Category: Nature

Let The Dandelions Flower

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

Let The Dandelions Flower

Whilst weeding the flower beds, a couple of passers-by advised me to let the dandelions flower as they were a good early source of nectar for pollinators. These pretty yellow flowers seem to turn into seed clocks in a matter of minutes, you would need to watch them like a hawk if you don’t want your garden covered in them by the end of the season. These broad-leaved weeds smother everything around them. Just try digging them up, it’s nearly impossible, especially when they get established. Your neighbours will not thank you for spreading these across their borders. A few years ago, the authorities dug up 12,000 sq. metres of verge around Wenvoe, where weeds (wildflowers) were in their element.

Slugs are out in force now so protect the young shoots of hostas, lupins and delphiniums. Some of the new shoots of delphiniums and lupins can be cut off at the base, then potted up and put in a plastic bag, these Basel cuttings root easily and are a great way of getting more plants at little cost. The new leaves of roses will benefit from a fungicide spray now to prevent black spot and rust, before it can get established. If you follow the advice given by tv gardeners to wait until April before cutting hydrangeas back, they will give a better display. Cut them back to a new shoot.

This month the people at Greenmoor nurseries will be planting up their hanging baskets. These will stay undercover until established. Don’t put these outside until late May at the earliest, or they will go back and not give their best. As with potted up plants they will need a regular feed and consistent watering throughout the season, along with deadheading to keep them flowering.

And so it begins, the annual fight at the allotments between man and beast. This spectacle goes on until the end of the season. The young plants have been nurtured by the growers then planted in the hope of providing produce. On the other side we have the foe – slugs, snails, mice, rabbits and birds all vying for their bit. Runner beans are one of the favourites of both man and beasts, we like them in a dish smothered in butter, but the pests love them as they come out of the soil. Onion sets planted in neat rows are scattered about by the birds looking to see what’s underneath. There is still time to plant more peas to make sure you get at least some to cook as the mice will have decimated the first planting. Carrots planted earlier to avoid the carrot root fly need to be thinned out, allowing those remaining to grow on so the rabbits can have their fill.

Remember don’t be greedy when planting potatoes, it’s tempting to cram them in. If you do there will be no air flow between the foliage, and they will be more susceptible to blight.

Next month the Tuckers Spring plant sale will take place at the Church Hall on 11th May so if you have some extra plants you’d like to sell, this would be a good opportunity. There will be a raffle with proceeds going to the Wenvoe Wildlife Group and homemade cakes sold by the slice to take away or enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee. See you there.

Take care and happy gardening

 

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

 

Old Entrance to Whitehall Quarry

VILLAGE ENVIRONMENT GROUP

Old Entrance to Whitehall Quarry

Having been given permission from Alex the narcissist, to work in Upper Wenvoe, the boys tidied up the verge at the old entrance to Whitehall Quarry. If you recognise the chap in the light blue conservative coat, first left, could you let the police know, as every time we work in this area he comes along and berates passing motorists on their driving. When a driver takes offence, big John has to save him from a battering. Apparently, he’s French so that may explain the behaviour. We’ve asked at the new home, but they haven’t started taking residents yet. Ieuan thinks he may be an onion seller, as he looks like one that used to reside in the village during the war.

 

Our next outing will be on 8th April at the Community Centre. We are of course grateful for the offer of biscuits from well-wishers when we’re on duty, but without tea to dip the ginger nuts, we find them too hard. We are mostly wanting Jaffa cakes!!

 

Wenvoe Garden Birdwatch 2024

Wenvoe Wildlife Group

WENVOE GARDEN BIRDWATCH 2024

Whilst we were disappointed with only 7 households taking part in our first Wenvoe birdwatch the results are still interesting and give us a small snapshot of the birds in our own community.

Here are the total number of birds seen :

1. Great tit: 15
2. Long Tailed Tit 14
2. Blue tit: 14
2. Wood Pigeon:14
3. Robin :9.
4. Carrion Crow:8
4. Goldfinch :8
5. Blackbird:7
5. Coal tit:7
6. Collared Dove: 6
6. Chaffinch:6
6. Dunnock:6
7. Rook:3.
7. Magpie:3
7. Herring Gull:3
8. Wren:2
8. Pheasant:2

There was one siting of a Nuthatch, Moorhen and Greater Spotted Woodpecker. In total 20 different species of birds were recorded.

In the UK RSPB birdwatch results for 2023 the most seen bird was the House Sparrow but no House Sparrows were spotted in our admittedly limited sur-vey. We know there are House Sparrows in the par-ish but we are aware that nationally since 1966 22 million of them have been lost. The only bird in RSPB’s list not seen in Wenvoe is the Starling.

More analysis is being undertaken of our Wenvoe results to plot where in the village specific birds were seen and these findings will be published later.

If during the year you spot an unusual bird in the parish please try and take a photo and send it in to the Wenvoe Wildlife Group with the date the photo was taken and a postcode or location description.

