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!”
The long-awaited and eagerly anticipated day arrives. First outdoor sowings on the lottie. A big flask of coffee, a bunch of bananas and half a dozen apples in the trug and we arrive at our plot with blue sky above and warmth of the sun making us feel good.
We began by tidying our paths, I mowed and Jude, “The Undergardener” trimmed the edges. Instantly the plot looked the business. We removed the cloches that had been warming the soil for a fortnight and discovered warm, moist soil below all raked to a fine tilth.
Cloches in place warming the soil ready for sowing.
The tools for the job collected from the shed, seed packets at the ready and the sun on our backs – ready for off! I use a range of tools by Wolf – three handles, short medium and long, and a range of inter-changeable heads. For today’s sowing I got ready a wide rake, narrow rake, cultivator, drill-maker, seed-sower and hoe.
Tools at the ready.
Where the soil had been warmed with a covering of cloches we sowed legumes, Broad Bean “Super Aqualdulce”, Pea “Sugar Ann” which we enjoy by eating the young pods whole, Pea “Oregon Sugarpod” a mange tout type. First job is to take out a 2 inch deep drill six inches wide with a draw hoe and then keep watering along it until the water stops draining away quickly. The seeds are then placed in the drills and covered with dry soil to keep in the moisture and a final topping of compost to act as mulch and to clearly mark where we have sown. Although we label our seeds as they are sown we take this second precaution against the Blackbirds who enjoy pulling our labels up and throwing them on the paths.
Waiting for the heavily watered drill to drain.Two rows of Broad Bean seeds neatly set out.The darker compost mulch marks the rows of peas and broad beans.
When we returned home we planted up our first batch of seed potatoes, Rocket and Kestrel. The Rocket will be ready first, hopefully within 11 weeks and the Kestrel a few weeks later. Kestrel looks good with its purple eyes and tastes good too.
Potatoes chitted ready to plant.We grow our potatoes in potato bags, using old compost as the growing medium.
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.
Plots and sheds engulfed in mist.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.Jill and Dave plugging away.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!
The third wander around the allotments at Bowbrook already! We were expecting a warm bright day but it turned out misty with a chill in the air. So much work has been done to the plots with many allotmenteers all ready for the coming growing season. Tree surgeons have been to do a bit of work on our mature Sycamore tree and the resulting wood has been put to good. The shredded wood is being used by some plot holders to surface their paths, some branches have been used to create a brash pile and some logs used to create a big impressive log pile.
Our welcome message on the wall of our composting toilet.
To welcome visitors and plotholders to the site we have planted up two half-barrels outside the gateway and opposite the gate on the edge of a plot we have our posh main site sign which features a map of the site, our mission statement and photos of the main functions of the site.
Let’s begin the wander with a look at what is going on our own plot, number 37. We are just about ready for the 2012 season with soil dug over composted and raked. The kale which we have overwintered looks very healthy with its wonderfully coloured crinkle edged leaves of glaucous green, purple and pink.
The perennials in out “Bee and Bug Border” are producing new shoots. These plants are grown to attract beneficial insects both predators and pollinators, such as bees, hoverflies and lacewing.
Our bean poles, made from coppiced Hazel, are up ready for Runner Beans to climb when planted out in late May and behind them we have cloches warming the ground for early plantings of Carrots, Parsnips and Beetroot. If the weather is kind we shall sow these seeds at the end of this month.
This Ladybird sheltering near our shed lock is hoping for some sun to get warmed up a bit.
After a quick perusal of our site we began the wander around the whole allotment field, starting in the car park where Daffodils give a golden welcome as plotters arrive to work or enjoy the communal spaces. Each September we hold a “Donate a Daffodil Day” when members are asked to donate bulbs which are then planted around the site by volunteers on one of our working parties. In the first year alone we had over a thousand bulbs donated and planted several hundred in the car park border and on the grass verge alongside our entrance gates.
Moving on down towards the first communal orchard we spotted this insect hotel on Wendy’s plot and admired Tracy’s rhubarb which is well advanced.
The first of the community orchards is alongside Tracy’s lottie and she looks after its maintenance, mowing the grass paths, pruning the apples, pears, plums and damsons and generally keeping it neat and tidy. She also looks after the Fruit Avenue leading away from the orchard. She is a great asset! At the moment daffodils and crocuses are flowering between the fruit and in the avenue muscari are in flower. Bees are busy exploring these early flowers.
Our wander then took us through the Fruit Avenue with “super fruits” planted on both sides, out alongside Alan’s plot, affectionately known as “The Blue Plot”.
