wildflower meadow

There is a wildflower meadow next to the Green Patch. It was set up by Groundworks last year. It seems that the secret with wildflowers is to remove the topsoil and after that to keep the soil really poor, raking off the cuttings after a few days before they can rot.

The lower half of the meadow is prone to flooding but it doesn't do it any harm.
I pop down periodically to se what is coming up, plants in flower this week were: daisy, dandelion, buttercup, ground elder, bugle, red campion and may, and along the hedge self-heal and white dead nettle.
In the GP garlic mustard is coming up along the hedge, the hens love it and it is quite nice in a salad sandwich.

visiting wildlife

It has been very wet down at the Green Patch this week but not too cold, -good grower's weather! There are two pheasants that strut around, the cock disappeared when he saw me on Monday.
In the Autumn one day when I went down there was a flock of baby partridges in a polytunnel, probably from the Boughton estate though it's nearly 3 miles to the breeding pens.
Some grass-snakes have also been seen at the large pond.
I hope we get plenty of insects in the hedges, because they attract birds and spiders which will kill the pests. We are growing some companion plants for insects too, marigolds, nasturtiums, buddleia and cosmos.

fairies, owls and pumpkins

The Green Shed is a mobile we use for meetings, storage etc. It has just got a new floor and new kitchen units. Before Christmas young people from the Prince's Trust came several times and decorated the walls.

Scarecrows

We had some scarecrow competitions in 2008. There's still a very fat individual in a checked shirt sitting in a polytunnel.The Fuller Guides came down one evening for a tour and a quiz and we asked them to christen a scarecow. These were the suggestions:-

Freddo, Bilbo Baggins, Frodo, Google,Greenfingers, Sparkey, Baggy Jack, Green-eyed Bob.

The ponds

I went down to water the tunnels on Monday and Tuesday and the small pond was a mass of tadpoles looking for shade behind a log. The goldfish in the other pond have also survived the cold. Beets and broad beans looking good.