Category: Nature
A New Home for Pollinators
Our latest project involves a piece of land made available to us by the Reader family which we shall use to benefit pollinators – bees, butterflies and other insects. We are all aware of how serious the future is for those insects which help to pollinate crops, flowers and fruit trees so we shall be planting trees, shrubs and wildflowers that are particularly beneficial to them. If you are concerned about the future of the planet you are very welcome to get involved with the project either as an individual, a family or a group. Just get in touch with us and we can discuss what you could do – the photo shows one tree we shall be planting which is so good for bees that it is called the Bee Bee Tree! We have already had our first donation from Mike and Glenys Tucker and that will go towards a couple of these trees.
On 29th June we shall be leading a walk looking at poisonous plants in the countryside so if you fancy coming along just turn up outside the Village Hall at 1pm. The walk will be around 4 miles and will include visits to the Elizabethan and Welsh orchards. Dogs welcome but there will be some stiles they will need to navigate.
Green Flag judging took place in May so we hope that we will be able to boast 6 Green Flag sites this year. The Easter Egg trail took place, but we had very few children doing it so will not be repeating this in future years.
Open Farm Sunday is on 9th June at Goldsland Farm and the Wildlife Group will be leading a couple of walks into the surrounding countryside – a short walk in the morning for families and a slightly longer one in the afternoon. Check our Facebook pages for updates and times.
Plan Your June Activities
RHS top tips for this month.
- Hoe borders regularly to keep down weeds.
- Be waterwise.
- Harvest salads and early potatoes.
- Position Summer hanging baskets and containers outside.
- Pinch out the side shoots on tomatoes.
- Mow the lawn every week.
- Plant out Summer bedding.
- Stake tall or floppy plants.
- Prune Spring flowering shrubs.
- Shade greenhouses to help with cooling and to avoid scorching.
New evidence says that we started cultivating some 23,000 years ago. The one thing that has not changed in all that time is the need for weeding. Hoeing regularly will stop the weeds getting the upper hand. Magnolias need be cutback now. Severe pruning of Rhododendrons should be left until Springtime. You can take softwood cuttings of Fuchsia and Hydrangea now. Rose enthusiasts take some of the buds off their plants to increase the size of the remaining blooms, but I wouldn’t have the heart to do that. If you want to grow your own Spring bedding for next year you need to start sowing now with favourites like Pansies and Wallflowers. With the warm weather and long days pests and diseases are abundant. Treat as soon as any become apparent. We must also take care of ourselves and wear hats along with sunblock. There has been a lot in the news of late about the effects of pesticides on the environment. The UK has strict laws on what we can use, so please read the label and only use recommended doses when justified.
Great to see so many of you at the WI table-top sale in May. Some of the questions put to me about growing veg would be best answered by the one and only Mr Gordon Jones. Just form an orderly queue outside the library when Mr Jones is in residence. It has been brought to my attention that another library volunteer, Clare Ellis, is an expert on Clematis.
Many of us will have an unkempt part of the garden. You are helping nature by letting it take care of itself. The Wenvoe Wildlife Group will love you for it. This group does brilliant work in and around Wenvoe and if you could lend a hand a warm welcome awaits you.
July sees some of Wenvoe’s gardens open to the public and this venture is being led by Brian and Sandra Jones. We have at last managed to get the one and only Gerry Crump on board. If you want to see how to prolong an active life please go along to see Phylis and Gerry’s garden.
Take care and happy gardening
Pollinators Are In Serious Decline
Pollinators Are In Serious Decline
Everyone knows that pollinators, i.e. insects that pollinate our flowers and crops, are in serious decline and we are being encouraged to do everything possible to help them, not least by planting flowers, shrubs and trees that can supply accessible pollen. Typical of the advice that you will find in magazines and the media is that good plants for pollinators are:
Lavender
Dahlia
Wallflower
Borage
Foxglove
… and if you planted these you would certainly be helping wildlife. However it is worth looking beneath the surface as no two lists agree and there is seldom any indication of what research has been done to reach these conclusions.
We have three main types of bee in this country. First Honeybees, possibly not native but producing honey and living in colonies. Next Bumblebees with which we are all familiar as they are usually large, furry and highly visible. Then there are the Solitary bees of which there are 225 species in Britain. As the name suggests these do not live in hives but individually and you will often see them using our bee hotels. Which raises the next question – do all these types of bees use our recommended plants in equal measure?
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A five-year research programme by Rosi Rollings has found marked differences in bee preferences. Amongst the garden flowers most visited by Honeybees are Veronicastrum virginicum (Culvers Root) and Sedum spectabile (Ice plant) yet these are largely avoided
by Solitary bees. However the latter love Anthemis tinctoria (Golden Marguerite) which is studiously ignored by Honeybees and Bumblebees and also Campanula (Harebell) which is seldom visited by them. Bumblebees will go for Echium vulgare (Vipers Bugloss) but Solitary bees will not go out of their way for them.
