Bridford & Teign Valley
Garden Club
January, February, March & April 2026
February 2026 newsletter
March 2026 newsletter
April 2026 newsletter
This month Garden Club members and guests were treated to a talk about the progress of the Two Moors Pine Marten Project, given by Daniel Brown. He is an expert in the subject, talking from lived experience and we found it entertaining and informative to see the behaviour of the pine martens, captured on webcams. We also saw how they move about the landscape after their release, due to their tracking collars sending out signals,
some covering great distances before establishing their territories.
Winter
On March 5th we welcomed Saul Walker to give a talk on Woodland Gardening. Saul is an experienced and a talented gardener and has worked in a lead position at the Chelsea flower show as well as working as head gardener in several renowned gardens. His talk was very interesting giving us many ideas as to planning and maintaining woodland gardens, he suggested some fairly local gardens to visit Anthony House just across the Tamar, Higher Cherubeer near Winkleigh and Wildside at Buckland Monochoram. We are visiting
Wildside as club on June 4th.
Saul shared his list of plants for
woodland gardens which you’ll find
at the end of this newsletter.
The wet and dismal winter is now behind us and the bluebell season is in full swing, swallows are nesKng in sheds and barns and herbaceous perennials seem to grow larger as we watch them. The gardening year is really in full swing.
Tips from the RHS. Protecting your veg
• Keep an eye out for asparagus beetles, and pick them off by hand.
• Watch for the small holes flea beetles make on brassica seedlings. Water plants
well to help them continue growing despite the pest damage.
• Protect carrots with insect-proof mesh to prevent carrot root fly.
• Consider protecting vulnerable seedlings from slugs using biological controls.
• Protect brassicas and peas from pigeons.
• Pick yellowing leaves off brassicas promptly, to prevent spread of grey mould and
brassica downy mildew.
• Put up codling moth traps in apple trees.
• Look out for spur blight, cane spot and cane blight on raspberries, blackberries
and hybrid berries, and prune out affected stems.
• Put bird protection in place for all soft fruit.
• Remove weeds that risk smothering young plants by hand or by hoeing, and
continue through to summer.
Spring
