Category: Nature

A Successful Fruit Tree Pruning Course

Wenvoe Wildlife Group

A Successful Fruit Tree Pruning Course

Another successful fruit tree pruning course has been held at the Wenvoe Community Orchard. Arranged by the Vale Local Nature Partnership team and run by the Orchard Project. This is a great opportunity to share our orchard with visitors and to get our trees pruned in the process. Courses are free.

We have arranged for the Watercress Beds, Orchard and Bee Loud Glade and all at Goldsland to be strimmed. The hedge behind the School Wildlife Patch has been cut back. The planters in the Nursery section of the school have been kept going despite drought and school closure, with good crops of Spinach, Tomato and Curled Parsley.

Turned Up With His Arm In A Sling

VILLAGE ENVIRONMENT GROUP

Turned Up With His Arm In A Sling

 

On a beautiful late summer’s morning the team cleaned up at the community centre in preparation for the Village Show. A fair turnout, considering the heat and the age of some of the participants. Old soldier John just shows the attitude of the team by turning up with his arm in a sling and got on with the job.

Alan and Ieuan recently celebrated their 88th birthdays and are still active members of our unit. It proves that getting out and about and mixing with others is such a good thing to do. Their generation were brought up to do the right thing, and this rubs off on the people they meet. They have a tendency to tell of their exploits in the Second World War and how they enlisted when they lied about their age. They were two!! It must have been tough back then.

Goodness Me! Where Has the Time Gone?

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

Goodness Me! Where Has the Time Gone?

I’m now planting daffodils in pots ready to put into borders so that when they’ve finished flowering, I can remove the pot, give them a foliar feed and then let them die back in a quiet corner ready for the next season. Big jobs now include cutting back and separating larger clumps of perennials to give us more plants. Sweet pea seeds should be sown now for earlier plants next year. This is a good way of avoiding the hottest times next year as the later plants this year couldn’t cope in the long dry spell.

Please consider what has gone on over the last few years with the long dry spells before ordering plants for next year. Pelargoniums, herbaceous geraniums and bedding begonias are, as I said last month, a better option. The plants in gardens that have stood proud this year, have been the roses. Only once did I water the ones in our borders. The RHS are considering moving all their Hydrangeas further north, which is fine for a big organisation like them but for us we need to think carefully before purchasing any.

The extreme weather would have left the lawns weak and prone to the durable weeds which, during August, were the only bits of green on the lawn. When we do have some rain the grass will need an autumn feed and weed. Do not use the summer feed which is the full of nitrogen that will promote top growth when what we need to encourage is root growth.

At a large house in St Andrews the staff planted runner beans along the South facing border adjacent to the house on 8ft canes, and with the watering this has kept the ground floor relatively cool. By the time they’re taken down we should be in cooler weather.

After last year’s glut of fruit, especially apples, damsons and plums, this has been a fallow year. There have been some plums, but they are quite dry due to the hot spells. What fruit the trees did produce has come early as the trees are stressed and are getting ready for Autumn at least a month early. The fruits that have produced well are figs, gooseberries and blackberries that were ready to eat at the beginning of July. Blackberry thorns seem to thrive whatever the weather.

There have been cases of sudden limb drop from trees due to stress. This is a rare occurrence, but we are advised not to sit under older trees in hot spells. You will have noticed that this year a lot of trees young and old have branches that have died. This is all down to the trees cutting off life to a limb to save itself.

A tip from a lady in Sully to ease the itching from bites and stop the blighters before they prey on you, is to rub Vicks VapoRub on. It works brilliantly.

Take care & happy gardening.

Why It Has Not Been Removed

WHY IT HAS NOT BEEN REMOVED

If you happen to see the School Wildlife Patch you will see plenty of Ragwort growing in the grass. Some might throw up their hands in horror and ask why it has not been removed.

Probably more than any other plant it has been demonised but why is this? The first claim is that it is poisonous to livestock, particularly horses. But cattle have been grazing fields with Ragwort since time immemorial as Ragwort is not a new plant to the UK. It is unpleasant to eat so animals will avoid it along with Foxgloves, even Buttercups. True it can be dangerous if included in a hay crop as it is harder to detect, hence advice that farmers should remove it in these circumstances but otherwise it should create few problems. Some believe it is poisonous to humans but, again, you would have to eat a lot of it to incur any symptoms, and you would have to be pretty desperate to consume it in the first place.

