A large number of people turned up to our meeting on a warm summer evening - one of the few! Gardens are looking at their best just now - bedding plants are growing well. Nonhardy veg like tomatoes, runner beans and French beans, courgettes, pumpkins and squash are enjoying plenty of rain and occasional warmth. The hardier carrots, parsnips, sweet corn, onions and shallots are racing away. And so the pests flourish too. Pigeons tear lettuce and cabbage to shreds. Red lily beetles are on the rampage. Their grubs reduce lilies to mere stalks. Chemicals are available. Otherwise squash the beetles if you can catch them! Slugs and snails - say no more. Remedies range from crushed eggshells to beer traps and copper collars to encircle the affected plants.
Society summer trips are now arranged. The one to Houghton Hall is scheduled for 3rd July and costs £13 (entrance to Hall and gardens and coach). There are still some places. Please contact Mary Muff on Norwich 453417. The half day outing to East Ruston is on 31st August and booking is now open.
Eileen Doyle the Show secretary encouraged people to enter plants, flowers, veg and home baking in the Show on 16th August. Show schedules are available at meetings or from Eileen on Norwich 457398.
The monthly table show included a vase of Rosa munda, early runner beans, streptocarpus and orchid. Our speaker judged the extra rose show - 3 stems in a vase. All were fine specimens. Next month there is an extra table show of 6 sweet peas.
Graeme Simmonds gave us a stimulating talk on the History Beneath Your Feet. Many of us have dug up bits of pottery and strange metal objects over the years, but Graeme made metal detecting his hobby while working at a stressful job in the Prison Service. Now retired, he field walks regularly. The best time is just after ploughing when there's been some rain. East Anglia is rich in finds dating back to the Romans - about 2000 years ago. Buckles can be dated easily by their style, but other objects such as thimbles are more difficult. His displays included a thimble from the fourteenth century made in Germany. They were used when sewing up sacks so are often found in arable fields. Even before the euro European coins were in use in the UK. In the 1700s there were more foreign gold coins in circulation than British ones. Ring seals are another common find. As many tradesmen were illiterate they used their seal to sign documents. Bells of all sizes come from animal harnesses and were often gilded to dazzle the 'evil eye' and prevent disease - some hope!- like the murrain (cattle plague - far more devastating than foot and mouth and very common in the UK until the Victorian period.) Buttons are plentiful as worn out clothes of shoddy (poor quality wool) were shredded and spread as fertiliser on the land. Graeme's most unusual find was a silver minted penny dating back to the eleventh century. This penny was never intended for circulation. It was part of the Danegeld, a payment given to the Vikings to persuade them to leave the country in peace. Unsuccessful, of course! Danegeld money was probably melted down by the Vikings and put to other uses. Very few of these coins have been found.
Grame's talk stimulated a lively discussion and his displays of a few of his finds aroused great interest.
Next month's meeting is on 8th July at 7.30pm in Cringleford Church Hall. Jan Pulger will tell us about the work of the National Council for Conservation of Plants and Gardens. (NCCPG). All welcome. Nonmembers £1