Scroll down for details of meetings by date.
At all meetings there will also be the usual gardening stall, raffle and free refreshments.
https://villagegreenfingers.uk/

GORING VILLAGE GREEN FINGERS CALENDAR MAY 2026 TO
APRIL 2027
All meetings are on the 1st Wednesday of the month at Storton Lodge, Icknield Road Goring RG8 0DL, 7.30 - 9.30pm. We have a wide range of speakers and have a garden plant/accessories stall, raffle and free refreshments. Visitors are welcome at £5. Full membership for the year May 2026 to April 2027 is £35). Please visit our website villagegreenfingers.uk for more information.

6th May - A talk all about Medlars by Jane Steward
Medlars are an ancient, rarely cultivated fruit in the rose family, closely related to the apple and quince.
Jane Steward is a specialist grower and producer of medlar preserves. She is a member of the Guild of Food Writers (with a published book ‘Medlars - Growing and Cooking Medlars’ - which was shortlisted for Fortnum’s food and drink awards). Her article on medlars was published recently in ’The English Garden’. She is also a member of the Garden Media Guild and holds the Plant Heritage National Collection of Medlars.

Jane will bring examples of medlars along with tasting jars of the jelly and chutney and jars to buy, as well as copies of her book.

Competition - ‘That’s unusual’. Your own interpretation.

Members will also be given geranium plugs to grow on. They will be judged at the meeting in September.

3rd June - A talk about Planting a Small Garden by Timothy Walker
Timothy is well known for his informative and entertaining talks. He has long been associated with the Oxford Botanic Gardens and Harcourt Arboretum, finishing his time there as Director for 12 years. He is now a senior lecturer in Plant Biology at several Oxfordshire colleges. He will tell us how to design and plant a small garden or it could be a corner of a larger garden!
Competition - ‘In miniature’. A small arrangement of flowers

1st July - A talk about The Gardens of the Cotswolds by Anna Steven
Anna Steven BA Hons lectures at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. She is a NAFAS (National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies) National Judge, and has won a Chelsea Gold Medal for floral design. She organises tours to visit a variety of gardens, both in the university and further afield.
Competition - ‘Summer is ‘icumen’ in’. A collection of summer veg from your garden.

August - There is no meeting of the club in August.

2nd September - A talk about spring bulbs from January to May by George Lockwood
George Lockwood is a full time organic gardener. He lectures on a wide range of gardening subjects at Capel Manor Teaching College in London and all over the South East. He even gives a talk on perennials found in a royal garden! As we come toward the end of our gardening year George will give us new ideas for our bulb planting to give lots of interest in the spring borders and pots.
Competition - geranium grown from the plugs given out at the May meeting

7th October - A talk about ‘Gardening on chalk’ by local resident Amanda Heron
Many of us in Goring and the surrounding area have very chalky soil.
Amanda Heron is a garden designer trained at Sparsholt College, creating landscapes across Norfolk from walled gardens to large borders and compact courtyards. Amanda moved to Goring in 2019 and built a garden on a challenging chalk hillside. The garden design was influenced by the Sheffield Movement with designers such as Nigel Dunnett, and Dutch designers such as Piet Oudolf. Amanda experimented with matrix planting which is a high density, multi-layered approach to mimic nature, with lots of ground cover and grasses. These are then interspersed with perennials and bulbs. It is an excellent way to suppress weeds and create a resilient ecosystem.
She has also been very involved in the construction and planting of the new library garden in Goring.

Competition - ‘Pale and interesting’. A selection of anything in your garden.

4th November - A talk about indoor plants by Gemma Haigh

Award-winning RHS Chelsea Flower Show Designer, Gemma Haigh, is the founder of The Plant Parlour. Active in the online plant community since 2021, she believes passionately in sharing knowledge and encouraging young people to engage with horticulture. An enthusiasm for biophilic living and connecting with nature drives everything she does. In 2024, Gemma launched a consultancy and design business to help clients choose the right indoor plants for their spaces, promoting plant health and happiness in urban areas. House plants are often a neglected part of our ‘garden’. Gemma will advise us on re-potting, winter watering and pest problems with a demonstration on general care of house plants.

Competition - ‘Last but not least’ - what vegetables do you still have in your garden.

There are no club meetings in December and January

3rd February 2027
This meeting is only open to club members

Details can be found in your membership card.

Competition - A secret Garden

3rd March - A talk about Practical Wildlife Gardening by Dr Stephen Head
After working as an academic ecologist and zoologist, Steven now volunteers nearly full time to run the Wildlife Gardening Forum, promoting the importance of the garden environment to both biodiversity and people.
He will tell us how to encourage wildlife into our gardens as a benefit to all.

Competition - A spring bouquet of Flowers

7th April - A talk by one of our local clubs (TBC) - where one of their interests merge with ours.

More information to follow