The Working Party met at 9am and set about clearing the site. It was a beautiful day, albeit a bit hot, but we weren’t complaining, the weatherman had declared the end of the Summer weather all to soon in our opinion.
We split into two groups, one concentrating on the front of the site, the “shop window” to our neighbours and the other focusing on the growing area to the rear. The work at the front was partially meticulous and partially heavy digging. Convolvulus had staked its claim with deep roots secured in impromptu beds and stems and leaves intricately wound in and out of the wire netting fence. So a combination of small scissors and brute force was in order. What a difference clearing the fence and picking up three years of bottles and sweet wrappers made!
After a morning’s work we were in a position to wheel in the Fire Brigade to take out some stumps – that is once they had removed a central fence and posts which we are moving to increase the growing area.
There was a fabulous atmosphere, lots of hard work, lunch from Chimes in Leatherhead and much conversing with neighbours who all were very pleased to see the site being used once again.
By mid afternoon the rear had undergone a transformation. Much vegetation had been cut back, the grass had been mowed and the grass edges strimmed. It was now possible to picture the finished garden……the project had become real!
We cut back an overgrown area to the rear of the site, thinning out self-sown small trees, to make more room for the established trees as keeping the habitat for insects and birds is so important. We are very lucky as there is a wooded area beyond the growing area which has been mostly untouched for many years. Whilst clearly we will have to protect our vegetables from the animals that undoubtedly reside in the woods, the flip-side is that we have an area of substantial biodiversity which has huge educational potential as well as providing the various species of birds, frogs and insects to keep pest insects under control.
The latter part of the day was spent building our first composter from pallets and wood and insulation from Hall & Co (kindly offered at a discount). All cut-back vegetation was shredded and the composter was completely filled with the mown grass, shredded matter and weeds (excepting the convolvulus). By now it was 5pm and everyone was ruddied from the sun and completely exhausted. A very satisfying day and a magnificent start to the site development.
We split into two groups, one concentrating on the front of the site, the “shop window” to our neighbours and the other focusing on the growing area to the rear. The work at the front was partially meticulous and partially heavy digging. Convolvulus had staked its claim with deep roots secured in impromptu beds and stems and leaves intricately wound in and out of the wire netting fence. So a combination of small scissors and brute force was in order. What a difference clearing the fence and picking up three years of bottles and sweet wrappers made!
After a morning’s work we were in a position to wheel in the Fire Brigade to take out some stumps – that is once they had removed a central fence and posts which we are moving to increase the growing area.
There was a fabulous atmosphere, lots of hard work, lunch from Chimes in Leatherhead and much conversing with neighbours who all were very pleased to see the site being used once again.
By mid afternoon the rear had undergone a transformation. Much vegetation had been cut back, the grass had been mowed and the grass edges strimmed. It was now possible to picture the finished garden……the project had become real!
We cut back an overgrown area to the rear of the site, thinning out self-sown small trees, to make more room for the established trees as keeping the habitat for insects and birds is so important. We are very lucky as there is a wooded area beyond the growing area which has been mostly untouched for many years. Whilst clearly we will have to protect our vegetables from the animals that undoubtedly reside in the woods, the flip-side is that we have an area of substantial biodiversity which has huge educational potential as well as providing the various species of birds, frogs and insects to keep pest insects under control.
The latter part of the day was spent building our first composter from pallets and wood and insulation from Hall & Co (kindly offered at a discount). All cut-back vegetation was shredded and the composter was completely filled with the mown grass, shredded matter and weeds (excepting the convolvulus). By now it was 5pm and everyone was ruddied from the sun and completely exhausted. A very satisfying day and a magnificent start to the site development.
