As promised in my recent post about our NGS Open Day this post will be a gallery of photos of some of the scarecrows made by our allotmenteers for our scarecrow competition. Our theme this year was the year’s celebrations, The Olympics and The Queen’s Jubilee. The first is the creation that won the competition. Enjoy the characters!
For one day each year, in the middle of July, we open our allotment site, Bowbrook Allotment Community, for charity. We open under the auspices of the National Garden Scheme so are proud to be in the famous Yellow Book. The choice was made to join the NGS because they raise money for caring charities, such as the Macmillan Nurses and Marie Curie. This is our second year of opening – in the first year in gale force winds and rain we raised £415 and this year on a dry day in the middle of the wettest of summers we raised £815 – so we feel a little proud! This means we have now sent the NGS £1230.
We chose July as the month to open as it seemed to be a month when we would be most guaranteed to have a spell of good weather to encourage visitors to come along. Last year we opened in heavy rain and gale force winds.
This year however after weeks of rain, we had two dry days coinciding with the day when we planned to spruce up and prepare the site and the open day itself. Although the whole area was very wet underfoot, plots themselves too wet to get on, some paths unusable and standing water in places, we felt the site looked as good as it could.
The day of the opening dawned bright and dry. The sun was shining and it felt warm. As we arrived early in the morning the car park was full and the site crawled with members working away. Soon the signs were in place, the gazebos up, the tea shop readied and the quiz pictures in place. We felt ready!
We were so pleased to see so many plot holders helping out in so many ways – true community spirit! The tea shop was stocked with dozens of cakes baked by members and the table under the gazebos were made attractive and welcoming after one member, Shirlie, created beautiful table centre posies, magazines were placed on them for visitors to read and our photo albums made available for their enjoyment.
As soon as the clock showed 1:00 our visited started arriving – it is always a relief when the first one comes through the gate. Each visitor was handed a map and suggested route, competition details. Children were given a quiz sheet requesting they find pictures of some of our wildlife hidden around the site, matched to their favourite habitats.
We invited our visitors to judge two competitions for us during their amblings, The Best Scarecrow and The Favourite Plot. The two following pictures show the winning plot and the winning scarecrow.
As we pride ourselves in designing our site and interest trail to be accessible to all we were pleased to see so many young families with toddlers or youngsters in push-chairs and people with mobility problems some using sticks or crutches, others wheelchairs or mobility scooters. We were delighted how easily they accessed the site and we received many compliments.
Our visitors enjoyed lots of free advice and even free strawberries and fresh peas straight off the plots. I spent most of my day as a mobile “Gardeners Question Time”, answering queries about pests, diseases and how to grow certain crops and identifying plants. I was handed a cabbage leaf with pests attached and a drawing of a “nasty, looking insect which looked like a dragon and was mostly black with bits of red”. I managed to identify the dragon insect as the larvae of a ladybird and the cabbage dwelling ones as whitefly. I suggested that the ladybirds should be encouraged to stay and informed the gardeners that they were very lucky to have them, but had to tell the cabbage growers that they were not lucky and advised them to get rid of their pests quickly.
Some of our friends from the Shropshire Hardy Plant Society organised a plant sale and many guests left happy with their bags or boxes of unusual plants.
Most visitors who came spent several hours looking around with occasional breaks for a sit while enjoying a tea and cake, with some staying for the whole four hours we were open.
“The Undergardener”, Jude used her teaching experience to good purpose showing young visitors interesting artifacts found by plot holders such as an old Wren’s nest and an aborted Wasp nest.
Several plot holders worked on their plots so that our visitors could ask them questions, others sat on picnic benches around the site to greet visitors and make them welcome.
When we closed and the last of our guests had left members rallied around and returned the site back to its former state. The tea shop returned to its function as a community hut, the gazebos were taken down and returned to their boxes, signs along the local roads were pulled up and put back into store. The RSPB and HPS volunteers packed up their goods and gazebos and said their goodbyes, and said they looked forward to our open day in 2013.
The last visitors to leave were these two characters who had spent the day sat comfortably in their thrones under the trees and greeted their subjects.
It had been a great day! Our visitors book contained some complimentary comments. We enjoyed reading them as they help show that we are achieving our aims. Here are some to examples to share.
“Fantastic, so much to see, great kids trail, thank you.”
“Completely lost in the interesting ideas. What a wonderful time I’ve had!”
“A truly inspiring place, wonderful for wildlife and kids.”
“Beautiful plots and welcoming tea and cake.”
“Inspirational model for all allotments.”
“Friendly, knowledgable gardeners.”
