Section outline
-
At Hillingdon Adult and Community learning we offer a wide range of Floristry qualification courses from Level 1 through to Level 3. Our Flower arranging for enjoyment and personal development include workshops, masterclasses 6 + 10 week courses for all levels of ability.
Our floristry courses are on a break and we plan to start new courses in September 2020. For information contact brookfield@hae-acl.ac.
uk .Floristry and flower arranging is the art of using fresh flowers and plant material to create an eye-catching and balanced design. Evidence of refined floristry can be found as far back as the Ancient Egyptians. Professionally designed flower arrangements incorporate the elements of design: line, form, space, texture, and colour, and the principles of floral design: balance, proportion, scale, rhythm, contrast, dominance, harmony.
Flowers stimulate the senses of smell, sight and touch and in doing so can also trigger memories, encourage reminiscing and reduce feelings of stress and anxiety. For these reasons, flower arranging is often a beneficial activity for individuals with Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia.
The benefits of working with flowers for your well being, confidence and happiness is vast.
Rewind the clock ten years, flower arranging lost its way a bit; the very thought of flower arranging classes, may have once conjured up thoughts of cold, and dreary community halls, tepid cups of tea and uninspiring, wilted flowers.
However, the industry is changing for the better, social media has had a lot to do with it, thank goodness!
-
At Hillingdon Adult and Community learning we offer a wide range of Horticulture qualification courses from Entry 3 through to RHS Level 2. Our gardening for enjoyment and personal development include workshops and 10 week courses for all levels of ability.
Our horticulture courses are on a break and we plan to start new courses in September 2020. For information contact brookfield@hae-acl.ac.
uk .Gardening is a great exercise for the mind and the body. Studies have shown that gardening decreases the chances of depression, lowers blood pressure and decreases cholesterol levels in blood. Gardening is also helpful when it comes to stress. It is a fulfilling career, hobby and a great way of seeking relaxation.
July
Summer is progressing
This is often one of the hottest months of the year and a great time to sit out and enjoy your garden. Keep plants looking good by regularly dead-heading, and you'll enjoy a longer display of blooms. Make sure you keep new plants well watered, using grey water where possible, and hoe off weeds, which thrive in the sunshine.
Top 10 jobs this month (info from the RHS)
Deadhead bedding plants and repeat-flowering perennials, to ensure continuous flowering
Clear algae, blanket weeds and debris from ponds, and keep them topped up
Give the lawn a quick-acting summer feed, especially if not given a spring feed
General care
Fruit
Protect fruit blossom from frost, but make sure insects can access the flowers or else hand pollinate them.
Apply a nitrogen feed to plums, cherries, cooking apples and pears as they’re hungry feeders.
Switch to a summer feed for all citrus trees.
Increase the watering of citrus as growth resumes.
Pollinate strawberry flowers under glass by brushing over them with your hands.
Mulch raspberries, blueberries, cranberries and lingonberries with well-rotted farmyard manure (not mushroom compost as it is too alkaline).
Apply a high nitrogen feed to blackcurrants.
Apply sulphur chips to beds of blueberries, cranberries, and lingonberries if needed.
Apply a mulch around fruit trees, nuts, and bushes as long as the ground isn’t frozen.
Re pot or top dress container-grown fruit if needed.
Vegetables
Cultivate and prepare seedbeds, covering them with clear polythene or fleece to warm up the soil before sowing.
Protect early outdoor sowings with fleece and polythene.
Feed crops that have been standing all winter.
Continue to force chicory.
Put supports in place for peas.
Start preparing runner bean supports and trenches for sowing (in May) or planting out (in June).
Prepare celery trenches.
Try to avoid digging in wet weather, but if gardening on wet soil, work from a plank of wood, to avoid treading on the bed and compacting the soil.