So if you want to favour one category over another you can find more detail on what plants to go for in Rosi’s website -www.rosybee.com. Or you can simply take the top five irrespective of bee type which are:
Geranium Rozanne
Calamint
Helenium autumnale
Eryngium planum
Helenium – Sahins Early Flowerer
Remember to factor in the seasons ideally providing a range of plants that will offer pollen from Spring through to Autumn and finally note that the bees are not remotely interested in whether the plants are native species or not.
Wildflower Beds and Orchard Maintenance
Year 1s from Gwenfo CW Primary School joined us to spread the wildflower seed on our bed in Grange Park. You can see their personalised labels in the ground on their chosen patches. We were lucky with the weather which meant that for the first time they could choose an area anywhere on the bed rather than having to stick to the perimeter. We are using a different brand of seed mix this year so it will be interesting to compare results. It is not an ideal site as it is shaded by the pines and Horse Chestnuts which are still growing but we have spent many hours preparing the site so, fingers crossed!
Penarth and Sully Scouts spent a couple of hours up at the Goldsland Orchard and worked very hard. They cleared rocks and stones from the ground and then scattered a wildflower meadow mix under the trees. They also cut back the branches of over-hanging trees and created log and brush piles. They saw plenty of wildlife including a frog, Bluebells, Wood Anemones, Yellow Archangel and plenty of lichens. Robert Reader has installed a fence around the orchard to keep the inquisitive cows at bay and we have erected some bug hotels on wooden posts. The warm weather over Easter certainly brought out the solitary bees in numbers so it should not be long before the new hotels are in use.
We continue to have thefts from the Community Orchard on the Playing Fields – this time a newly-planted Victoria Plum. The Police have been notified and any relevant images from the wildlife cameras will be forwarded.
Conscientious Litter-Pickers
TWYN-YR-ODYN & ST LYTHANS
A group of environmentally conscious litter-pickers have joined together to help keep the local area clean.
The weather was fine and sunny on 23rd March – the perfect conditions for a spring clean – when fifteen volunteers came together to help tackle our litter problem. Armed with bin bags and grabbers, our all-ages group set about clearing up the rubbish lining the roads.
We began our collection at the bottom of Old Port Road and made our way up into St Lythans, collecting around 18 bags worth of rubbish in total. The group was made up of volunteers from Twyn-yr-Odyn and St Lythans, all happy to do their bit to help keep the area clean and tidy.
A few of the unusual items found along the way included strip lights and a single football boot – the other one presumably having wandered off before we could locate it.
A special thank you to Heather from the Horse and Jockey pub for providing much needed sustenance after our efforts.
It was lovely to see so many people pitching in and as it was so successful, we will be running another one soon. We’d like to invite anyone who is keen to join in to get in touch with Rhian at the following email address: rhiansexton@yahoo.co.uk
The RHS Tips For May
The RHS tips for May
- Watch out for late frosts.
- Earth up potatoes
- Plant out Summer bedding
- Water early and late in the day to make the most of your water.
- Keep hoeing weeds on dry days as they will die off quicker.
- Open greenhouse vents and doors on warm days.
- Mow lawns weekly.
- Check for nesting birds before clipping hedges.
- Lift and divide clumps of Spring flowering bulbs.
- Watch out for viburnum beetle and lily beetle grubs.
Time to cut back Spring flowering shrubs and watch out for the shrubs with variegated leaves as they will slowly try to revert to green. Cut out the patches of plain shoots. Forsythia is one of the shrubs that needs to be cut back now to be assured of a good display next year. Proof if needed was the plant in Nige and Jude’s garden on Church Rise which was beautiful. Montana clematis can be reduced in size to make it more manageable, this should not harm the plant.
Take softwood cuttings of fuchsia, hydrangea and Forsythia now.
Daffodils can look a mess as they fade, so lift them after you make sure all the heads have been taken off and dig in to a corner of the garden and when they have completely died back lift and store for the autumn.
One of the things I’m guilty of is not putting supports in early enough. It is a lot easier to do when the plants are small, then tie in as they develop.
Crane fly larvae are leatherjackets and this Spring they have been causing a lot of damage to lawns in the area. There are no chemicals available to gardeners. Nematodes are available and should be used as soon as possible after purchasing. These are only really effective during September/October time. To prevent this problem, improve drainage where possible and encourage strong growth
On May 11th the W I are holding a table top sale at the Wenvoe Community Centre; to complement the other stalls there will be locally grown plants for sale as well as good gardening tips. All under the watchful eye of Madeleine Rees. If ever you are in need of advice on any gardening matters then make haste to the library where Joyce Hoy can answer your queries especially on Alpines. As for Vegetable expertise please look no further than Wenvoe show multiple winner Gordon Jones. You really could not do any better.
Around the village it’s great to see people tending their gardens. The effort that some put in is astounding. If you would like to be included in an Open Garden afternoon in July contact Brian and Sandra Jones on 02920594248. I know some that don’t like attention but it would be good to see the likes of Gerry and Ieuan come forward, if only for me to say that I know these gardeners.