Blue alkathene water pipes are very popular around the site as effective ways of holding fleece or netting covers to protect crops. Wandering further on around the trail towards the Spring Garden we passed a plot that is always good to see as some interesting projects seem to on the go. Today we noticed that she had started to create a herb garden with tree stumps as seats and herbs in the ground around them and in a half-barrel planter. She is always building something – she seems very good at d.i.y. She made her raised beds which we saw have already got some early sowings in.
Behind this plot is the Spring Garden which is looked after by two other volunteers, Jill and Geoff, who keep it looking immaculate. Of course it is now beginning to reach its peak time. Bulbs are well up and some flowering, perennials are showing fresh green growth and the Violet Willow is covered in its sparkling white pussy willow buds.
Moving on from the Spring Garden, as we followed the trail, we noticed Blue Tits exploring the nest boxes. Beyond our big old Oak is the new log pile created with logs left by the tree surgeon after his safety work on our mature trees. The log pile will soon be home to Dunnock and Wren and as it begins to rot down insects, invertebrates and beetles will move in.
We soon reach the Winter Garden which continues to look impressive, full of interesting bark and stems on trees and shrubs and colourful flowers on bulbs and early herbaceous plants.
Some crops still look good after the winter and continue to give plot holders some good pickings. These brassicas, Purple Sprouting Broccoli and Cabbage look very healthy and appetising.
The beautifully coloured Red Veined Sorrel in the photo above is already putting on plenty of fresh leaves ready for harvesting, whereas the beautifully coloured flowers of Purple Sprouting Broccoli are now ready for enjoying after the plant has been standing through the winter.
Lots of our plot holders displays plaques with garden related sayings on for the amusement of all. How about this one to finish our March wanderings around the site?
We have 68 plots at our allotment site, Bowbrook Allotment Community, and after just three seasons of being open we have a waiting list of about 50. Phase two was on the cards from the word go but with budget constraints we didn’t really think it would ever come to fruition. The plan was to open up the field next to us and create about 50 extra plots.
Meetings with town council representatives and reports in the local newspaper over the last year or so indicated that this might still happen. Then recently the allotment management committee were asked if a few members could meet with representatives from the town and the county councils to look at plans. It seemed that things would be moving ahead in the autumn of 2012.
Budget constraints had effected the plans as the draft map for the new extension showed just 25 plots covering half the field. Still we couldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth! Ideas were exchanged and the proposals will go in for planning permission and hopefully work will be done by the autumn.
So we can halve our waiting list. The plots will be so tightly packed that little space will be available to develop our community gardens but we should gain the pond, a spring and a few yards of stream and a triangle of land beneath a group of mature trees. We shall endeavour to make these exciting places!!
The strip of pastureland that will become our new allotments.The poor neglected pond that will become part of our site.The old Ash tree that will overlook the new allotments.The spring emerging from its old collapsed brickwork. The water table is so low it is currently dry.The mature trees in the corner of land to be developed as part of our community gardens.
So, opportunities are coming our way. The council will tidy out the pond, removing old fences, and other rubbish and hopefully the barbed wire surrounding it. A fence will be built around it with gated access, all conforming with the latest health and safety requirements. The old Ash tree will be attended to by tree surgeons to make it safe and ensure its future health. The 25 plots will be prepared for cultivation.
And then it will be up to new plot holders to cultivate them and the committee to develop the green spaces. the area around the spring could become a bog garden and the area under the mature trees could become a mini-arboretum. We shall see!
As part of the development of the shared community spaces at Bowbrook Allotment Community we have created “Gardens of the Four Seasons”. We did this with the support of “The Peoples Postcode Trust” who awarded us a generous grant for the purchase of plants. In early 2011 we began work on the Winter Garden and now we are beginning to see some results of our labours. The work was carried out by allotment holders who attend regular working parties (look out for future blog about our working parties) and the gardens are maintained by members. Much work is also done outside working parties by individuals or small groups.
I designed the garden and presented the plan to the management committee and informed other members by e-mail, asking for comments, further suggestions and ideas. The basic idea was to create a garden full of trees, shrubs, grasses, bulbs and perennials that looked good in the winter, for their stem colour, bark colour and texture, their flowers, their scents. Movement and sound was also considered so we included many grasses and some trees with rustling stems.
It is now a year since we began the groundwork. The preparation was completed by the end of February 2011 and the main framework of planting by the end of March.
