Category: meadows

A walk in the grounds of “The Secret Hills”

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date April 12, 2012
5 Comments on A walk in the grounds of “The Secret Hills”

The Secret Hills visitors centre is situated in the small market town of Craven Arms a half hour drive from home. A Monday morning visit to the dentist took us to Church Stretton half way to Craven Arms, so to celebrate us both being given a clean bill of health we decided we deserved a coffee at the Secret Hills.

The visitor centre itself is an interestingly shaped building with a curving roof topped with greenery. It was one of the earliest green roofs. The inside features a library and coffee shop with occasional displays of art and crafts as well as exhibitions to celebrate all that make the South Shropshire Hills so special.

As well as a visitor centre the Secret Hills has wonderful, varied outside spaces which afford the local community and visitors the chance to explore meadows and copse and walk alongside a small river and a pool. but there are also surprises wherever one goes.

The Undergardener and I began our visit in our usual way by visiting the coffee shop to enjoy a cappuccino and latte respectively. But join us as we slowly amble around the acres outside.

We ambled slowly through a young sloping woodland of coppiced Hazels, whose leaf buds were bursting the tangiest green. The trail took us across a rough area of Teasles and tough grasses and led us to the River Onny, which in this section is a calm, slow moving stream.

Near a bridge carrying the road over the Onny, clumps of Daffodils were in the spotlight of the sun’s rays, affording them a see-through look.

We enjoyed the peaceful, slowly moving waters of the Onny with rashes of seedling Himalayan Balsam and the occasional glossy petaled Celandine growing within the dappled shade of the waterside trees.

After half an hour of gentle rambling, we left the Onny and wandered across a meadow where the sticky buds of recently planted Horse Chestnut trees were coming into leaf in one corner and as we were about to leave the field, in the opposite corner we came upon a community clay oven, looking like a giant pot. It’s domed clay top was carved with spiral patterns, like the shells of a Ramshorn Snail.

The huge sticky buds of the Chestnut Tree look and feel as if they are coated in treacle, and as they open the green of the fresh leaves is bright as a Golden Delicious Apple.

A bridge across a dried-up stream invited us into a wood of spindly trees.

We crossed the wooden bridge into the patch of woodland, and beyond it we were in for a surprise for we spotted two pieces of sculpture in the trees. so it really is true what the old children’s song said “If you go down to the woods today you are in for a big surprise”.

We looked at the details, the teazels and spirals of branches, and looked up inside the chimney shapes.

After exploring the sculpture and listening to the Great Tits, Chiffchaffs and Goldfinches calling in the tree tops, we made our way back to a bench on the riverside for a rest. A Dipper flew rapidly only inches above the water and passed just below our feet. These are beautiful birds like fat Blackbirds with white bibs. They feed around the rocks in shallow fast-moving streams where they watch from rocks constantly dipping up and down, but this one moved so fast and we didn’t see it stop to feed. On the opposite bank of the river tall trees grew thickly on a steep slope. Here we watched Nuthatches, Treecreepers and Great Spotted Woodpeckers feeding frantically and flying from tree to tree. But the real treat was the view of a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, a very small black and white woodpecker which is now so scarce in the UK.

After resting our legs we aimed for the bridge that crosses the Onny where it becomes shallower and more rapid. Here the Onny took on the guise of a upland stream. From the bridge we spotted more Dippers and a Grey Wagtail, before moving on across the corner of a field where a stile showed us the way into the small Nature Reserve. We watched a pair of Red Kite soaring over the tops of the tallest trees. We made our way through the wood on narrow muddy tracks until we found the river once again. Following its banks we returned to the visitor centre dropping in on the community allotments on our way. Here tiny plots of land are available to local residents where they grow vegetables.

The Secret Hills is an amazing community resource for the market town of Craven Arms and a special day out for visitors.

