After the long, dry winter, the rain has certainly perked up the plants in
the nature garden. Daffs, hellebores and cowslips are all in abundance. As
inevitably are the weeds and grass, so it’s time for the spring spruce-up.
Working party on Saturday 1 April, 10am
If you could spare an hour or so from 10am this Saturday we’d love your
help to:
weed around the trees and perennials
get the wildflower meadow raked and ready for sowing
reapply mulch to the hedge plants to suppress the grass
Please bring a few tools if you can. There’ll be fruit and veg (in cake form)
and hot drinks to keep everyone’s energy up.
Over the winter
Most plants have a period of dormancy in the dark months, to conserve
energy and escape the weather. This gives the garden elves time to look at
other jobs, so here are a few of the changes since November:
another 2,000 bulbs were planted – hearty thanks to Malcolm Wright,
Julia Nehring, Ian and Judy Robertson
a fact-filled sign now welcomes visitors near the bus shelter-end
gate, with lovely illustrations by Rob Traynor
the original metal bench has been stripped (HT Ian Wright) and
repaired, repainted and reinstalled (huge props to Brian Rippon)
fruit tree and hedging pruning (tvm Jo Fidgen)
We’ve also taken delivery of a large water butt (made from recycled
plastic). The aim is to start harvesting water off the village hall roof soon,
so we’re ready for any dry spells. This time last year we had some very
warm weather, so best to be prepared.
Hedging at the overflow cemetery
A hardy half-dozen volunteers turned out in February to restock the native
hedge around the as yet unused cemetery. Thanks very much Ian
Robertson, Kim Gould, Paul Batho, Kathryn Fletcher, and Duncan Reid. We
were surprised to find that relatively few plants had perished in spite of
the long hot spell last year.
Chips with everything
Mulching with wood chips is vital to conserve moisture in the soil after
planting hedging, and to suppress weeds. But it’s quite hard to source the
mulch. If you’re having tree or hedge work done, please mention to the
tree surgeon that they can drop off the shredded material at the overflow
cemetery or by the nature garden so we can take advantage. They’re
usually happy not to have to make a special journey to dispose of it.
Thanks very much for reading – and for weeding on Saturday 1 April if you
can make it!
Kieron, on behalf of the Nature Garden Volunteer