Category: Nature

Our Biggest Wild Animal

Our Biggest Wild Animal

The biggest wild animal we have in the Parish is the Badger and this has been the case for hundreds of years ever since the last wolf was hunted to extinction. But this could all be about to change. The deer is Britain’s largest land mammal, and the species is gradually spreading throughout the mainland. The population is believed to be about 2 million, an increase of 1.5 million in the last 50 years. Deer come in all shapes and sizes with the largest being the Red Deer. However, the species most likely to appear first in our Parish is the Muntjac, shown in the photo. Around the size of a dog it has been spotted in Lisvane so should not take long to spread through the Vale. Although taller than a badger it is not heavier so it could be argued that the badger will continue to be our largest until other varieties such as Roe or Fallow put in an appearance

Muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi) buck showing tusk

So, is this good news? Many would argue otherwise as deer can cause significant damage to crops and your gardens. They browse on young trees so prevent regrowth and reduce biodiversity. They can be a hazard on roads causing accidents for drivers and damaging vehicles, particularly during the mating seasons when they are more active. Around 350,000 are culled every year but this has done little to check the increase in their populations.

But there is another mammal which could become our largest. Weighing in at up to 200 kilograms – a badger may get to 35 kgs – these can also cause major damage to gardens, parks and other green spaces. Whilst well-established in the Forest of Dean there have been occasional sightings near Cwmcarn. This is about 25 miles away by road – less as the crow flies. Once a common feature in the Welsh countryside and featured in the Mabinogion it is, of course, the Wild Boar.

With Care They Will All Come Up

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

With Care They Will All Come Up

Keen gardeners will have the windowsills covered in propagators and pots with plastic bags over them. These will be full of tomato, sweet pea, leek and calendula seeds. Hopefully with a bit of care they will all come up. The ones that survive the grandchildren poking their mitts into the soil, looking impatiently for signs of growth, should be ready to go into a cold frame in March. Try, if you have room, to spread the seed planting out over a couple of weeks or more to give you a longer flowering season.

 

To get a decent display from snowdrops you need to buy them in the green during February and March and plant them as soon as they arrive, you will then have a good chance of a tidy display next year. Planting just the bulbs when they’re available in the Autumn never gives a satisfactory outcome. Have you remembered to plant that amaryllis you were given for Christmas? Better get on with it as the giver will want to know how it’s doing.

After an initial rough cut back last Autumn, the roses can be given a tidy up at the end of the month and into March. Cut the stems back to just above a bud and try to leave an open aspect as this will allow air to circulate, discouraging disease. Take some of the

tatty leaves off the hellebores, this will give the flowers a chance to show off. If any of the leaves have black spot, make sure you bin or burn these.

At the allotments pest control has started. Broad beans and peas that were planted in the Autumn are showing off their new foliage to the pigeons so netting or cloches are the order of the day. If using cloches make sure the ends are blocked off as the pests love nothing better than eating your veg when they can be out of the elements. Cover freshly dug soil or weed seeds will soon cover it for you. The jury’s out on whether chitting the seed potatoes before planting has enough going for it to make it worthwhile. Spread the planting time out so you have a longer harvest of new potatoes. Growing asparagus is a long-term investment, it would be worthwhile speaking to Bernard as he grows a fantastic crop.

Last Summer the folk round the village who grew grapes and figs had a remarkable year. Growing grapes is a little more work but with a bit of care the results are a joy.

Take care and happy gardening

A Programme for the Coming Year

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

A Programme for the Coming Year

January. Just browse the seed catalogues and, if you do venture into the garden, consider whether you’re going to make things worse by compacting the soil and trampling the bulbs that are doing their best to come up straight.

February. Weather permitting, look out for the crocus and snowdrops brightening up the garden in the last month of winter. Plant tomato seeds and put on the window sill; it’s a good feeling to see them poke through the compost.

March. Now we should have lots of colour in the borders and pots with daffodils and anemones signalling that spring is here. Weeds of course are the first to realise it’s spring and will cover the borders in no time unless we curb their activity. Do not be tempted by the new young plants in the garden centres unless you have a warm place to store these tender plants.

April. Now some of the earlier bulbs like daffs are starting to fade, you need to be deadheading and give them a liquid feed on the leaves to ensure a good display next spring. Tulips come to the fore now with brilliant displays to gladden any heart. The end of April is a good time to purchase annuals from the shops.

May. The greenhouse is full of plants that are ready to go into the garden. Look for a good spell of weather; you don’t want to put them out to get battered by heavy rain and wind in their first few days in the open and ruin your good work. Plant kidney bean seeds now, they’ll soon catch up with some you were tempted to put out early which were attacked by slugs.