Tags allotments, birds, community gardening, conservation, coppice, dippers, fruit and vegetable growing, gardening, meadows, River Onny, rivers, Shropshire Hills, trees, warblers, wildlife, woodpeckers

allotments birds community gardening conservation fruit and veg garden photography garden wildlife gardening grow your own meadows natural pest control wildlife

A Day on the Lottie – mini-meadows and brassicas.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date April 10, 2012
4 Comments on A Day on the Lottie – mini-meadows and brassicas.

Yesterday we spent the day up at our allotment, with the aim of sowing mini-meadows and planting out Brassica plants. But firstly the grass paths separating the plot into its four beds needed a good cut. That done we prepared two narrow borders along one edge of the plot, raking the soil finely but adding no fertilisers or organic matter, for this is where we were creating our mini-meadows.

We sowed a mixture of 3 packets, a white cornflower called “Snowman” a native cornfield mixture and a Californian wildflower mixture. It seemed so strange to feel how light the seeds felt in my hand – a meadow in the palm of my hand.

We hope that our little strips of meadow will look good for us and fellow plotholders to enjoy, attract beneficial insects and bring in attractive butterflies. We particularly want bees to arrive to help with crop pollination. And of course they all entertain us while we are gardening.

After a quick coffee we scattered chicken muck pellets and fish, blood and bone fertiliser onto our brassica bed and raked them in well. I then trod over the area to firm the ground and raked again. Brassicas enjoy firm soil and they are less likely to bolt and help them fill out better.

We decided to plant the Brassica plants in trenches with raised sides to act as min-dikes. With all the talk of drought and possible hose pipe bans we are trying out ways of watering wisely. These trenches should ensure that any rain is directed towards the plants.

We packed away our tools and locked up the shed after a busy, productive couple of hours. Back to the community hut to collect one of the site mowers and the grass strimmer, and we were off to mow the grass around the community meadow area and the turf spiral. But we wandered around the site first and found three real little gems.

This first gem we found was a native fritillary growing in a batch in the first of the community orchards and the second, a more unusual fritillary, in a small patch in the Hazel Grove.

The third gem was a hatched shell near one of the native hedgerows. This little sky blue beauty is the egg of a Song Thrush, so we were delighted to find it. Thrushes are becoming more frequent on the site as our community wildlife areas are becoming more established. We often see them feeding under the feeding stations or rummaging in the leaf litter beneath the hedges.

We mowed and trimmed for a couple of hours before our backs shouted “Enough! Enough!”

Tags allotments, birds, brassicas, community gardening, conservation, fritilaries, fruit and veg, fruit and vegetable growing, garden photography, garden wildlife, gardening, grown your own, insects, meadows, organic gardening, song thrush, wildlife

allotments birds fruit and veg garden photography garden wildlife gardening grow your own meadows natural pest control Shropshire wildlife

Our Wildlife Friendly Allotment – Gardening for Wildlife Gardening with Wildlife

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date March 31, 2012
9 Comments on Our Wildlife Friendly Allotment – Gardening for Wildlife Gardening with Wildlife

Our allotment plot is only about 150 square metres but we cultivate it with wildlife in mind and have several features to actively attract the wildlife that can support our gardening efforts. We endeavour to garden for wildlife and with wildlife. Some we attract some is here anyway.

Many beneficial insects are attracted onto our plot to help us fight pests and pollinate our fruit and veg. The most important insect predators are probably Ladybirds. Lacewings and Hoverflies. Their larvae are voracious pest eaters.

We have created an insect hotel on our plot to attract the beneficial predatory insects. Our “hotel” is made from bricks with holes of varying sizes, wooden posts drilled with holes and every available gap filled with twigs, canes, cones, dried grass, in fact anything that may be seen by insects as somewhere to shelter and to hibernate. On its roof we grow Sedum which will flower and attract more insects and we have added a log for insects to hide under. We know it works as in the spring on warm days Ladybirds pour out to sun themselves on the bricks which hold warmth.