“Inspiring and clever ideas to encourage wildlife whilst giving plenty of space for produce. So much done in three years.”
“A great community space!”
In a couple of earlier posts I featured some jewelery made by my daughter, Jo and the land art she created as stimuli for her creations.
This month saw her finish her work towards a “City and Guilds” award, which she has been studying for at Westhope College in South Shropshire. The culmination of the course was an exhibition at the college when each faculty at the college displayed the work of their students. The displays were put together by the students themselves.
Here are two of the land art creations.
The other major influence on her work was finding a skeletal poppy-seed heads and a skeletal bract of an eryngium in the garden. She studied structures in nature such as the mathematics of spirals and the Fibonacci sequence. The photo below is of one of her final pieces based on progression of spirals. Most of her current pieces are of silver some with touches of copper.
Setting up the exhibition was great fun. We loaded my car to the gunwales with all the course work and materials needed to put the work up in as effective a way as possible. To get to the college we drove through narrow lanes which ran with rainwater flooding off the fields and creating rivulets for us to drive through. When we arrived at the college it took several shunts to get the car through the narrow gates off the narrow lane, but once through we reversed up to the doorway to unload.
Once inside we saw we had our work cut out. The display boards were hard and staple guns banned and there was a window right in the middle of the area! Nevertheless we set to work covering the boards with fabrics to prepare suitable backgrounds for the displays.
With the preparation complete we got on with the task of showing Jo’s work, the development sheets, ideas books, designs and final pieces.
As the photo below shows it was all worthwhile as Jo was awarded a Distinction for her work and received a cup a “Best Student of the Year”. To see more of Jo’s work go to her website which is in the process of being set up so is still unfinished. www.tigdesigns.co.uk
My last ramblings left us just as we retreated into the shelter of the wooded bank of the canal, through the little wooden gate. Inviting as the shelter was I was tempted to linger and photograph the silvered wood and rusted, pitted ironwork on the gate.
It always surprises me just how different a return journey can be. Different things catch the eye, different sounds invade the ear, different scents entice the nose for a closer appreciation. We found wild flowers, trees and bushes that we had not spotted on our way and enjoyed different reflections on the mirrored surface of the canal.
When we reached the spot where we had stopped for a coffee break on the way we stopped once again and leant on the same gate, but it was not quite a case of deju vu.
From our coffee-drinking, gate-leaning vantage point we watched sheep grazing on the field beyond the far-bank trees and spotted a long, low red-bricked barn half way up the sloping field.
The footbridge that passed over our heads provided ample opportunities for some creative picture-taking.
These little banded snails with their glossy coloured shells decorated with chocolate or black bands which followed the spiralling shape of their shell homes, began to appear after the shower of rain.
Canalside paraphernalia draws attention along any towpath walk, bringing to mind queries and questions of their uses and names. This first object was a simple arch of iron appearing from the ground and disappearing about a dozen feet further along the towpath. We couldn’t work out what its purpose could possibly be but it did present a graceful archway in the grass.
As we follow the last stretch of the Montgomery Canal back to our starting point of a few hours earlier we can look at the different native plants we found and views of the canal that we enjoyed.
What an inspiring way to spend an afternoon that presented us with uninspiring weather. We enjoyed this wander very much were saddened to see that in such a beautiful place the selfishness and laziness of a few can leave their mark – plastic litter, probably one of the most damaging marks of man’s existence.
Fed up with the constant rain yesterday we decided we would defy it once again, get our walking boots and waterproof jackets on and go for a walk. We felt like wandering alongside water but as the nearby River Severn and Rea Brook were both flooded we set off for the Montgomery Canal. A half hour drive took us to Welshpool, just into Wales, and surprisingly as we got nearer the rain gave over and we were treated to a dry walk. Dry overhead but very wet and muddy underfoot. I had new walking boots to settle in and make sure they didn’t look new. This was just perfect conditions to knock the shine off them and make them look a bit more lived in and more loved.
The tiny car park at Buttington Wharf holds a half-dozen or so cars and we were surprised to find three others parked up before us. Other lovers of the great outdoors fed up with the rain? On the banks of the canal just through the trees we spied this sculpture of a jolly looking character – David Jones. He was a lime-kiln owner and coal merchant back in the early 1800’s, and we found signs of the kilns nearby. No wonder he looked jolly – he must have been a rich man. A symbol based on his working lime kilns was cut out of the metal information board.
In the surrounding greenery, well-hidden under trees and bushes we found some old brickwork, the remains of the kiln entrances.
After this discovery we set off along the mud of the towpath under the trees dripping with rain. It looked so inviting. It didn’t disappoint!