The first step was to rotovate the land, almost triangular in shape, in the corner of the site furthest from the huts, about 10 x 20 metres. We then added manure and rotovated once more. We dug out a path shaped as a serpentine curve, which cut the border in two, edged it with logs and gave it a deep layer of bark. It proved soft and comfortable to walk on. A thick layer of compost was added to the planting areas and raked level and we were prepared for planting.
Our Winter Garden is situated in a corner of the site. A water-butt is ready to be placed conveniently for watering in dry periods. In front is one of our wildlife banks.
Trees and shrubs were delivered by The Dingle Nursery from Welshpool, who had proved so helpful in helping us to select the best when we visited them to place our order. Unloading the truck and unpacking the plants was an exciting time, full of anticipation. Transporting them across the site took longer than expected involving three plot-holders with wheelbarrows. Some of the trees were just too long to stay put. After an hour of laughter and regular rescuing of dropped goods, we finally began planting. It was to take a few days.
Trees in place.
Bulbs and herbaceous plants arrived by post and were added to our structural planting of trees and shrubs. a selection of grasses was added later. We now had trees with coloured bark, shrubs with coloured stems and a winter flowering time, perennials such as Hellebores and Pulmonaria and grasses to give movement and beautiful seed heads.
Plot holder Pete busy planting.
In pride of place are our three silver-barked Birches, Betula utilis “Jacquemontii” planted as 3 metre tall specimens, along with similarly sized Prunus serrula with its shining gingery-bronze bark. Smaller specimens of Acer davidii (a snake bark maple), Acer griseum appreciated for its peeling red bark and a selection of variegated Hollies completed the structural planting.
Key plants in place.
For bark colour we planted dozens of Cornus, Salix and Rubus tibeticanus to give an airy network of colour all winter and early spring. We interplanted these with patches of Lavender to give some summer interest, to attract butterflies, bees and hoverflies and to provide gentle bluish foliage colour all year. For winter flowering interest and scent we planted Cornus mas and Viburnum bodnantense “Dawn”.
In order to maintain all year interest with greatest emphasis of interest we added evergreens. As well as the Hollies we included Viburnum tinus and several conifers chosen for the variety of foliage colour, texture and habit of growth – Picea pungens Procumbens, Pinus sylvestris, Chamaecyparis “Boulevard” and to top it off John, our committee’s chairman donated a lovely specimen of Cedrus atlantica glauca. As a contrast we also planted a Larix decidua a conifer that is deciduous.
When we planted the trees and shrubs, following the allotment site’s organic policy, we gave them a sprinkling of bonemeal in the planting holes and top-dressed with blood fish and bone fertiliser before mulching with manure. We plan to give the bed regular mulching of compost and manure to give a slow-release nutrient regime.
Working parties and individual volunteers worked throughout the year to keep weeds at bay.
Volunteers at work tidying and weeding.
By late summer the garden was showing lots of healthy growth and we could see much promise for the future.
Full of promise.
In the autumn we gave the garden a mulch of chipped bark to protect it from the ravages of winter and to slowly break down releasing nutrients and improving humus levels ans soil texture.
This week three of us weeded the bed over, tidied, pruned and loosened up the soil. It was amazing to look at progress and realise how the garden had developed in less than a year. Bulbs were flowering, the trees and shrubs have made good growth and in particular the willows and dogwoods are showing strongly coloured stems.
Winter sunlight through Miscanthus and Cornus.Stripes of fence shadows fall across a variegated holly.Blood red dogwood stems.Peeling bark like brittle toffee.Green flowered hellebore with striped shadows.Premature bud burst on Viburnum.Striped snake bark maple.
With so much to see after such a short time, we can but wonder at what our Winter Garden will bring us in the future. It was great fun creating it and judging from comments from plot holders it is already bringing much joy!
My blog reporting on “A January Wander around the Allotments” was all about the cold, as my wander then was on a bright, sunny but cold day with the thermometer registering minus five. Today my wander was a real treat, with temperatures of plus seven, it felt so mild. The sky however was grey and produced the occasional bout of drizzle. The bird life definitely appreciated the improvement, with so many to see and hear.
My walk over to our plot was halted by the whoosh of wings and the sight of a Kestrel in full hunting mode, its grey and rufus back curling low through the plots in search of its favourite prey, Field Voles. In a matter of a few minutes it had covered half the site, stopping occasionally to peer from a post or shed roof. The birdsong didn’t diminish with its presence but later when a Sparrow Hawk appeared, in threatening mode over the plots, silence reigned.
As I went to open up the shed I noticed how the recent freezing weather had shattered the little orange glazed dish I keep shells in on our coffee table, exposing the white china below its glaze.