But it also has a huge benefit for wildlife as many who have seen them covered in Cinnabar Moth caterpillars can confirm. Interestingly, the caterpillar is poisonous but gets poison by eating the Ragwort. It supports over 200 species of invertebrates providing a nectar source in late summer for bees, butterflies and hoverflies when other sources may become limited. So if you have a wildlife patch consider tolerating the odd Ragwort.

Shady Came on His Shetland Pony

VILLAGE ENVIRONMENT GROUP

Shady Came on His Shetland Pony

 

On a beautiful sunny morning the team, although short in numbers, cleaned up around the village green and concentrated on the area around the memorial.

As you can see by his stance, Shady (2nd left) came to the event on his Shetland pony.

Gareth dragged the Rector along to give us some words of encouragement.

‘God will provide’, he said, and low and behold a spare green bag blew into view.

The Williams family were missing today because elder Ieuan had a scan in preparation for a knee operation and they found a sixpence from a Christmas pudding some 80 years ago, lodged inside him. He now wants it back and is refusing to leave the private hospital until it’s retrieved. Due to people trying to leave the group over the years, we’ve adopted the Ian Moody concept, where you could only resign at an annual general meeting, then we wouldn’t hold one. So, once you’re in, that’s it.

Our next meeting on 10th of August will be at the Community Centre, to tidy up before the Wenvoe Village Show on Saturday 29th August. Every member of the group has promised to enter an item in the show, except Shady, as he is one of the judges

Another Successful Year

Wenvoe Wildlife Group

Another Successful Year

Another successful year as we are awarded 7 Green Flags, just over 3% of all the Community Awards in Wales. Sites involved are the Upper Orchid Field, Community Orchard, Elizabethan Orchard, Wild Orchard, Welsh Orchard, Bee Loud Glade, Goldsland Orchard and Watercress beds. Our thanks to all the members who have worked so hard to get the sites in tip-top condition, the site owners and all residents who support the group.

We have widened the paths around the Upper Orchid Field and created some new ones. Whilst this makes for easier walking it also provides an opportunity for wildflowers that prefer shorter grass to flourish. Our project with the School creating a vegetable and herb garden for the Nursery children has gone well with Radish, Spinach and Peas harvested and the children really enjoyed digging up potatoes.

Patience Is What’s Needed

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

Patience Is What’s Needed

Gardens are over blown now. So many seed heads forming and you can’t catch up with the dead heading. To keep these plants flowering until late Autumn, we must give them the attention they need. Carry on providing feed for the annuals but don’t feed the roses or it will weaken them for next year. Watering these last few years has become more of a chore, not helped by the fact that we have forgotten what happened the previous year, when we charged into garden centres to snap up the new lovely looking plants grown in heated greenhouses which never last a tomato season when you put them in cold ground at the end of March. Then we do the same this year. Patience is what’s needed. Wait for May and buy drought tolerant plants such as pelargoniums and bedding begonias. Pots create more work but look great. If you’re buying clay or ceramic pots paint the inside or line with plastic, this will help with moisture retention. The best way to sort this is to put the plant in any plastic pot then slip this into your posh container, then when you need to change the plant it’s so much easier. Hydrangeas suffer badly during hot weather so a shady spot is where they will do their best.

On the allotments at Twyn yr Odyn the folk are looking weary from carrying countless containers of water to their plots. For some it has been so frustrating with some plants in flower but no fertilisation taking place; this might be weather related but is more likely to be the lack of pollinators. Ladybirds are also in short supply, and it’s been left to the ants to sort out the black fly. One of those cycling types who wear Lycra said that a training ride on a summer evening a few years ago would leave him with an overdose of protein due to the number of flies he would swallow. Nowadays he has to take supplements.

While being taught how to garden a long time ago I was introduced to the No Dig Gardening concept. If you’re willing to put the effort in at the beginning and you can make yourself some compost over the coming years, then this is a good way of saving a lot of effort. You will need to purchase some organic matter to start, along with some cardboard and you’re on the way. The benefits to the soil structure and the yields you can expect will make this worthwhile. YouTube have fantastic videos on the whole process. Just save some cardboard and go for it.

