Storm Ciara rip roared around last weekend, and we seemed to get away with just shredded fleece cloches, we were lucky. Let us hope we get through Dennis paying us a visit this weekend!
More barrowing of compost and wood chips has been the theme this week. It should certainly help to define where it is safe to walk, as most visitors manage to trample over the onions at some point or another. Unless storm Dennis obliges and blows the rest of the compost and wood chips up the hill to the garden, we will be repeating the action into next week and quite possibly the week after. One of the Saga gardeners took pity and brought some of the compost up to the garden on the tractor trailer but that was before they became preoccupied with fallen and falling trees in the park!
Believe it or not it is time to be sowing seeds, and the window ledges are filling up with all sorts of seed trays and seedlings. We aim to grow as much as we can this year. We are on the verge of announcing lots of other plans and ideas, but all that is for later.
We had the welcome gift of six bags of manure to add to the compost heap from Jill, a good friend of the garden – it will do the world of good, thanks Jill and indeed, all donations of horse muck, seeds, plants and tools gratefully received.
The area around the pond has had the ‘no dig’ treatment, and is starting to look better, but there is much to do on the path side, where some of the earth needs to be pulled back so as not to show so much of the liner.
If you get this newsletter on a Sunday morning, it will not be appearing until Sunday night next week the 23rd, as I will be on a course with none other than the world famous guru of ‘no dig’ himself, Mr Charles Dowding. He has a market garden in Somerset, and is totally inspirational in how he grows and harvests organic food. I am so looking forward to seeing his garden, which is already in full swing, providing plenty of salad leaves and vegetables to the locals. So hopefully I should be bringing back lots more ideas and techniques to ours.
What’s next?
- Check for storm damage
- You guessed it – more barrowing of compost, and making of wood chip paths.
- Much is starting to sprout in the garden, and so are the weeds which need hoeing again.
- Collect more coffee grounds/cardboard
Compost mulches 
New beds with paths Pond is full Goji berry plant Winter salads