The feeders on our plot needed topping up before I set to work. My first task was to prune the Autumn fruiting raspberries, so pulled back their hay mulch and cut each stem down to just a few inches above the ground. Then their warm mulch blanket was replaced ready for the next cold spell.
After tidying the edge of the plot where Calendulas had died down messily, I cut down perennials in the “Bug Border” alongside our central path, Sedum spectabile “Autumn Joy”, Linaria and several different Marjoram, all grown for the butterflies and hoverflies. As I pruned down the Sedum a few “slips” came away which I popped into my trug to be potted up at home.
A coffee break was called for to rest an aching back. A chance to do some bird spotting and listening out for their calls and songs. It was noticeable how some had moved on from calls to songs with the changing light of February. The Great Tit was giving a good performance repeatedly calling out “Teacher Teacher” just as it says in the books, but I often think it sounds more like the squeak of a tyre foot pump in need of lubrication. Its smaller cousin the Blue Tit sang gently from all around the site.
The peace was shattered as soon as the Rooks from the rookery on the northern boundary lifted as one and poured overhead, a cacophony of “cawing” and “rarking”. They are busy now restructuring last year’s nests. When one returned to the tree tops with twig in beak all its neighbours objected vocally craning their necks threatening and warning others to keep their distance. They live together in huge nesting groups but argue all the time! Their little corvid cousins, the Jackdaw, are quieter and more social. They pass overhead without any argument.
Signs of things to come! New growth is appearing at the base of perennials and the Globe Artichoke plants. Disappointingly the green manures have grown very little but just manage to cover the bare soil.
Buds are fattening on the Black Currants and the Blackberries. Promises of autumn bounty.
So once the work on our Plot 37 was completed I wandered off around the site, with wheelbarrow loaded – secateurs for pruning the roses in the Summer Garden, camera to take shots, surgical gloves and step-ladder to clear out nest boxes. As I walked along the established hedgerows flocks of chattering finches moved away, keeping close top the hedge and to each other – Goldfinches, Linnets and Greenfinches. A surprise sighting was a flock of about 15 Yellow Hammers, the first time they have been seen here. Unfortunately one of the loudest noises was the dry screech of my wheelbarrow’s wheel! A quick detour to the shed for a squirt of penetrating oil cured it.
Where the hedge has been left uncut for several years (where the council flailing machines can’t reach) the bushes are tall and busy with finches and tits. A Song Thrush was throwing leaves and under-hedge debris out onto the path searching for its lunch. The calls of Nuthatches and Great Spotted Woodpeckers echoed around the allotments all the time I was on site, but one call was unexpected. It stopped me in my tracks. I had never heard the piping call of a Bullfinch up here before. It wasn’t hard to find – a male with its pink, almost cerise breast glowing from a tall Hawthorn.
Nestbox cleaning can be a painful business if the nests have been colonised by nest fleas, hence the surgical gloves. Luckily none in residence today! Four of the five tit boxes had been used last year. The open-fronted Robin boxes were ignored by our population of redbreasts.
This photo shows how the Great Tits who nested here used their tails for added balance when feeding their young through the hole. The wood stain has been worn away.
The box in the photo below was used three times in 2011, but the third attempt was thwarted by cold wet weather in the early autumn, so the clutch of eggs remains. When I emptied out the nesting materials I could see the three layers of nesting material. When I had emptied all the boxes the old nests were put in the compost heap.
In the meadow areas seedlings cover the ground, so our plan for self seeding meadows seems to be working out. In one meadow area a lone cornflower continues to throw up an odd bloom of the most beautiful blue.
We hate shopping in town centres, retail parks and especially supermarkets. How can people refer to such unpleasant things as being any sort of therapy? But put us in a nursery and everything seems different – we get tempted every time! We have just visited two of our favourite nurseries half an hour from home just into the Welsh countryside outside Welshpool, The Dingle and its sister, The Derwin. We went to buy a couple of plants for a container that sits empty at the end of the central path in the back garden. It has long been crying out for some plants. We came back with a boot full of plants, some for that pot, some for another pot, some alpines, a couple of shrubs and some perennials. It happens to us all the time, but just look at our booty! We are definitely into coloured foliage.
Euphorbia Silver Swan and Euphorbia Walberton's RudolfHeucheras Frosted Violet and MahoganyHellebore lividusBergenias - Bach, Winterglut and Winter Glow.Osmanthus x macrodonta and Luma apiculata "Glanleam Gold"
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.
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.
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