We encourage birds to visit our plot to feed off pests who want to eat the leaves of our crops. Our bird feeders attract Blue Tits, Coal Tits, Longtailed Tits and Great Tits who feed particularly greedily on aphids and caterpillars. We have also put bird boxes up to encourage birds to raise their young, both open-fronted boxes for Robins and holed boxes for members of the tit family, as well as roosting pouches for Wrens. the birds are so confident now that they use the feeders when we are gardening close by.

Flowers decorate the plot for our own enjoyment and the feel-good factor, but we only grow flowering plants that attract wildlife such as Sedum, Marjorams, Cowslips, Primroses and Evening Primroses that will attract butterflies, bees and hoverflies. Some species of butterfly overwinter by hibernating in our shed as adults or as larvae. The one in the photo took a fancy to my hat hanging on the shed door as his winter haunt.

The Tortoiseshell Butterfly is exploring the flower buds of our Sedum, which once fully in flower is busy with insect life.

We leave some plants to go to seed each year for wildlife. The Fennel’s yellow umbrella’s of flowers attract wasps and hoverflies. Wasps are useful on a plot as they are the only insect that will consume the caterpillars of Cabbage White Butterflies.

The seed heads of Globe Artichoke are a magnet for finches especially Goldfinches, but when in flower they bring in the bees.

Our next plan is to develop a strip of wildflowers so that we have our very own mini-meadow. This will also act as a Beetle Bank attracting beetles into the shade of the plants, and we need beetles on our plot as they consume slugs and their eggs. We leave bundles of sticks around and these attract the best predatory beetle of all, the Violet Ground Beetle, which we see whenever we cultivate soil or do any weeding. the males are large with iridescent violet wingcases.

It goes without saying that we garden organically, we mulch a lot and grow green manures to protect the soil. The health and well-being of our soil is of paramount importance. We only feed it with natural materials to provide nutrients – manure, compost, green manures, seaweed feed and our own comfrey liquid feed. We maintain two compost bins on the plot.

The front edge of the plot is planted with wildflowers as a narrow border in front of the first row of fruit bushes. They bring in insects and give a welcome to visitors. Calendula and Heartsease self seed there each year so never need to be re-sown. They make enough green growth to be useful addition to the compost bins.

The next gardening for wildlife blog will be about our garden at home and its wildlife.

Tags allotments, birds, conservation, fruit and veg, fruit and vegetable growing, garden wildlife, grown your own, insects, meadows, wildlife

allotments community gardening conservation gardening grow your own meadows wildlife

Now that’s what I call a working party!

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date March 24, 2012
6 Comments on Now that’s what I call a working party!

Today we held our first allotment working party of 2012. Once or twice a month throughout the year I organise working parties to develop and maintain the communal areas at our site, Bowbrook Allotment Community. These communal areas are for the enjoyment of our allotment holders, the local residents, school groups, nature and gardening clubs etc. We have a small sub-committee of the main allotments management committee which is responsible for these areas, The Green Spaces Committee. We invite volunteers to join us at our regular working parties.

At 9:00 am we opened up the site gates and collected up the tools and machinery we might need. The day started foggy and chilly, just 6 degrees bu the forecast was optimistic. fifteen volunteers turned up with trowels, forks, spades and flasks of coffee. The mowers and strimmers were fueled and readied for some hard work.

Geoff on hands and knees planting in the mist.

Ian popping plug plants out of their trays.

Jude, Anthony and Dave preparing planting holes for the plug plants.

By coffee time the light had improved as the mist cleared. The sky turned blue and temperatures rose so jackets were removed as we retired to the picnic benches. The temperature rose to a hefty 20 degrees.

A well-earned rest and coffee for Ian and John.

After our coffee break we moved on to planting more plugs in other meadow areas, under the bushes in the Hazel Grove and on the Wildlife Banks.

Dee and John planting under the Sycamore tree.

Dee, John and Tracy planting in the wetter meadow area.

After a mid-day break for lunch we moved over to the one of the orchards to plant more wildflowers amongst the trees.

Jude, still on hands and knees, in the orchard.

