Wet wet Wednesday

What a grey day!

Today was the kind of day that drives even the most dedicated gardener indoors to look at catalogues over a nice hot cuppa. Of course, for us at Windmill, it meant business as usual, but having a speak a bit louder because the rain was using the polytunnel roof as a drum!

A little moist out!

The kind of day when you need a hot drink to warm up.

New volunteer Claire pricks out lettuces.

Pete pots up.

Lizzie gets to grips with the Lollo Rosso

Cut down milk bottles make great plant lables

Visit from Year 5, Robert Shaw Primary

Since our Climate Friendly Gardeners scheme started, we have had a great relationship with our local primary school - Robert Shaw Primary. One of the great traditions we have developed is for pupils to start their Year 5 with a visit to us to harvest tomatoes and create a meal with them on site. Then in the Spring, they come and plant up tomatoes to provide a chance for the following year's pupils to do the same. This year, we're carrying on the tradition, and today was the first visit of 2, as there are 2 Year 5 classes at the school.

Planting the all-important tomatoes

The class split off into 4, with 2 of the groups weeding, whilst the others planted either tomatoes or sweetcorn. "Planting tomatoes" also included planting up hanging baskets, which we're keen to try so that we use the roof space too. The main tomato area is the polytunnel, but we'll also be planting outside as well, so it will be interestng to compare.

Jade helped her groups to set up hanging basket tomatoes

We do this on the cheap with plastic bag liners.

Jade shows off the completed hanging baskets

New volunteer Lizzy led the weeding team.

Trying out the tip tap for the clean up afterwards

One we had said goodbye to the class, we welcomed by volunteer Edith, who arrived with hot fruit pancakes and immediately got involved in helping, so we got loads done. Sadly, the afternoon class were put off by torrential rain and hail, but we'll hopefully see them after half-term.

Thanks to everyone for the big planting, and all the hard work. Now fingers crossed for the weather to make it all grow!

Seed Swap Saturday at Windmill

  

 

Well done to everyone who braved the dodgy weather to join us at Windmill for our Seed and Plant Swap this morning. We hope you all enjoy your swaps, and thank you for the things you gave us!
 

 

Also many thanks to the volunteers, who did a great job weeding and planting whilst all the swapping was happening, especially to Tracey's two teens and husband who got stuck straight in to weeding at 9.30am, without complaint (though the promise of getting to see the new Star Trek movie afterwards may have been a bit of an incentive!)

Edith and Rosie sow some seeds

Holly, Pete and Mark tackling the sensory beds

Finally - hats off to Steven, for turning up with freshly made pakora!

Next steps on the tyre bed

We're feeling pretty pleased with ourselves because today we were able to finish the tyre bed. Yesterday, we began with a curve of tyres, which was angled so that the curve will provide shelter from the coldest Northerly and Easterly winds, whilst leaving the area in front of the bed open to the south. This means that the sun will heat up the tyres and that heat will also make the area inside the south-facing curve a little warmer - a good place to try outdoor tomatoes, pumpkins and cucumbers. 

A filled tyre on the first layer

The first layer of tyres were placed to create the basic shape and then filled with a rim of partly composted wood-chips to fill the walls of the tyre. The centre of each was then filled with sieved soil to make sure we removed any plants like bindweed or ground elder which could be a problem later.

Adding the next layer of tyres, overlapping the first
Note there is a gap which needs to be bridged to stop soil loss

The next layer of tyres went on top overlapping like a course of bricks. It helps if you have made sure the first layer of tyres are about the same size and are sitting level, but we didn't manage to do that perfectly, and it still worked ok. Unless the tyres are being set into a bank, this second layer will need to have a brick or bit of slate inside it to stop soil falling out of the middle of the tyre where it overlaps the two beneath it.

Using slates to bridge the gap and stop soil falling out

If you sieve the soil first, it hopefully means
less weedy surprises later on!

The tyres are filled as before, and then a final layer of tyres is put in, again overlapping like bricks. The three layer structure should be tall enough to give new plants a good start, but it could be made taller if you are very pessimistic about summers in the UK!

Thank you to all the Gateway to Nature folk who came again this week to help us to finish the tyre bed. The work you did today will make all the difference to us getting it finished in time for the school group who will be planting up the tyres with strawberries!

New Tricks with Gateway to Nature

Windmill welcomes Gateway to Nature

This year, we are aiming to get more of our ground into production than in previous years, but that's also given us a chance to try out some different ideas which may help folk trying to garden in our currently extremely changeable and changing climate. Our good friends from Gateway to Nature were pleased to join us to help start the ball rolling on making the new beds, which also helped us to get things organised quickly.