The canal side was lined with trees and mature hedgerows, which occasionally opened up to give windows onto the local Welsh countryside.
After the rough weather in the morning wildlife was not much in evidence, the skies empty and the trees quiet but this female Mallard fed busily in the far reed-lined margin. But as the day moved on and with the passing of time the weather improved, birds re-appeared and their celebratory song accompanied us for the rest of our waterside wandering. The Mallard created shimmering shapes in the reflections as she busied herself.
The wild flowers decorating the towpath and canal banks were like sparkling jewels glowing in the dull light.
One wild flower shone out like a yellow globe having burst through the surface of the water – one of our native waterlilies.
As we walked, on the light changed and the canal surface reflected the bankside vegetation, the boats moored up against its side and the canal structures.
Half way along our outward journey a coffee stop called and we leant on a gate near a swing bridge and rested awhile.
As we ambled onwards the land alongside the canal opened up and through bankside trees we could view farmland. The thin line of trees appeared as silhouetted sinuous shapes, emphasised by their reflections mirrored on the water. My camera and I enjoyed the challenge presented when trying to get a reasonable shot of reflections.
The countryside changed as we continued our ramblings and each opportunity of a broad landscape view, afforded us by breaks in the vegetation was appreciated.
We reached the lock at Pool Quay, the point in our walk where we decided to turn back.
As we enjoyed our exploration of Pool Quay lock and the break from walking the rain returned. The little wooden gate invited us to begin our journey back especially as the tree-lined bank promised shelter.
July in the garden so far has carried on where June left off – rain! The grass paths squelch as you wander, trees drip on you and herbaceous plants soak your legs. The plants have loved it relishing in the warmth and dampness. They grow tall and lush too quickly and do so without gaining strength. As a result they get knocked over in windy spells and any heavy showers.
As rain persists each day from dawn till dusk a moment of light and dry gave me an opportunity to take photos for my July wander. After waiting all day I finally took the following pics just before 9:00 in the evening.
One plant that never fails is this wonderful tall grass with striped leaves. It is a good four foot tall and the long leaves are popular with the “Undergardener” to cut for flower arranging.
Our gravel garden, The Chatto Bed, is now full of colour, gentle yellows, pinks and purples. When the sun does come out for its short sessions the gravel bed is buzzing with bees. They are having a hard time this year with all this rain and wind.
The Huskers Red Pentstemon is now at its best – what a beautiful plant it is – coloured foliage, dark stems and delicate contrasting pale flowers. Having grown this from seed sown a few years ago it feels good to see it looking so good.
The Quaking Grass, Briza maxima is also known as Nodding Grass and Sparrow Grass, presumably because it simply can’t stay still in the slightest breeze.
Jude’s Border is a rich combination of purple-leaved shrubs and contrasting perennials.
Our mini-meadows sown in terra-cotta pots have been very successful. Different flowers appear each day. The pink poppy glows in the dullest of weather – a “dayglo” poppy.
By our front door the “Freda Border” continues to provide colour in the perennials and gentle variegated foliage in the shrubs.
Let us now wander into the back garden and see what’s going on. Our apples are filling in nicely now and even getting a little rosiness as they start to ripen, while the Blueberries change from green to blue.
The secret garden is probably the most colourful patch at the moment.
The “Chicken Garden” although less colourful at the moment as the alliums are losing their colour, has an impressive show of perennial foxgloves, favourites of the bees.
Grasses are flowering delicately in all the borders and often after a storm hold onto rain drops. The droplets of moisture act as prisms as light finds them.
In the greenhouse tomatoes are forming on their trusses and further flowers open from their buds. Peppers like glossy green boxes promise sweetness to come.
As we approach the middle of July we can but wonder what the rest of the summer can have in store for us. So far we have had the wettest summer months on record – it is hard to imagine that summer will truly arrive. It has been hard to keep up with maintenance in the garden this summer. There is so much growth that herbaceous plants need frequent deadheading and thinning and shrubs pruned to stop them overpowering the plants beneath. Jude, “The Undergardener” is pruning back the lower branches of the variegated dogwood to let light into the smaller plants below.
As the light began to fade I took a few photos to show it glowing through foxgloves.
Warm, wet weather delighted our roses and clematis. They are flowering better than ever and their colours sparkle.
At our allotment site, Bowbrook Allotment Community usually known as BAC, we feature willows in several areas of our communal green spaces.
The first to be created was a Willow Dome. Within the dome is a raised turf bench where children sit to have stories read to them and play with toys but the adults tend to use it on sunny days when a little dappled shade is needed as coffee break time arrives. They too enjoy reading books or magazines while resting there. Logs provide extra seats where youngsters can explore trays of rocks and search them for fossils. After two years the sides are getting taller and we wait impatiently for them to be tall enough to pull over, tie together and make our roof.
