Our monthly meeting of Aikga was held in December at the beautiful home of Arti Upadhyay at Chanakyapuri. It was a lovely winter afternoon and members started coming in slowly finding their way to her home. The guest speaker this time was one of our organisation’ s illustrious teacher Illa Sharma who is literally an encyclopaedia in gardening. A very disciplined lady who arrived well on time from Gurugram.
There was very good attendance as members do not wish to miss her informative class.
After a brief introduction and few announcements the lecture started where Ms Sharma touched on the topic of winter care of plants and gave very valuable tips on various issues that concern the gardeners during winter season. Illa Sharma talked at length about taking care of vegetables, fruits & winter annuals and the organic ways to keep the crop healthy.
After that she explained about the points to be kept in mind by the members while planning their terrace gardens, balcony gardens and lawns. Her main emphasis was on the ensuing flower show in the month of February at Gulmohar club for which the members have to send in their entry forms. She spoke at length about good cultural practices, minimum use of chemical fertilisers, the type of soil, benefits of using liquid manure during winters, planning and placement of plants and not to forget to add a smell element of surprise in the gardens which catches the eye of judges.
She also spoke about Adeniums and after her exhaustive lecture she took a question answer session and satisfied the gardening queries of all members
A vote of thanks by convenors followed by hot tea, samosa and gulab jamun and then a visit to the beautiful garden of Arti filled everyone’ s heart with joy.
A group photo is customary after every meeting so all the ladies happily posed for a lovely pic. All are now looking forward to the January meeting eagerly.