One of our aims is to create a half-moon shaped tyre structure which will act as a wind-break and also as a warming bed, as the tyres will warm up fast in sunlight and some of that heat will collect in the middle as well as being released overnight. If we get it right, it should mean early strawberries, some happy mediterranean herbs on top, and a good space in the middle for plants like tomatoes or pumpkins.

The other aim is to make a hugelkultur bed. This is an idea from several sources, but got its name from Germany. With hugelkulture, a hole is dug, then this is filled with rotting wood which is then covered over with the same soil to make a mini hill. In our version, the gap will be also contain composted and fresh bark chips. In all cases, the wood should gradually rot down, warming the soil and also eventually breaking down to form humus-rich soil and being both free draining and offering a store for water.

Making a start on clearing the ground

Of course the first step in any project for us is to weed thoroughly. Our Gateway to Nature friends helped a huge aamount with this, setting to and making short work of vegetation removal, as well as helping us to process some of the wood that had been stored on the site previously. Thank you so much, and we look forward to showing off the finished beds very soon!

Ground quickly cleared - thanks all!

Thanks for cutting more firewood for us folks!

We also got some help from Stevan, who is an experienced gardener, but now has mobility problems, so he was happy to help us with our raised beds. He and one of our regular volunteers, Andrew helped us to finish planting up our potato and onion bed - just what we needed!

Stevan and Andrew make a start on the spuds.

And anyone who fancied a rest from the more energetic work helped us to pot up seedlings. It was really nice as some of the group had never had the chance to do this before, but they quickly got the hang of it.

A newly expert potter-up!

Today is Saturday, work and smile!

A great Saturday session today. If you didn't know already, we have started Saturday sessions on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month from 10am until 12 (ish!). These seem to be very popular and this week's was no exception. Admittedly, Tracey had decided there was so much to do that she drafted in her family, which swelled the numbers but still a good turn out, and we go lots done.

Pete applies rock dust

Most jobs involved weeding. The severe Winter did knock back the first appearance of the weeds, but they have enjoyed the warmer weather and are all happily springing into growth.

Pete and Holly helped prepare some beds for us, bringing in rock dust to add minerals and weeding to remove the dreaded bindweed and horsetail which don't seem to have been knocked back by the Winter at all. Of course, they weeded in that special Windmill way, where you keep the bee friendly weeds to place in the corners of the beds.

Holly prepares a raised bed, ready for our potatoes

Rowan and Carrie weeded the asparagus bed and transplanted some of the red orach that has planted itself in the beds.

Carrie and Rowan free the asparagus bed from Red Orache

Jeremy and Dan weeded the new raspberry bed, and planted wild roses along the fence line.

Dan and J tackle the raspberry jungle

Ulrike and Hazel worked in the Orchard to plant two currant bushes that Ulrike brought with her (volunteers who bring presents - v. nice!), and also added some roses to the fence line along the ditch.

Ulrike and Hazel have a quick rest
in between jobs

Tracey and Ash did some general weeding and Sally did a grand job weeding the fruit cage.

Ash reaches the weeds other volunteers can't get to!

Sally and friend de-weed the fruit cage

All in all, a fab session - well done team! In 2 weeks time, we'll do it again, but we're going to hold a plant and seed swap this time, so hopefully folk will come along to share seeds and plants.

Potting up and getting on

Quick quiz: What's bright red and yellow and tastes great at
the moment? Read on to find out.

We really feel like we are on a roller-coaster at the moment. We've got several months work to do in the next few weeks, and just to top things off, we're having a dry spell! All the fun of the garden, with added watering, we're going to be really fit by the time we're done.

Today we got our tomato, cucumber, melon and pepper plants potted up before the polytunnel got too hot, basically setting up an assembly line and then going for it. We also planted up the sweetcorn and put it hopefully well out of mouse-reach (though with recent experience, we may need to start hanging things from the roof!).

Mark, Andrew and Chris pot up before the sun drives us out.

The final layer went on the key-hole bed and we started adding rock-dust to the beds. We're hoping this will help the soil to get a full range of minerals, so that our plants are extra-healthy.

In the Sensory Garden we started on the last big weed before the annuals really get going. We have some hopes that we can reduce the range of the various dodgy weeds but the roots of some of them are HUGE, so we'll see how long the effect lasts.

Getting the Sensory Garden into shape

And most exciting of all, our first asparagus of the season has appeared. The spears are popping up all over, looking pretty thick and juicy, not bad for a first season. We can't harvest this year, so that the plants have time to get really strong ready for next year. Can't wait.

Budding excitement!

We did manage to pick something though - the first of the rainbow chard that is recovering nicely from having over-wintered. It made a nice addition to an italian-style tomato sauce and rice dish we had for lunch. Spring is definitely here!

Rainbow chard stir-frying nicely.