Windmill Community Gardens: Windmill's alive!

Welcome to the Secret Garden South of Bobber's Mill Bridge in Nottingham

Welcome to Windmill Community Gardens, home of the Climate Friendly Gardeners Project.

We are a group of local people, who are nurturing a wonderful community garden in the heart of the city. You'll find us just South of Bobbersmill Bridge, on the allotment site at the South end of Ascot Road. The Gardens are a great place where anyone can come to find out more about growing their own food in a changing climate. We cater for all abilities and welcome any nationality or age group.

Why not come and join us?

Thursday, 16 January 2014

Windmill's alive!

Windmill was amazing today. It is as if the whole natural world has decided that it is Spring, and is preparing for it. Daffodil leaves under the trees are well up, the primroses are in flower and the whole place was alive with bird song. We were delighted to see a flock of long-tailed tits which flew about excitedly in the plum trees, like fluff balls on sticks. As their name suggests, their tail-feathers are long - longer than their bodies in fact. We like a bird that has a name which makes it easy to spot!

Big frog
(small frog was camera shy!)

Not everything was up and about. We found a pair of frogs enjoying a cosy spot in the leaf-mould bin, so we changed our plans to give them a bit of peace and quiet. But a lot of things seem to be taking a chance on the weather. We've actually had so little frost that last year's marigolds are still in flower! Now we are crossing our fingers that we don't get a massive cold snap like last year, because it meant a lot of birds in our area losing their early broods.

Marigolds in flower in January!

With all the gorgeous music going on from the tree tops and the bushes, everyone had to keep stopping just to enjoy it, but we still got lots done. Hassan and Joyce did a splendid job of picking up the last of the leaves, which Chris used to re-stuff Brian, our snail leaf-sculpture. New volunteer Andrew learned how to use a bow-saw under the watchful eye of Mark, and has helped us to re-stock our wood shed after the Lohri Festival last week. Lizzy joined us just in time to help Tracey show us some new ways to foil the ninja mice that eat any peas we plant in the polytunnel. Keep an eye out in the photos for some clever tricks and for a different egg-box planting method to the one we used last year. We'll keep you posted on the success or failure.