We built the dome just after the site opened and it was the first of the features we created for children. The willow all came from cuttings taken from a willow arbor we had over our bench on our previous allotment, with additional different stem coloured cuttings donated by other plot holders. We created the willow dome during a working party and as we cut out the shape into which we would plant the willows we turned over the turfs to start the raised seating.
The willow at the entrance has now grown enough to arch over into a doorway just right for children to enter through but adults need to bend down to do so. As the willow it is woven in to shape which strengthens it. We have created windows within the willow wall giving different views. The first photo shows the window that lets children watch birds on the feeders so the dome acts as a living bird hide as well, and the second shows the window with a view into the “Fruit Avenue”.
And here are some photos we took as we were creating the dome, showing “The Undergardener” in busy mode and a few as it developed later.
We then had requests to create a willow structure on the other side of the site, so I designed a new area featuring a Willow Tunnel. We made the tunnel just tall enough for adults to walk through but quite narrow, so that it felt enclosed for children exploring it. As this part of our site is wetter the willow has grown much more quickly so already the tunnel shape has been formed.
Later we placed a picnic bench close by and surrounded it with a circle of five different varieties of birch, with varying leaf colour and shape and trunks with equally varied colours and textures. So now we can walk through the willow tunnel and discover a bench to sit on and enjoy the shade of our birch grove.
The third feature is all willow – a Withy Bed. Here we grow 17 different varieties of Salix, varying in stem colour from yellow and orange to deep green and black. We planted them as short cuttings, about a foot in length, known as “rods”. We planted the rods in the dampest area of the site which the willows would enjoy but we also hoped it would help reduce some of the winter flooding on the plots at this end of the site and act as a wind break. Eventually we hope to coppice some of the willows and pollard others to provide plant supports when cut. The willows are still young and small but we hope that soon we will be able to start harvesting them.
The following photos show the willow rods as they were delivered and Pete busy working on the withy bed creation.
As this year has been so wet and therefore loved by willows we hope to see massive growth on all these features. It is difficult to know whether we should classify these features as “land art” or “garden sculpture” – whatever they are, they are fun places!
A morning of showers turned into an afternoon of rain. We donned our boots and waterproofs and defied it. We weren’t going to let it stop us going for a wander in the riverside woods.
We started with lattes in the coffee shop at Attingham Park, our closest National trust property and they set us up for defiantly walking into the wood.
We had hoped that a few minutes indulging in our favourite pastime of coffee drinking would give the rain time to stop or at least subside. Our hopes were dashed as we carried on into the woods towards the river the rain fell upon us. We were waylaid by these pretty cows who demanded attention by looking at us under their long eye lashes.
After giving the cows a stroke we moved on alongside the riverbank where the woodland started.
This woodland contains many unusual and non-native specimen trees but there are no labels so we find many we can’t identify. Several seem familiar especially their fruit and leaves, so we presume they are related to natives such as oaks, chestnuts and alders. One of these days we shall be wise and remember to pop an ID book into a pocket.
Even as the rain was falling and dark clouds skidded across the sky patches of woodland were lit up. They acted as spotlights drawing us to the pink of the foxgloves and the pale creamy fungi.
This strange but delightful light had a brightness we did not expect. Underneath the dark canopy of thick foliage the trunks of the trees seemed to attract light and they appeared more patterned and textured.
The ferns enjoyed the darker areas and the moisture brought by the rain, but their enjoyment was not shared by the wood’s mammal residents. The usual squirrels and rabbits were nowhere to be seen. Every rabbit burrow we came across showed no sign of life.
Rain drops landed on the purple, glossy leaves of the copper beech and light glowed through the “helicopter” seeds of maples. Overhead thrushes sang enthusiastically. The loud powerful song of the Mistle Thrush overpowered those of the more tuneful delicate Song Thrush.
Although no thunder rumbled above the tree tops today it has done so recently as witnessed by this tree displaying lightning strike burns. While studying this damaged tree our attention was drawn to movement in small trees close by, where a pair of tree creepers fed on the bark, moving like scurrying mice head first up the trunk. The blue tits fed differently as they searched for their insect prey under the wet leaves of the same tree.
As we continued along the path below the trees we took a short detour through the walled garden where the herbaceous borders on either side of the wide central path made a colourful picture.
As our woodland wander came to an end we had to stop and enjoy another couple of lattes just to check that they still tasted so good. They did! As we enjoyed our coffees we were entertained by a very intelligent ladybird who was reading the label of his orange juice checking its ingredients out to make sure they were fully organic.