The Village Show is on 29th August. Please enter something to keep this show going.

Take care and happy gardening

 

The Queen of Foraging Plants

THE QUEEN OF FORAGING PLANTS

So, once upon a time, the Vale of Glamorgan was pink. These days the predominant colour in the fields is yellow with Oil Seed Rape. But before tractors arrived and up to the 1950s you could expect to see acres of a pink, reddish crop. It is estimated that one in seven fields was planted with it. This was Sainfoin and is seldom seen these days. However, it is a great fodder crop and was known as the queen of foraging plants. Here are some of its benefits:

Sainfoin is a high-yielding, drought-resistant plant which needs no nitrogen fertiliser and little phosphate. It won’t cause bloat, is a natural anthelmintic and, with rumen protected protein, produces top quality meat and milk. Sainfoin has deep penetrating roots making it highly suitable for the dry, alkaline soils. Sainfoin has many positive characteristics as a forage. In ruminants, these are the result of its content of high levels of chemicals called condensed tannins.

However, Sainfoin has another great benefit – it is very attractive to bees and other insects and is great for beekeepers because of the quality of the honey it produces. For this reason, the Wildlife Group is planting it in different locations, including the Upper Orchid Field, Bee Loud Glade, Goldsland Orchard and Cae Ysbyty.

Shady And Jack Are Prone To Mishaps

VILLAGE ENVIRONMENT GROUP

Shady And Jack Are Prone To Mishaps

The morning started so well, with Kim joining the team to clear up the mess at the roundabout area of Greave Close. When we are at full strength, tasks are easily completed.

Greave Close is home to two of our members – Shady and Jack Tar. We are not quite sure why, but Shady and Jack are prone to mishaps. This time Jack’s wife rang to say that he was being held against his will in the porch of their house. As it was close by, we went to investigate. He was definitely trapped as we could see his face against the glass of the front door. Jack had purchased an out-of-date life raft from Temu to use as a paddling pool in the garden. The cord, which sets off the inflate mechanism, had caught in the door jam, the raft had inflated and pinned the poor fellow to the door. We had to drill a hole through the door and into the raft to deflate it. Still, it was a lovely morning.

Our next outing will be on 13th July in the underpass at Vennwood Close

Prolonging The Flowering Season

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

Prolonging The Flowering Season

It’s now all about prolonging the flowering season. All the work that’s been done to get to this point shouldn’t be in vain by slowing up on the basics. Hoeing weeds before they set seed is a must. Picking sweet peas for the house will keep them producing new blooms, along with removing seed heads. Alstroemeria also benefits from being picked and these flowers last a long time in a vase. Cut back early flowering plants like delphiniums and herbaceous geraniums to ensure a second flush. You won’t get as many flower heads but it’s well worth doing. A second and last feed for the roses along with deadheading is essential. The roses have been brilliant during early June. The week of wet weather followed by the sunshine at the end of May seemed to be just perfect for them. Try to keep up with the watering, especially the pots and any newly planted flowers. One house in the village has put in a watering system with timers and soaker hoses, it is working very well for them as they are away a lot and control the system from an app on their phone. It can be a bit expensive, but it suits them.

One exception to watering regularly is the lawn. Unless you are prepared to waste reservoirs of water and time on it then don’t even bother as you’ll do more harm than good. Just sprinkling a bit of water on your grass will bring the roots nearer to the surface searching for the small amount you had time to do. This would mean that a dry spell will leave the roots, now nearer the surface, exposed to drought and this weakens the grass more than anything.

If you are starting an allotment now, chances are it will be overgrown with brambles and full of weeds. There may, if you’re lucky, be some veg you can use. Don’t try and attack all of it in one go, just clear a little at a time and cover the cleared ground with weed control fabric until you’re ready to plant. There’s a lot of veg to plant now – broccoli, cabbage, kale etc. The one thing you won’t be short of is advice. Allotment folk love to share their knowledge and they’re a good bunch.

The gardening club at the hub is going well and with the likes of Joyce Hoy there you are guaranteed to get both good advice and the Latin names of plants.

The village show will take place at the community centre on Saturday 29th August, so bring your produce along and show what you’ve accomplished.

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