Year's end

As you can imagine, with the cold spell the vegetables were frozen in the ground. I am going down tomorrow to see if the leeks have survived, as a number of people ask for them.
We had a little get-together before Christmas organised by revitalIse. I hope to go to a coppicing talk at the Field Centre soon.

New arrivals

The latest group of saved battery hens came a few weeks ago. they are gaining confidence; when they first came they thought that the coop was too dark and the sky was too big, so they just stood under a plank all day. Now they are trotting around and have learned to use the feeder. Irene had to teach them to drink, as they were used to droppers. Fortunately they had quite a lot of feathers.

Catching up

I haven't posted for a long time as there was a lot going on. The Green Patch has had a good summer with a glut of several things. A lot of marrows were bought by a gurdwara for a dinner. There were plenty of runner beans, tomatoes and aubergines. Sometimes volunteers were able to cook our produce in the Green Shed. The Patch is looking very spick and span thanks to the workers and volunteers. Eight new people have been taken on part-time including one clerical. We hope this scheme can continue.
There was a family fun day in the summer with bouncy castles and a free barbecue. the weather was great and it was well-attended. In August a party of children from a youth centre in Wellingborough had a day of activities here.

Shimmering in the heat!

The prolonged drought didn't do the beans any good, and the summer raspberries were very few. the spindle tree hasn't any fruits this year, pity for the birds. There do seem to be a bumper crop of blackberries. As for marrows, we are swamped!
I am just making an infusion of elder leaves as they are said to be good for mildew,which has attacked the Lord Derby apple.
During term-time there has been a Tuesday evening gardening club at the Patch, which has been very successful.

High Summer

The hot weather has brought all the crops on, but the rain has missed Kettering as usual.
There was a Family day on June 6th which was very well supported, There were free bouncy castles and barbecue, including our own salad. Nigel has started an after-school gardening club which has been popular.
The wildflower meadow has six sorts of grasses and a whole flock of hedge sparrows feeding on them (or maybe on the insects) . I saw three sorts of butterfly there last week.
The redcurrants are ripe and there is lots of chard.

Across the fields

On May 16th the Warkton Women's Institute visited the Green Patch. After their meeting at Warkton they took the footpath across the dairy farm to the Ise Brook and along it to the lane. It was a sunny day, not too hot and they enjoyed looking round, having a snack and buying plants and eggs.
On the following week the farmer took us round the dairy farm and we learned what a lot of work is involved in rearing pedigree cattle, it's really 24/7 . In the field there are often 3 generations grazing together, Grandma, Mum and daughter.

Spring changes

There's such a lot going on in Nature at this time of year it's a job to know where to start. There are teams down at the Patch all week, plus some faithful volunteers. Recently a group went to create raised beds at Grange Primary School, it will be interesting to see what they grow.
There are lots of seedlings to be planted out and we have a new Lord Derby tree -a sort of cooking apple.The rhubarb is doing well in its new position.
There are several fish(unidentified) in the big pond and some frogspawn in both ponds though not as much as last year. The blackthorn and flowering trees are out everywhere .

A new view

Well, the team came and laid the hedge. We now have a view over the allotments to the North we never had before. The weather was quite good if a little cloudy . Several volunteers came with the Irchester folk and our new young employees joined in. The hedge was at least 15ft high and had not been laid for many years though it had been coppiced in the past. There is a nice plum tree which we avoided and our people were able to carry on with the job the next day. It looks so much better than the splinters left by strimmers!

Shoots and roots

We have quite a lot of plants coming up in the seed trays now, and from this week we have extra helpers. We are looking forward to having the North hedge laid today by a professional team. The hedge is comprised of a number of mature bushes and trees, but it is very gappy. When it is done it should block out the North wind and provide extra habitat for wildlife because the woven branches will be denser and more horizontal.

Ready for Spring

I think we are all ready for Spring! A lot of plants have been held back by the cold weather, in fact we've had what older folk call a normal British winter. There have been several more snowfalls, but they have melted now and I found four sorts of flowers in our church graveyard this morning.

At the Green Patch the poultry are laying well, the ground is ready and the seeds are being purchased. I have pruned the autumn-fruiting raspberries, near to 100, far more than we knew we had. Our Member of Parliament came the other week and brought us a donation.
Our next interesting event will be having the north hedge laid in a few days by a professional team. This will be worth watching.

Waking up

Last Autumn I didn't quote the old saying that if there are lots of berries on the hedges it will be a hard winter, but it has certainly come true this year. The hedges were full but since the ice and snow they are completely stripped by the birds.
The end of the field is ploughed and ready for planting. In the wildflower meadow the marsh grass is flourishing but lots of healthy plant rosettes are showing through.

winter colour

Although the Green Patch has been rather dormant particularly in the snow and ice, the colours of the bare branches along the Ise has been very attractive.

Identified flying objects

Happy New Year!
I noticed recently how busy the sky can be over the Green Patch. Private planes, helicopters, international airliners(high up and late at night), but also seagulls, pigeons, birds of prey and flocks of little birds.

In the news

Last week we had a visit from an "Evening Telegraph" team who later published an article about Groundwork. They took several photos of volunteers. Some students were painting fences and making an ingenious greenhouse out of plastic bottles.
Next Tuesday at 6 30 we are having a Christmas drop-in and hope to see some friends.

ploughing on

The main plot is looking very tidy as it has been ploughed over. Of course the plants which have been ploughed in including comfrey will act as"green manure". Leaves from the trees are useful too, many people put them in their broad bean trenches at this time. but there are plenty of leaves still on, due to the mild weather.

Free for all

The hedges at the Green Patch are full of birds helping themselves to the berries and the insects. They like the spindle tree berries ( poisonous to humans). The bees continue to visit the nasturtiums. A few days ago we had an evening party when lots of children dressed up and carved pumpkins.

New residents

Last week we obtained some more hens, ten battery hens from a refuge and ten point-of-lay pullets.
The battery hens tend to be a little aggressive with the young ones, but they are settling down and are growing new feathers where they were very bare. The point-of-lay have no combs yet, but one laid a tiny egg today, so they're getting the idea.
On Saturday we had a lecture and demo about poultry by a lady from Bedfordshire. She talked about diet and disease in poultry and showed us how to make nutritious treats for the hens.Then we inspected the pen and practised holding them.

Summer events

We had some nice community events in this area in the Summer, carnivals, scarecrow festivals, band recitals and cream teas.
In a few days we shall have an Autumn celebration at the Green Patch.

The paddocks

There are paddocks with horses across the river, and one year we had some manure from there. The resulting compost grew some lovely blewits, they were very tasty fried. As you will see, the nasturtiums have been a picture and we've grown lots of purslane, which some folk like for soup. I have pickled nasturtium seeds and made some grape jam.
Our volunteers are continuing with the great tidy-up.

Drought

Well, the dry weather was good for the harvest, but it's been weeks since we had a good shower of rain. Rain always seems to miss this part of the country. Still, volunteers have had a chance to move the compost heaps, we hope to have bins in a shed next year.
The raspberries have been very good and the hedges are full of haws and elderberries.