Time to start planting!

Today must be a sign of Spring! Planting was due to begin again for the first time in 2012! Helen and Rosy were joined by Chris, one of our newest volunteers. The day started with them continuing the arduous task of digging out brambles and removing dead plants from the last year.  Brambles are especially difficult to dig out as they have extremely deep and rambling root systems, not to mention unbelievably sharp thorns which we were pricked with on several occasions!  In addition to this however, the much more therapeutic task of planting some brightly coloured primulas in the flower bed to the back of the site near the stumpery.  There were also one or two spring bulbs and strawberry plants to go in.  The primulas instantly transformed the bed and looked very pretty indeed - the hard work is already beginning to pay off!

Rosy and Tracey digging away

How does your garden grow?!

Elsewhere, Ellis, Dan and Tracey, and later on Hugh continued their monotonous but very useful task of chopping up wood which was lying by the side fence in order to create valuable space and provide much needed fuel for the fire pit! As there is currently so much wood, this is very much an ongoing task at the moment.

Hugh also took on the difficult job of dismantling the big sausage of chicken wire that we had created to protect the roof of the polytunnel, but which we found was causing damage as we tried to put it on. This now needs all the cable ties cutting and to be re-used somewhere else. We have a few ideas, but if you know of novel uses for the stuff, pass them on!

Hugh fighting the chicken-wire monster

A watering we will go - Ellis and Dan

New Year, new start!

Today was the first gardening session at Windmill of 2012, and what a productive day it has been! Tracey was joined by Phillippa, Rosy, Helen, Dan, Ellis and Hugh who carried out a number of jobs which will hopefully get us back up and running.

New year, new life - daffodills begin to shoot by the stumpery

Year of promise - new buds forming on the blueberry bush

The first task involved giving the shed and it's smaller counterpart, the store cupboard a good New Year's spring clean.  Phillippa and Rosy did a fantastic job of removing any rubbish and any other items which belong elsewhere, sorting out equipment and tidying it up into meaningful piles, and basically clearing the thoroughfare so it is actually possible to get in without a massive struggle! The same would also apply to the storage cupboard outside the main shed.

Phillippa and Rosy pose inside their newly tidied shed!

Meanwhile, Helen, Tracey and Hugh were very busy scooping up and sieving compost which would be used to top up the raised beds ready for growing more lovely produce. Dan and Ellis also took it in turns to saw up old logs and willow branches which will be used to fuel the fire pit. These now have a new home in the store cupboard which Rosy and Phillippa did so well in tidying!

Helen digs away!

Finally, after all the fearsome gales and storms from the festive season, it was found that all our plant pots which were stacked up by the shed had been blown around, making the site look an awful mess.  All of us took a part in re stacking and tidying the pots as neatly as possible, where we will easily be able to find them when we need them. So all in all, a brilliant start to the new gardening year, despite Helen's issues with not having brought any lunch and having to go to Collin's!

Tracey and Dan - work in progress!

Some nature notes - today the warm sunshine bought out a honey bee, and there were some marigolds in flower - more evidence that the winter has been amazingly mild so far. We'll see what effect the expected cold snap will have. We feel sorry for the bee, but we would like to get rid of the happy colony of aphids that is in the over-wintering brassicas...