 

Encouraging Mistletoe To Grow

Wenvoe Wildlife Group

Project Balder has involved encouraging Mistletoe to grow on trees in the Village. Currently there are only two clumps of the plant recorded as being alive in the County – one in Dinas Powys and one in Wenvoe. There are several clumps in Cardiff and many more to the north-east and east of the City. Last year we invited residents to contact the Group if they wished to try propagating it and during February berries and instructions were distributed. This involved over 100 berries with an accompanying kit purchased from the English Mistletoe Shop. Mistletoe is notoriously difficult to grow and if we get just a couple of new growths, particularly if one is female it will have been worthwhile. With at least one male and one female we would hope that nature can take over. Our thanks to Chris, Vicar Lyndon, Annette, Shirley and Eleanor who have placed seeds on trees in the Rectory, various Wenvoe gardens, one in Dinas Powys and the Elizabethan Orchard. There are several species of insect, beetle and fungi which are associated with Mistletoe. And Balder was the God of Light in Norse mythology who was associated with Mistletoe although not in a way that he would have appreciated!

Visitors to the Upper Orchid Field will have appreciated the annual cut and clearance of vegetation carried out by John Crockford. We can look forward to a grand display of Spring flowers, particularly Primrose and Cowslip. Rhys has been deploying wildlife cameras around our sites and early footage is revealing the hidden world of wildlife including Field Mice, Birds and Foxes. One particular fox, Stumpy, has no tail but seems healthy enough.

A Beautiful February Morning

VILLAGE ENVIRONMENT GROUP

A Beautiful February Morning

A beautiful February morning brought a good contingent out to plant primroses, cut back the roses and shrubs plus replant a holly tree to a suitable spot.

As an environment group we are involved in sorting out all sorts of issues. Noise pollution was a first for the group. An incident was brought to the attention of the team from people living on Old Port Road and Station Road East, where in the vicinity of the Community Centre there were complaints of revving engines and inconsiderate behaviour on Friday mornings. A team member attended the area the following Friday and issued a verbal warning and spoke to their families. A threat of care home residency by their next of kin seems to have done the trick.

Apparently the Barrista had locked them out of the Hub by mistake.

All being well we shall meet at the top of Walston Road on March 11th, 9.30

 

Don’t Be Fooled By A Couple Of Nice Days

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

Don’t Be Fooled By A Couple Of Nice Days

Let’s not be fooled by a couple of nice days tempting us to believe Spring is here. Things are starting to grow a bit now, but March can be cold and frosty on times so don’t be tempted to put anything tender outside. Plenty to do in the garden though, Winter flowering heathers will benefit from an ericaceous feed after they’ve had a trim.

Hydrangeas are an easy plant to propagate by layering, all you need to do is make a cut in a low-lying branch and pin it to the ground with the cut in the soil. Once it’s rooted snip it off from the mother plant. We still have time to split up large clumps of perennials, not only will you have more plants, but you will have healthier ones as they will have more growing space. Water these in well even if soil is moist. Now that we’re into March please leave hedge cutting until after the nesting season, birds and their songs are as much a part of a garden as the plants.

Local nature groups will be encouraging us to have a wildflower patch. If you’re going to try this, there are a couple of things to consider. The first thing is a weed and grass free space as wildflowers can’t compete. The poorer the soil the better; no need for any sort of feed, all they need is water and some sunshine.

I know I harp on about the quality of compost since they’ve stopped using peat in its makeup, which we know is the way forward. These firms are using recycled material but are not processing it properly and we end up with a lot of wastage. When sieving I have on average found 15% unusable for planting seeds or seedlings, where you need fine material. I have found coir blocks made from coconut husks to be the best material. You just add water to the block in a container leave it to soak then break it up. There is no wastage, it’s easy to keep moist and the plants do well in it.

Up at the allotments the folk there will be champing at the bit to get early crops such as beetroot, peas, early potatoes and salad crops into the ground. Don’t let a bit of sunshine tempt you to plant runner beans until at least the end of April, or they will perish. These allotments at Twyn Yr Odyn are for hardy souls who love their hobby of trying to get their crops to grow while being blown sideways by the wind or gasping for breath in the thin atmosphere at a height of 360 ft above sea level. All this and they still take home the winners’ certificates from the local village show with their produce.

Take care and happy gardening

 

 

Dragons In Your Garden?

Dragons In Your Garden?

Do you have Dragons in your garden? It might surprise you to know that the answer is probably ‘yes’. Chinese New Year falls on February 10th and this time it is the Year of the Dragon. However, the dragons in your garden are not the traditional fire-breathing monsters of old but a group of animals called Herpetofauna which includes Amphibians and Reptiles. The Connecting the Dragons project across South Wales aims to restore and raise awareness of these threatened species, 50% of which are in danger.