June. Patience will be rewarded if you resisted the temptation to put your hanging baskets on their brackets until now. That’s why professional people always have great displays. The gardens and allotments are in full swing now. Allotment folk will be carrying water daily to look after their precious crops while house holders will be wishing they’d installed an extra water butt

July. Controlling weeds and deadheading is the order of the day. In the greenhouse tomatoes are coming faster than you can eat them. You’re afraid to go on holiday as all your hard work in the garden will just shrivel up.

August. Everything is at its maximum now and you’re starting to look like a kidney bean because you’ve eaten so much of this king of veg. The longest bean you’ve kept for the village show has been nibbled by a pest. Start to pick some apples to give the rest of the crops a chance to get bigger. Dahlias are starting to show why we love them with gorgeous displays. The village show is at the end of the month in the community centre.

September. Here we go, it must be Sept as the garden centre shelves and most of the floor space are full of Christmas stuff. If you don’t like it you have to go and look around the aquarium section with only the odd Father Christmas in a fish tank. Plant some potatoes in a spare pot to ensure new potatoes for Xmas lunch. Foxgloves, hollyhocks and Canterbury bells need to go in seed trays now for displays next year.

October. Leaves starting to fall in abundance now. If you can bear it leave the ones on the border, it’s a great mulch and the worms love them. We now buy a load of pumpkins and carve them for the kids, then leave them outside until they’re mushy and try to stuff them in the food bin.

November. A dreary month, but force yourself into the garden to tidy up; you’ll be so glad you did come the spring. Everyone loves a bonfire, so get your hedgehog recipes out in case one has decided to hibernate in yours.

December. Rummage through the shed looking for the Christmas decs and lights, wishing you’d put labels on the boxes, then finding stuff you were looking for in the summer. Give the garden waste collection workers a tip, don’t leave it all over the road. Then cancel your subscription.

January. Start again!

Take care and happy gardening

When It’s Wet To Stay Off The Ground

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

When It’s Wet To Stay Off The Ground

We are advised when it’s wet to stay off the ground. It causes a lot of damage if the soil gets compacted. This causes problems with drainage and restricted plant growth and includes the grass. There is still plenty to be getting on with, starting with trying to make room in the shed. This is for the stuff we are going to throw out from the house in spring but can’t bear to take to the tip. It’s the same ritual every year.

It has been such a strange year with a dry summer and a warm autumn. This has meant we have bedding plants still flowering in November. Pelargoniums are sometimes discarded but an old method of storing them is cut them back, pull up and shake off the soil, dry them out and store root ball pointing up and wrapped in newspaper. Ieuan uses the Guardian newspaper for his, but I’m quite sure the Telegraph would suffice as long as you don’t mind the plants leaning to the right when you replant them next spring. When the rain eventually came it seemed to bring all the insects, that had been waiting in the soil, to life. With not as much to eat in Autumn, they even started eating geraniums which are usually left unscathed. A lot of gardeners were bitten as well. A noticeable absentee from the late summer was the wasp, very few around.

Another piece of advice handed out at this time of year is to up the feeding of our feathered friends. They say it will encourage them to feed on the pests in the garden. I can’t say I’ve seen those little darlings ignore an easy meal to go hunting for the odd insect. What it does encourage is the larger pests (mice and rats) if we don’t keep the area cleaned regularly. If you’re putting apples out for the blackbirds, you will need to quarter them as they won’t peck through the skin. If you leave them whole, you are just inviting Pam Williams to recover them for her apple distribution network. Open feeders will bring in the sparrow hawk, it works like a McDonald’s drive through for these small raptors.

Working in and around the village throughout the year it’s an absolute pleasure to see the way the gardens are kept. I have to mention Mr& Mrs Cottle who always keep theirs in lovely order.

I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas. Take care and happy gardening.

Definitive List Of Welsh Apples

Definitive List Of Welsh Apples

There has been some press coverage recently following an announcement by the National Trust of the publication of a definitive list of Welsh Apple varieties. There are 29 listed. As we have gone to great lengths to plant many of the Welsh varieties in our orchards, we have been considering the list and its implications. In fact although 29 are listed they are broken down into 3 categories. The first category is the Historic list – apples unique to Wales with evidence of cultivation in the country pre-1950. There are 16 of these and include varieties planted in our orchards such as Cissy, Gabalva and St. Cecilia. We have 11 varieties of these.