Finishing our day’s work planting in the orchard was extra rewarding as here we could appreciate the fruits of our labours. During working parties in the autumn we planted bulbs such as Fritilleries, Muscari, Narcissi and Alliums, and today many were in flower attracting bees and butterflies.

Native Daffodils flowering away under the apple trees.

The star flower of the orchard, the Snakeshead Fritillery.

Turn over, peer inside and find more magic.

So what could fifteen volunteers achieve on a sunny March day? We planted over 2500 wildflower plants to enhance our communal meadows! An amazing day!

Now that’s what I call a working party!

Tags allotments, apples, community gardening, conservation, fruit and vegetable growing, garden wildlife, gardening, meadows, wildlife

allotments birds community gardening conservation fruit and veg garden photography garden wildlife gardening grow your own meadows natural pest control ornamental trees and shrubs photography trees winter gardens

A Wander Around the Allotments in January

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 18, 2012
10 Comments on A Wander Around the Allotments in January

As I decided to create a blog at the beginning of each month illustrating what is going on in our garden, so I have also decided to publish a blog in the middle of each month to show what is happening on our allotment site.

So today we braved the cold and went for a wander. The weather although cold, at five below, was bright sunshine in a clear blue sky. the air felt freezing as it entered my lungs but the sight of the lotties cheered me. As we stepped from the car a kestrel was hunting low between the sheds in search of the abundant field voles. A day never goes by without seeing at least one kestrel quartering the site. A buzzard soared overhead in the thermals created by the warmer air above the cultivated plots.

First job was to fill the bird feeders at the two feeding stations. They were busy with blue tits, coal tits and great tits feeding from the hanging feeders and blackbirds, dunnocks and robins beneath picking up the feed dropped by the clumsy birds above them. All the while we could hear the call of nuthatches in the site’s mature oak and sycamore trees.

Frost sits on the bare ground and helps the gardeners by breaking it down and improving the texture in readiness for a final preparatory rake over. The fine tilth can then be home to seeds.

The plots themselves look very sad at this time of the year, drooping brassicas, frosted leeks and steaming muck heaps and compost bins, the warmest spots of all. The scarecrows have fallen in the recent strong winds, their clothes wet and bedraggled and their structures weakened. Frost emphasises leaf structures, settling deepest along the veins.

The strongly veined wrinkled leaves of the Savoy Cabbages withstand the cold wrapped into tight balls.

Kale defies the cold and stands upright and proud even with ice droplets and frost splattered on their tightly curled leaves.

Sunlight makes the old runner bean pods translucent as they hang on the dead remnants of last year’s plants.

On our own plot the rows of Mooli, Broad Beans and Leeks look delicate in the frozen soil but will sit until spring arrives when they will have growth spurts and give us early crops.

Plastic bottles on canes support last year’s netting and still protect any overwintering crops from hungry Wood Pigeons.

Blackbirds move low across the lotties settling onto any sun-warmed soil and dig for grubs, but this one sat looking sad.

We took a leisurely walk around the “Interest Trail” which took us through or close to most of the community gardens – the orchards, wildlife borders, seasonal gardens and meadows. Near the car park the first green bursts of new life have appeared, the leaves and catkins forming on the birches. The young catkins stand bolt upright at this stage but will soften in colour and structure when they dangle down in the spring.

The purple catkins of the alder sit on the branches with the darker cones.

In the Autumn Garden seed heads of Asters remain long after the flowers of autumn, like tiny dandelion “clocks”.

In the first orchard th frost still lingered strongly on the logpile especially on this old chunk of bark.

When we reached the Spring Garden we were struck by the contrasting leaf texture, shapes and structures.

At the back of this garden the silver tassels of the Garrya hung in profusion and the new buds of the Amelanchier promised early flowers and foliage.

Further round the trail we arrived at the “Winter Garden” where the low rays of the sun sent long shadow lines of the fence right across the border between the coloured stems of the Betulas and the Dogwoods. It also illuminated this peeling bark, giving it the impression of slithers of orange brittle toffee.