We were not the only ones out and about enjoying a walk in the rain today and certainly not the only ones enjoying coffees. As educationalists in our pre-retirement days, we were pleased to see several young families out exploring the woods. Two families enjoyed their coffees as their toddlers enjoyed playing in the courtyard driving ride-on John Deere tractors in the mud and on the slippery grass, even revelling in falling off. They jumped in the puddles and splashed each other. Real childhood treats!
On our allotment site this year the management committee are running a Wise Watering Campaign, with the aim of reducing the amount of water used by plot holders. We were ashamed to hear that our site uses more water than any other in Shrewsbury. When we looked into the situation we were amazed that only 18 of the 68 plots had guttering and water butts attached to their sheds to catch rainwater run-off. Many plot holders turned to their hose pipes too readily to water their crops. Something had to be done.
We had already fixed guttering, downpipes and butts to our communal buildings and we use this captured rain to water our communal gardens, so we began our campaign by encouraging members to follow that example. Jude, Mrs Greenbench aka the Undergardener, in her role as secretary to the committee has been trying to source grant money to help purchase more water butts. Amazingly our local water board did not even bother replying, but there are still a few irons in the fire.
I was asked to write an article for our newsletter, “Dig It!”, giving advice on how to water efficiently and a summary was sent to all plot holders. I wrote a much extended more detailed article which I posted on the allotments’ website. (see www.bowbrookallotments.co.uk and click on “Wise Watering”)
Our initial emphasis has been on using watering cans instead of hoses and encouraging members to add guttering and water butts to their sheds.
I thought I would give a few ideas here too, for your interest and wondered if anyone had any further ideas that we could use.
I emphasised the importance of improving soil quality and adding humus and fibrous material, which would help moisture retention after rain or watering, and allow the plants to take up moisture efficiently. We sell municipal compost and farmyard manure on site.
The best time to add manure is in late autumn or early winter and for compost early spring. I suggested also that compost should be used as a mulch after periods of rain to hold this natural moisture in.
Mulching under fruit bushes is always useful as a lot of moisture is needed in the production of fruit. Old straw, hay or farmyard manure when added as a mulch will also slowly break down and feed the plants as well as improve soil texture.
Another important way of managing the watering of your plot is to ensure it is always free of weed material. Weeds will use up moisture that would otherwise be available to crops. Using a hoe regularly is the best method to employ as keeping the surface loose helps rainwater get below the surface.
Growing your fruit trees as cordons on the windward side of your plot cuts down on evaporation. Alternatives are flower borders or a row of root artichokes.
Strong, healthy plants will survive dry periods better and newly planted quality plants will establish without regular bouts of watering. To ensure plants are as healthy as possible feed them with natural, organic feeds rather than chemical based fertilisers. Growing your own fertilisers is even possible. Comfrey can be grown and regularly cut, soaking the leaves and stems in water for a few weeks produces a free and effective feed when watered down to the colour of weak tea. The leaves can also be utilised as a mulch placed directly below fruit trees and bushes.
The way the plants are watered is also an important factor in determining how much water is used. Watering with a hose all around rows of plants is wasteful as most of the water lands on the bare soil and not where plants can use it. To ensure that plants can take up and use as much water as possible, it is best to water from a can without a rose and direct the flow of water towards the base of the plants.
When your potatoes need earthing up, add a layer of fresh grass cuttings before the soil as this will help retain moisture as the potatoes are forming.
I tried to work out the most water-efficient way of planting out our vegetable plants and used runner beans as an example. The first point is to ensure your plants are strong and healthy.
Take out your planting hole and fill with water from a watering can – I also add some comfrey feed to this. Let the water drain away and repeat the process.
Place the plant in the hole and water yet again after firming soil back in around it.
Add a good layer (at least 2 inches deep) of compost to keep the moisture in as the plant establishes. This helps the plants settle in as it is getting its roots down.
Form a trench alongside the row of plants to collect any rainfall and direct it towards the plants.
Before you decide to water your plants take out a trowel depth of soil close to your plants and see if it is moist below the surface. If it is then do not water. This water in the soil down to about 6 inches is the moisture that plants will be using. Conversely if you water the surface it will just attract roots upwards to search for it. Remember then that watering over the soil surface with a hose will make plants shallow rooting.
There are lots more ideas on the website. In this year of drought following last year’s almost desert levels of rain, our water table in this part of Shropshire around the allotments is about 2 feet lower than it should be so however much rain there appears to be falling we need lots more.
I would love to hear of more ideas that I can share with our allotmenteers!
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