So, what might you come across in Wenvoe? If you have a pond, you are likely to have Newts, certainly the Common Newt. But we suspect there are also populations of the Great Crested Newt but have yet to confirm a record. Frogs and Toads turn up regularly, but the Toad is now classified as a Priority Species because of declines in their numbers. The Grass Snake is the UK’s largest native snake but is not venomous and is quite harmless to humans. These have been recorded in the Elizabethan Orchard and the Goldsland Watercress Beds but are likely to be in many other locations in the Parish. Adders have not been recorded in the Parish although some people claim to have seen them. They have been recorded in Leckwith Woods and are likely to be here so definitely one to look out for. If you see one, treat it with respect as they have a venomous bite.

As far as Lizards are concerned, we are likely to have the Common Lizard as there are several records from Cardiff but, again, none in the Parish. And then there is the Slow Worm – neither slow nor a worm nor even a snake but a legless lizard. We come across these regularly in our wildlife sites and also in gardens, although you are less likely to see them if you have cats as they are predators.

So, in the year of the Dragon we are going to make more effort to record, protect and encourage these creatures. We hope you will do the same and in future issues of What’s On we will describe some of the ways in which you can help.

 

Imagine Getting Back Onto The Garden

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

Imagine Getting Back Onto The Garden

With so many wet days in December and early January it was hard to imagine getting back onto the garden. The ground soon dried up after the deluge with high pressure in charge. Any exposed soil would have had a lot of nutrients washed away which will need replacing with fertiliser and compost when the growing season starts. The mild December weather saw daffodils out on the village green and snowdrops out in the church grounds. The cold spell in January will have held the Spring bulbs back now. This difficult start to the year weather wise will have an impact on nurseries. Plants that you order may be a bit late and will definitely be more expensive. Keep costs down by sowing some seeds, sunny windowsills make an ideal spot for cosmos, salvias and sweet peas in February. Kale is a real hardy plant but will need to be germinated inside before putting outside. Look out for damping off and don’t over water.

Mrs Betty James of Walston Road will have scrubbed all her empty pots and seed trays in readiness for the sowing season, she will then sieve a new bag of compost and add some perlite for drainage. By following the way Betty does things you will have a good success rate. Don’t worry if you think you’re behind as plants will soon catch up with more daylight hours. Spend a bit of time checking on the tubers and corms that you kept over Winter and discard any showing signs of rot before it spreads to the others.

The folk at the allotments will be preparing seed beds, weather permitting, and getting cloches cleaned up to put on the soil to allow it to warm up. Some seeds like broad beans are hardy enough to sow now. Some folk will have already picked some forced rhubarb by the time you’re reading this.

The Vale was hit hard last year by the box caterpillar, which decimated box hedging and shrubs. This pest has only been in the UK for about fifteen years, starting in the southeast of England. There are some chemicals which claim to be effective but the amount of re spraying needed per season makes it not cost effective. The caterpillar is hidden beneath a web and is difficult to get at. The young hide in webs between the leaves over winter and become active as the weather warms up. Then a second infestation starts in Summer. Some National Trust properties have taken any box hedging out as the situation got too difficult to manage.

The last decade has seen record rainfall over most of the UK. We are not immune to this in Wenvoe, properties in Grange Close, Old Port Road and Nant Isaf have had flood damage. We all need to think before we cover ground with concrete etc. We need to let the ground soak up the water and release it slowly and laws are coming to make sure we use permeable products when constructing new drives or hard standings. The driveway at the Old Rectory has been constructed using permeable blocks.

Take care and happy gardening

Wenvoe Wildlife Group

Despite the weather we have achieved quite a lot in January. Three new picnic tables have been constructed and installed in the orchards by Brian Rees. Sian White has strimmed and cleared vegetation at both the Goldsland Orchard and Goldsland Watercress beds, enabling improved access to both of these popular but quiet sites. Rhys McGowan has started a project of wildlife recording and all residents are encouraged to send any sightings of wildlife to the Wildlife Group from within the Parish. The Group have purchased a replacement Cherry Plum for the one in the village that was uprooted recently and Mike Tucker has arranged its planting. Mike has also cut the hedgerow that the Group planted along the Community Orchard.

Worrying Times For Our Group

VILLAGE ENVIRONMENT GROUP

Worrying Times For Our Group

Worrying times for our group at the start of 2024. Everyone had received a Pure Cremation funeral plan through the post. While discussing the cheek of it, one of the elders slipped. We discovered he has PTSD (post traumatic slip disorder). As his ears are further from the ground than the rest of us and the fact he hit his head, we decided against an ambulance and phoned the funeral people, because you get 10% off the first one.

After moving the patient to one side and putting him on light duties, the team got on with widening the bend on Tarrws Lane, by cutting back the vegetation.

This group are determined that nothing will stop them carrying out their civic duties – unless there is too much rain, wind, ice, sun or the cappuccino is only like warm.

Our next meeting will be on 12th February at the village green.

 

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