The blue spruce looked bluer than ever with the whiteness of the frost laying on its needles.

Our Winter Garden has so much of interest that I shall publish a blog just featuring it within the next few days, so for now we shall move on to the second orchard where the golden fruits of Malus “Evereste” have escaped the attentions of the winter visiting thrushes but I suspect they will soon be discovered and devoured. The insect stack in the orchard is there to attract beneficial insects who provide our very wildlife-friendly pesticide. The stack should give them some shelter to help them survive the winter cold and wet.

As we wandered back towards the car park we passed through the wildflowers meadows long since cut to the ground, but showing promise for next summer in its tiny seedlings. One lone flower braved the cold – a pale blue cornflower. Leaving the lotties we noticed promises of flowers from the bulbs in the car park border and in the half-barrels in the gateway.

Tags allotments, community gardening, cornus, foliage, fruit and veg, fruit and vegetable growing, fruit., garden photography, garden wildlife, gardening, insects, meadows, organic gardening, ornamental trees, trees, wildlife, winter, winter gardens

garden design garden photography gardening hardy perennials meadows ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs roses

A Garden for all Seasons – Trentham

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 23, 2011
2 Comments on A Garden for all Seasons – Trentham

The phrase, “a garden for all seasons” is over-used and too often banded about in the gardening media. Rarely is a garden good in all seasons but it is something that we aspire to here in our garden in Plealey. We haven’t achieved it yet but feel we get closer in some borders each year. We do a lot of garden visiting and the garden we visit most often is Trentham Gardens in Stoke-on-Trent. This has to be the closest you can get to “a garden for all seasons”. We visited yesterday, 22nd December, to see how good it was at this rather dull austere time of year.

The day dawned bright with blue sky decorated only with vapour trails and a whisp of a moon, which looked like a simple delicate curve drawn with a piece of fine blackboard chalk. Over our garden and the fields beyond buzzards wheeled in this clean, clear morning atmosphere. As I fed the chucks and had my morning chat with them the buzzards were never silent, gently “mewing” in time with their soaring in search of the first thermals of the day. A perfect day to visit one of our favourite gardens but were we asking too much of it? We drive off with high expectations.

Any garden that had involved Tom Stuart-Smith and Piet Oudolf in its re-design had to impress. We had visited in all seasons before but never in the winter. From our first glimpse of the vast expanse of gardens from the bridge over the River Trent, busy with mallards, we knew we were not to be disappointed.

It is truly a mix of the old and the new, as the new plantings are in the context of the original Capability Brown parkland and formal bedding gardens and Italian Garden. The garden signposts invite you to “The Italian Garden” but it is so much more than that.

First up is Piet Oudolf’s River of Grasses which in the low light of this December morning glowed. The gentle breeze imposed gentle swaying and rustlings of the biscuit tinted dried stems and seed heads. These were dotted with ginger and brown seed heads of perennials such as sedum and astilbe. The wide green cut paths we followed through the sea of grasses emphasised the clever design and simple planting.

Just before leaving the River of Grasses an avenue of birches with wonderful orange peeling bark cuts across our path. There is no way to walk through this double row of betulas so technically speaking it probably shouldn’t be called an avenue. With the light behind the peeling bark it lit up like thin slithers of brittle toffee.

From the River of Grasses we moved into the Floral Labyrinth another Piet Oudolf creation. Here there were swathes and blocks of dried stems and seed heads of tall perennials. Blackbirds and Song Thrushes enjoyed searching for their brunch and regularly scuttled across the path. There were more grasses here and they were rimmed with the bright low sunlight.

Leaving the labyrinth meant leaving Piet Oudolf’s contribution to Trentham behind and experiencing a culture shock was on the cards as we entered features of the older more formal garden. Look out for a blog I have planned for the near future on the work of Piet Oudolf.

After passing through a long archway of trained Hornbeam we found the very formal garden with its tightly clipped swirling patterns of box hedges. In the summer this area is just too gaudy for me, being styled on Victorian bedding. Not my favourite!! I like it in the winter when instead of bright red geraniums etc the gaps between the box are the gentle green of wallflower and primula foliage. The first photo shows an area with gravel infill and tall thin cypresses.

