With Kayleigh away it has fallen to me to update the garden blog. We have had another successful weekend at the garden! All beds have now been filled and the final tweaks to the polytunnelhave  been completed.


Huge thanks to Pip, Ian and Cheryl from the Leatherhead Residents
Association for their help this weekend, I don’t think we could have finished
the beds without you.

Rare Find
The weekend also saw the harvesting of the Early (New) potatoes
which had plenty, during which we came across stag beetle larvae!

Stag beetle larvae are extremely rare and endangered these days
and are currently protected under Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act
1981.We have moved it to its own “private” bed with plenty of wood chip to feast
on and we hope to help these endangered beetles at thegarden.

The garden is open from 9am every Saturday and new volunteers are
most welcome or if you just want to pop by and have a look at the work that has
been completed already.

Photos to follow!

Gary

Today was huge success! Ruth Wheeler and her apprentice Belinda came down to help us carve the wood for our seating area. After a quick tutorial we were let loose with all her equipment. She also helped us refine our design ideas for each seat and encouraged us to use new techniques and power tools! She also brought down a beautiful piece of wood to start our welcome sign. This will be situated by the garden gate.
Thank you to all who could make it today. The next session will be on the 3rd September 2011.
Other news... Potatoes are nearly ready, the pumpkins have had a growth spurt, and we have beans coming out of our ears! Susan (the chicken) is broody and Simon has been adjusting the polytunnel.
Photos in the Photo Gallery.
I'll see you in two weeks now as I am on holiday but I leave you in the capable hands of Gary....!
See you soon,
Kayleigh :)

We smashed our filling-beds-with-soil record! We did three and a half beds very VERY quickly! Alot of thanks goes to Simon for pretending he was a horse! The chickens were given some more obstacles in their cage and a dust bath to cool down in.
On to actual gardening....! Tomatoes were staked up and excess leaves were removed to help sunlight get in, the pumpkins were lifted off the floor (so we don't trip over them), beetroot was planted, weeds were weeded.
We are getting more and more excited about next weekend! We admired the seating/herb area that Simon constructed and can't wait to get Ruth Wheeler down to show us some carving methods.
Hopefully see you next week! I think it will be busy!
Kayleigh