Magical Mosaics, Raging Rain!

We were thrilled that so many folk braved the deluge to come to Windmill Community Gardens and make gorgeous mosaic robins with the help of the wonderful and talented Anna Dixon. It was wonderful to see the care and attention that everyone gave to the task, and the lovely mosaic robins that they managed to create - each one to the same pattern but with its own distinctive character.

It was really chilly before folk arrived, but we proved that tea lights under clay pots will warm a polytunnel quickly, and that Tracey's pumpkin pancakes with caramel are just the thing to eat on a damp chilly day. Everyone who wanted, was supplied with hot drinks and / or hand-warmers as well, and those, together with 16 people in the polytunnel meant that we were warm and dry despite Noah's flood being re-enacted outside.

Thanks to those of you who have already posted photos of your finished robins on Facebook. We look forward to seeing more of them soon and displaying them here.

We wish you a good festive season. We'll be back at Windmill Gardens on the first Monday in January. so hope to see you then, or at our celebration of Old Twelfth Night and the Lohri festival on Sunday 17th January from 2pm, when we'll be wassailing our fruit trees and celebrating the Punjabi festival of Lohri.

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!

How to make a Tip Tap (Windmill style!)

Send a Cow has a great "how to" video for making a tip tap, but we made a few variations, so here is our "how to" version.

To make a Tip Tap, you will need:

• 1 plastic milk bottle at least 2 litres in size
• 2 stout sticks with pointed ends about 1.5m long as the support posts
• 1 strong stick with straight cut ends about 1m long as the top bar
• 1 strong stick about 30 - 50cm as the foot pedal
• Strong string or thin rope
• 2 sharp nails
• 1 phillips screwdriver or round-wire tent peg
• 1 mallet
• 1 claw hammer (claw is handy in case you get it wrong!)

Stage 1. Use one of the nails to make a hole in the handle of the bottle at about the half way point. Widen this as necessary to fit the string / rope through the hole.

Stage 1 - set up the handle hole for your bottle.

Stage 1 continued 

- thread the string through the hole in the handle of the bottle

Stage 2 - Use the nail to make a pattern of holes in the bottle on the opposite side to the handle hole at about the same level. Also make a small hole just above the handle to make sure that air can get in easily. This helps the water to come out more easily too. Put some water in the bottle and test to see how well the water runs out in case you need to make more or bigger holes.


Stage 3 - Dig a hole about 30cm across and at least 20cm deep. Fill this with rubble or gravel to provide a soak-away under the tap. Alternatively, provide a wide basin to catch the water so you can use it for watering afterwards.

Stage 3 - Create a soak away

Stage 4 - Set up the supports on either side of the soak-away making sure they are close enough together to let you fix on the top bar. Hammer the thick posts with the pointed ends into the ground until they are firmly in place. Tamp the ground down around them with a log or mallet if the post needs further firming in.

Stage 4. Putting in the supports.

Stage 5. Attach the top bar between the support posts. We nailed ours into place, but it can be fixed by lashing it on.

Stage 5.  Nailing on the top bar

Stage 6. Tie the bottle to the middle of the top bar and fill it with water. Make a hole in the lid of the bottle, thread another rope through this, and make a stopper knot in it so that it is fixed in place when the bottle lid is put back on. Now pull down on the rope coming from the bottle lid to test how well the bottle releases its water.

Stage 6 completed - testing the bottle.

Stage 7.  Tie the end of the shorter stick to the rope so it can sit at an angle at the side like a foot pedal. Now tie the end of the rope to the frame, leaving enough slack so this "pedal" can be pushed down to make the bottle tip (probably easier to look at the picture to fully understand this bit!)

Foot pedal in use!