From the raised terrace of box patterns we looked over the old Italian Garden redesigned by Tom Stuart-Smith, where the original framework of paths encloses soft but dramatic plantings of grasses and perennials. Bursts of water from pools surge upwards and are caught by the light and the wind. They look white and frothy with sprays of fine mist blowing from them. The horizontal patches of grass seed heads are rimmed with light and create strong horizontal lines contrasting with the rigid upright cypresses and the dumpy domes of golden yew.

As we appreciated the quiet of this area our attention was drawn by a pair of Grey Wagtails playful and flirting low over the grasses. High overhead loose flocks of gulls wheeled and squealed.

We wandered around the paths stunned by the beauty of T. S-S’s planting ideas, every clump of seed heads complimented its neighbours, making each bed look good when viewed as a whole but nothing short of brilliant when studied in close-up. Marjoram, sedum, rudbeckia, lillies and phlomis. So many shades of biscuit, browns, russets and reds.

One of the beauties of a visit to Trentham is the coffee drinking opportunities provided, in the garden centre before you enter the actual garden, in the shopping village, at the garden entrance and in the beautiful rounded glass cafe just beyond the Tom S-S borders. We sat and enjoyed a latte and warm minced pie and talked about the garden so far. No we didn’t just talk about it – we raved about it! We just couldn’t believe how good it was on this day in December. Nearby music and squeals of delight emanated from a marquee that housed a skating rink. More joyful noise and children’s cries of sheer enjoyment poured from the play area. We couldn’t believe how warm we got sat in the window with the sun on our backs. We mused over this garden of contrasts, enjoyed from every visitor from 2 to 82 years of age. The Oudolf and Stuart-Smith gardens has a magical calming effect on everyone. Children don’t run in that part of the garden but they do once they move into the park areas and woodland. Calm appreciation!

Behind the cafe is a series of display gardens, the number increasing with every visit we make. There was a potager, a wildlife garden a contempoary garden, a garden of sound and many more.

The wildlife garden feature this huge insect hotel complete with bee hive and wormery built-in.

As we wandered back to the garden’s exit we took a look over the Capability Brown lake, ambled through the rose arch with a David Austin border and couldn’t resist a final gentle stroll through Piet Oudolf’s grasses. The rose garden featured some gently curving metal scrolling.

Another coffee before the return journey home when we decided to return in May when the alliums should be at their best alongside the fresh growth of the grasses and perennials. The “Undergardener ” on the way home pronounced “That must be a near perfect winter’s day!”

Tom Stuart-Smith wrote “Trentham is unique, a garden made on a grand scale which pays respect to the historic context, but is nevertheless of our time.”

For more information about Trentham see their website www.trentham.co.uk. Look out for my planned blogs on the gardens of Piet Oudolf and Tom Stuart-Smith and I am tempted to look back at my photo library and seek out my summer photos of Trentham to illustrate a “Summer Memories of Trentham” blog.

Tags David Austin, grasses, Piet Oudolf, prairie planting, Tom Stuart-Smith, Trentham Garden, winter gardens

allotments community gardening fruit and veg garden photography gardening grow your own meadows

Lottie Leaves

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 8, 2011

What a crazy day to be on the lottie with gale force icy cold winds howling across and freezing fingers, toes and cheeks. But when the sun burst through the clouds – very short but bright bursts – it acted as a spotlight that featured wonderful coloured leaves. Salad leaves provide the real stars of the show like these ruby leaved radicchio. They enjoy being in the spotlight, being the centre of attraction, glowing with pride.

The brassica family are not to be outdone with their contribution coming from kales. The final shot is of a bunch of chard leaves that I plucked for the chickens. The light shows the glossiness and rich red-purple colouring of the leaves and stems.

The wonderful thing about these dark colourful leaves especially those with red and purple featured in their make-up is that in addition to being good to look and tasty to eat they are also better for us than their green-leaved relatives.

