaining wall will prevent soil spilling on to the path. The character of the planting with its grasses and alliums will be maintained but both plants and gardeners will enjoy much improved conditions once the work has been completed.
Gardening Group Projects
Members have taken on specific projects and successfully enhanced areas in the village such as the walkway to The Centre @Halton from the High Road, the Memorial Garden, entries to the village, the Burial Ground, some of the areas around The Centre and planters by the bus stop opposite Top Shops, the bus stop by the mini roundabout, and in 2019, a new planter near the village store and outside the Centre.
Wild flowers at the Centre
Eagle eyed visitors to the Centre will have noticed results of quite a different gardening project. Last summer the Gardening Group dug and prepared three patches on the football field slope and sowed mixed wild flower seeds from Kew, helped by pupils from St Wilfrid’s School. Despite the drought some of the annuals flowered and this summer visitors have enjoyed several types of colourful perennials.
Attractive signs designed by school pupils now mark these three original wild flower areas. On 1st June this year many of the large invasive plants on remaining areas of the slope were removed by members and friends at a very strenuous Big Dig session. A mixture of meadow grass and annuals was sown with posts and tape added to mark these new areas.
This wild flower work is ongoing and hopefully the bank will be covered eventually in mixed grass and wild flowers for all to enjoy.
Photographs during the year
Plant Sale May 2019
Some of the group and helpers on the day. There was a queue outside before 10am and when we opened the door people hurried in with their plant shopping lists! We offered as wide a range as we could, and some plants went like hot cakes. We had tables and chairs near the cake stall and it was good to see people relaxing for a while after they’d had a look round and made their purchases.
Thanks to everyone who gave their time, made cakes, and donated plants and tombola prizes. We were very pleased with the event and raised a decent amount for our next project. A few plants were left over which we donated to Animalcare.
Plant and Craft sale 2018
The main hall was in full bloom for the Plant and Craft Sale on 19th May 2018. It was almost like the Chelsea Flower Show! Money raised was put towards replanting the various areas and new planters. At the end of the sale the raffle was drawn. Prizes were donated by local people and businesses, including A M Hair, Blacks Chippy, Halton newsagent, Halton Village Butchers, HiQ Garage, Lancastle International, Out of the Woods and The Greyhound, thanks to everyone for their kind donations.
Garden Safari 2017
A successful event around the village
For information on the Group’s contribution to the development of the borders at The Centre, see this story:
https://www.haltoncentre.org/2013/07/great-work-on-beds-and-borders/