Take care and happy gardening
We Are Surrounded By Poisons
You may not realise it, but we are surrounded by poisons in the shape mainly of plants and trees. Our rural ancestors knew what to eat and what to avoid but as we become increasingly divorced from an understanding of the countryside, we are losing that knowledge. The recent interest in foraging carries that risk and children are always vulnerable. A nine-year-old girl died recently after eating some Woody Nightshade – a very common plant that grows in the hedgerows around Wenvoe and St Lythans.
Some of you will know of Deadly Nightshade and Hemlock and may recall that Socrates’s death sentence was carried out by making him drink Hemlock. But would you recognise these plants? Hemlock grows commonly in the Vale, particularly along the Sully seafront and can be found in abundance along the M4 as you travel towards London. But you might be surprised to hear of the risks associated with parts of the plants of Snowdrops, Bluebells, Holly, Daffodil, Rhubarb not to mention Tomato, Aubergine, Potato and Peppers.
Apart from knowing not to eat Potatoes when they are green, the vegetables mentioned here are, of course, fine to eat in themselves – the poisons are in the leaves or the roots. The last four are all members of the Solanaceae family which includes Henbane, Mandrake, Deadly Nightshade and, still the biggest killer of them all – Tobacco. Recently there were cases of poisoning in the Chinese community because daffodils were on sale in the vegetable section of supermarkets and were mistaken for a type of chive used in Chinese cuisine.
To our ancestors even the poisonous plants had their benefits when used in the correct dosages. Deadly Nightshade (pictured here) has the Latin name Belladonna or ‘beautiful lady’ as it was used to dilate the pupils and make women more attractive. In the mediaeval hospital at Soutra Aisle in Scotland run by Augustine monks there is evidence of the use of Hemlock, Black Henbane and Opium amongst others in carrying out operations and treating conditions like depression and cancer. The Roman physicians used Mandrake as an anaesthetic in Alexandria two thousand years ago. For those who know their Harry Potter they will recognise Mandrake as the plant which screams if it is pulled out of the ground and hearing that scream is enough to cause death.
The Wildlife Group are planning to lead a poisonous plant walk in the summer where you will have a chance to see and learn to recognise some of the plants referred to. You may also learn such things as why the Mandrake had such a deadly scream. If you are interested in coming along register your interest with the Wildlife Group
Annual Easter Egg Trail
Annual Easter Egg Trail
Upper Orchid Field
This is the 5th year that we shall be running the Easter Egg Trail on the Upper Orchid Field so why not bring the youngsters along for a bit of fresh air?
It will run from Tuesday 16th April so just turn up anytime from then on and take a form from the dispenser on the main noticeboard. Only the first 30 completed forms will get an Easter Egg.
In contrast to previous years you should now take your form to the Wenvoe Library which is open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday.
As this is the Chinese Year of the Brown Earth Pig, all the clues will be linked to pigs or the soil.
Just bring a pen or pencil.
Wild Boar
RHS tips for April
THE VILLAGE GARDENER
March and April bring out the usual pests like slugs and snails. While difficult to deal with, we seem to find a way. But the other pests prevalent at this time of year have two legs and come aggressively knocking at your door, offering to clean your drive or tidy up your garden. They know people want their places cleaned up in the Spring. There is no happy outcome with this sort, so please just say ‘No’. It will save you a lot of money and worry. If you need work doing, the best thing to do is ask a friend or neighbour to recommend someone or contact British Soil in Wenvoe, as they have a list of approved contractors.
RHS tips for April
- Keep weeds under control with regular hoeing.
- Protect fruit blossom from late frosts.
- Tie in climbing and rambling roses.
- Sow hardy annuals, herbs and wild flower mixes outdoors.
- Start to feed citrus plants.
- Increase water to house plants.
- Feed shrubs and roses.
- Prune fig trees.
- Divide clumps of bamboo
- Repair bare patches on the lawn.
Everyone is busy in the garden, planting out, sowing seeds or carrying all you can manage from garden centres. However, you do need to be careful as a late frost will ruin all your hard work. Listen out for Derek and keep some fleece handy if temperatures are going to drop.
Mrs Woodruffe of Greave Close loves cosmos which is a great plant and a good cut flower. It will stay in bloom until the first frosts, but you must keep dead heading. Young sweet pea plants need the tops pinched out. This will make the plant stronger and increase side shoots. Perennials are always a good thing to grow from seed or buy as plants. You will, however, need to give them enough room to not just grow up but also to spread out.
Sow sunflower seeds directly into the soil at the end of the month with a little compost to help speed germination. Mark each seed with a cane which will be needed as support. If you put a two pence coin alongside the sunflower seed, then you won’t have any trouble with slugs.
Camellia flowers are now starting to fade, so pick off blooms as they turn brown to keep the plant looking tidy. Once all flowers have gone, clean around base of plant then give the shrub a good boost of ericaceous liquid feed.
Brian and Sandra Jones plan to open their garden in July. If you would like to be on the list of gardens to visit, please get in touch. Some of you don’t realise how good you are.
Take care and happy gardening.