After putting away our tools and closing up our shed we took a few moments to wander around the site and see what was happening. we found surprise bonus flashes of colour. Flowers blooming out of seasons calendula and violas in the Winter Garden and a catanache the last bloom in the wildflower meadow.

In the small orchard the yellow of the crab apple, Malus “Evereste”, glowed like beacons hanging on defying the sharp cold and strong winds. In the turf spiral maze clumps of fungi take advantage of the protection form the turves They emerge from the bark chips we use as the walkway through the maze. They begin their life a colouful yellow but as they age their edges turn chocolate brown and they look like burnt buns until they begin to go over and dry. Then their caps split and let yellow cracks appear giving them the appearance of flowers.

Tags allotments, chard, fungi, grow your own, kales, radicchio

allotments autumn community gardening gardening grow your own meadows

November Working Party

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 23, 2011

The final working party of the year at the lottie site at the weekend. The hardy members worked hard under dull November skies stopping frequently for coffee and laughter. We cleared our list of jobs to be done so went home exhausted, aching but satisfied.

The first job was to weed the Summer Garden, collect up the fallen leaves, give the roses a good dose of good old-fashioned cow muck and finish off by mulching the surface with woodchip to protect the bed from the winter cold and rain. One of the Charles Darwin rose bushes was still in flower so gave a glimpse of yellow and a burst of scent as we worked.

We then treated the three Buddleja Beds and the sensory garden to a weed and mulch. So now all the beds on the site have been weeded and have a protective duvet of woodchip on them.

We then split up with Geoff giving the small meadow a haircut and weed. We were amazed by how many seedling of wildflowers decorated its surface. this job would normally be done much earlier in the year but this meadow has only just finished flowering. The rest of us planted bulbs in one of our orchards including Camassia and crocus, and took hardwood cuttings of coloured stemmed dogwoods and willows.

Tags allotments, autumn, community gardening, meadows

allotments community gardening fruit and veg garden wildlife gardening grow your own meadows natural pest control

October Working Party

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date October 22, 2011

Today we held our October working party at Bowbrook Allotment Community. We took advantage of a bonus day of sunshine and warmth. Lots of hard work and lots of laughter – a typical lottie working party day.

Soon the smell of cut hay permeated the lotties as we cut the meadow under the orchard trees. It was a warm herby smell as well as nostalgic. A true sense of the feel good factor.

Above, Dee and Wendy rake up the mown hay in the orchard and below Pete and Jude tidy the long grass from around the logpile. The logpile is there to attract beneficial insects as part of our organic, natural approach to pest control. We welcome ladybirds and their larvae, beetles and lacewing larvae as pest controllers and bees as pollinators.

Before cutting the grass I spotted this group of seedheads – alliums and knapweed. They had shed their seeds ready for next year but I felt I had to record this particularly beautiful and delicate clump in a photo before we cut them down.

Bulbs donated by plotholders were planted around the entrance and the car park, with daffodils going in the car park border and muscari in the gateway borders. The Spring Garden was extended and the Winter Garden path was topped up with chipped wood donated by a local tree surgeon. The final task was to trim the long grass and wildflower stems growing on the wildlife banks.

Tags fruit and veg, fruit and vegetable growing, garden wildlife, organic gardening

allotments community gardening meadows Uncategorized

Mini Flower Meadow

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date September 27, 2011

This year we created a new meadow from scratch on the Bowbrook Allotment Community green spaces. The area was cleared of turf which we used on our loam pile and dug over removing as many roots of pernicious weeds as possible as we went along. We then rotavated the area and left it to let weed seedlings appear. As they did so we hoed them off.

We sowed with a mixture called “Pictorial Mix” which included annuals, biennials and perennials which were mostly British natives but we added other wildflowers were included to extend the season and add extra colour. The result can be seen below, but it did keep us on tenterhooks as the seeds germinated very slowly in the dry weather we have experienced here in Shropshire all year.