Walled Garden Volunteers' Blog October 2024
/We took a short break from the Blog last month while some of us disappeared to faraway places, leaving behind our beloved Walled Garden.
At the time, we had just been cutting the meadow, and had encountered a problem: rampant hedge bedstraw, that had tangled its way through the wildflowers – and caused real problems for scything.
We did manage to remove all the cut grasses and stems, but a month later and we still have not finished everything … we are behind schedule with the meadow.
It rained. Then the sun came out and the bees were flying in the warm air, desperate to boost their supplies in the hive, so we had to keep out of the way of the ‘bee line’… the uncut part of the meadow is directly in their flight path.
Never mind…we are settling down to get things sorted now. Here we are, in action!
We’ve cleared a pathway to the compost area, blocked by the fallen boughs of the Paulownia, and now we await work by the tree surgeon, subject to planning permission (as the tree is within a Conservation Area).
We’ve harvested the teasels Dipsacus Sativus, grown for the Stroudwater Textile Trust, and on the same rainy day, Margaret valiantly was potting up cuttings…
On two consecutive Mondays, Helen N and Sarah pruned the Tayberries to ensure we shall have plenty of fruit next year.
Below is Geoff, busy cutting up material to be composted, Carroll tackles an untidy border in the courtyard, we’ve also tidied the iris beds in front of the museum, and Ruth and Helen K consider which job to do next…
…Which was, to collect the apples from the orchard, where we have 10 heritage apple trees. We’ve made a display and have also invited visitors to make up a bag of apples to try from the shelves near Reception.
Helen and Sarah collected the gourds and pumpkins which were arranged around the dipping pond which is very full of rainwater after heavy downpours.
Wind and rain have battered our white asters, but when the sun comes out, the bees absolutely adore these flowers – and the sedum, too, always glorious in the autumn sunshine.
And finally, here are more reminders that it hasn’t been raining all the time, after all. Happy Days!
