Seedy Saturday, AGM and more, all the current news from your Society

Seedy Saturday

Saturday 7th February, Mayfield Scout Hall 10.00 to 12.30

Banish the February blues: Looks like it could still be a little wet in early February if the past few weeks are anything to go by…we’ll all be ready for a cheer up!

Come join us in the Mayfield Scout Hall on Saturday 7th February between 10am to 12:30pm for our 3rd Seedy Saturday event. It’ll be a warm, uplifting morning with free entry and absolutely everyone’s invited, members and non-members alike. Grab a warm drink and a homemade treat and browse the tables. Plus there’s free squash and biscuits on offer for those 14 or under.

For the seedaholics amongst us, feel free to browse the 2,500 or so little packets of flowers, herbs and vegetables, carefully packed for you over the past few months by the Seedy Team, including: over 100 packets of Cosmos, 50 packets of sweet peas, in all over 750 packets of flower seed, including some new and unusual varieties.

Choose from 12 different herbs, including 5 types of basil! As for vegetables: 40 different varieties of tomato (including heirloom varieties), cucumbers, courgettes, peas, beans, carrots, broccoli, cabbage, squash, kohlrabi and many, many more.

These special seeds have been donated from local villagers’ gardens as well as from some of the best seed suppliers in the country: Tamar Organics, Vital Seeds, Special Plants, Chiltern Seeds, Emorsgate wildflower seeds, Suttons, Unwins, Moles and Kings Seeds, to name but a few.

All are in little packets so you can grow a few of many things. Why not try growing something new from seed this year?

Donations are always appreciated as they help us cover our costs, but not mandatory.

There’ll be regular seed sowing demos from Tessa for those who are new to the idea or would appreciate a refresher. Handouts available as well - listen out for the bell!

Bring your children or grandchildren to Critters Corner to collect free seeds and goody bags. Our 2026 Children's Sunflower Growing competition kicks off too with free giant sunflower seeds and growing guides with a cup presented at the Summer Show for the tallest sunflower!

Did we mention the raffles, wild flower seeds and hardy annual plants we’ll have on offer too? Can you afford to miss this wonderful event?

Hope to see you there!

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January Zoom Talk from Ken Thompson

It was yet another good turn-out for Ken’s January Zoom talk on wildlife gardening with well over 30 of you watching.

Turns out we’ve all been wasting our money on bat boxes and ladybird hotels in the past and what we should really be concentrating on first is encouraging the smaller insects in the food chain, such as solitary bees, by leaving bare patches in our lawns and building bee hotels with lots of different sized holes like the ones on the far right of the picture below, rather than the one on the left. There are lots of different sized solitary bees! Grow lots of different type of flowers for different pollinators, and leave some of the garden a bit ‘looser’.

The rest of the food chain will follow if we provide the basics.

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Memorial Hall Car Park Garden

Before work starts shortly on the demolition of the current Hall, we have received permission from the parish council for anyone who is interested to dig up the existing plants and shrubs in the garden and take them home.

For clarity, this garden is NOT the borders immediately outside the entrance gates, but the one inside the car park, to the left hand side adjacent to the Hall itself.

This needs to be done as soon as possible, and before the middle of February. It will not be an organised event, you just need to go and help yourselves.

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DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

AGM

Tuesday 17th March, doors open 7.00 pm for renewals, AGM starts at 7,30 pm.

Annual membership of Mayfield Horticultural Society runs from the 1st of March and costs just £7.50 a year, which buys you free entry to all our events (excluding outings) throughout the year and is outstanding value for money.

This year, why not set up an open-ended standing order on your mobile phone’s banking app? This way, you will automatically renew your membership on the due date and receive all the benefits of membership immediately, and we receive funds in a timely manner, rather than throughout the year, as is the case at the moment. You can set it up very quickly now on your banking app to start on the 1st March and you can cancel a standing order at any time.

The details are: Sort code 20-88-13, account number 10685259, account name Mayfield Horticultural & Gardeners Association. Reference, if available, FEE and your name. Thank you!

The talk this year is from Dr. Richard Claxton who is going to talk to us about the therapeutic gardening charity he set up called Gardening 4 Health and which will start at 8.00 pm.

As a GP and gardener, Richard had long been aware of the benefits of gardening for his own well-being, but more importantly for that of his patients. The aim of the charity is to roll out the availability of Therapeutic Horticulture throughout the UK via a database of local enterprises.

QUIZ NIGHT!

Our friends at Framfield and Blackboys Horticultural Society are holding a Quiz Night on Friday 13th February. Anyone interested please contact them direct.

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Website and Social Media

Don’t forget that you can follow all of our events on our website at www.mayfieldhorticulturalsociety.org.uk, and our Facebook and Instagram pages.

Happy February gardening!