 

The second category is referred to as Modern which are unique to Wales but introduced by a Welsh breeder or nursery post 1950. One of these is Bardsey which is claimed to date back hundreds of years as it was found in an old orchard on Bardsey Island and sold around the world as such. However, as there is no evidence to support the claim and it was discovered in 1998/9, it is officially post-1950 and thus Modern. There are 5 of these of which we have Bardsey and Machen.

The final category is called Associated and these are not unique to Wales but may have been given a Welsh name and widely cultivated in Wales or the Marches. There are 8 of these of which we have only planted Morgan Sweet.

However, we have another 7 which we understood were Welsh but do not fall into any of these categories such as Afal Wern, Pig Aderyn and Cadwallader. The implication is that these are English apples which were just given a Welsh name. So, this list does help to clarify which varieties are truly Welsh and which were adopted and introduced from elsewhere. To check out the full list go to the National Trust website.

Orchard Maintenance

Wenvoe Wildlife Group

Orchard Maintenance

Sian has cleared a section of the Watercress Beds at Goldsland. Llewellyn from the Vale Local Partnership team has done a fantastic job cutting the Community Orchard, Wild, Goldsland and Elizabethan orchards whilst also widening the paths around the Upper Orchid Field.

These and many other jobs are made possible through the money raised by the Tuckers’ events and all of you who support them. Other items we have spent this money on include new benches in the Community Orchard, new noticeboard in the Community Orchard, junior workshops for 7- to 11-year-olds, insurance, schoolbooks and items in the wildlife patch, leaflets, signage, tools and materials. Thank you to all who support us directly and those who participate in the Tucker events.

Date for your 2026 diary. The Garden Birdwatch takes place between Friday 23rd and Sunday 25th January. More details will follow nearer the time.

Go For It – Plant The Bulbs

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

Go For It – Plant The Bulbs

Go for it – plant the tulip bulbs, they will produce excellent blooms if put in this month. Just make sure the pointy bit is aiming to the sky and they are deep enough. Daffs are cheap to buy now as the success rate diminishes with each week that goes by. Don’t even think about buying snow drop corms, they never do well. Wait until they are available next year, in the green, around March and April; you will be guaranteed a display the following Spring.

Some of the begonias flowered right through October. The mild, if somewhat windy, weather saw to that. Just make sure you save the tubers by drying them out and storing in a dry place, free from frost. The roses have also been producing blooms later this year, which has delayed any pruning until November. I will be putting the hedge trimmer through the roses and leaving the real pruning until the end of March, or when the buds show signs of growth. Do not leave any of the infected leaves around the base of the plants, as the black spot spores will thrive in the soil.

A lot of berries on the holly again this year, so if you need some for Christmas then cut off what you need and stand in water, it keeps for ages. If you don’t do this the wreath makers and wood pigeons will make short work of it before the first day of advent.

November is the start of the bare root season, these shrubs and hedging plants are generally cheaper than pot grown ones and take very well when planted. Apples and pears can be pruned at the end of the month through until the end of February. Don’t prune plums or any stone fruit until the Summer.

There is still plenty to get on with at the allotments. Mike Johnson along with others will be collecting leaves to fill the compost bins along with waste generated off his patch. This Autumn Mike is going to dig some of the leaves directly into the soil so the worms can speed up the process of decomposition. In the village you can leave the leaves on top of the soil for the same effect but up at Twyn Yr Odyn the wind will blow them into the Bristol Channel if you use this method.

Old hands Colin and Bernard have been pleased by the way the allotments have been cared for this year, producing good results in what has been a challenging year weather wise.

Reminder, if you’re having a bonfire, please check for hedgehogs. If you leave them in for too long they become crispy and take on a barbecue flavour. Barry Oliver wraps his in foil, to avoid any mishap.

Take care and happy gardening.

Many Tributes to The Late Ian Moody

Wenvoe Wildlife Group

Many Tributes to The Late Ian Moody

There were many tributes to the late Ian Moody in the last issue of What’s On but he also played a major role in the Wenvoe Wildlife Group. A founder member, it was Ian who started the ball rolling by suggesting we formed a group to start maintaining the Upper Orchid Field. Ian was closely involved with the planting of the orchards, the design and construction of the Bee Hotels, excavation and stocking of the ponds and clearance of vegetation. Ian also instigated and ran the monthly conservation sessions on the Upper Orchid Field. One of the activities Ian participated in was the recording of Ancient and Veteran trees. These receive no special protection and only by recording them on the Woodland Trust’s Ancient Tree Register can we reduce the risk that they will be cut down. Ian and Bruce recorded these whenever they came across them on their walks around South Wales. On one occasion Ian spotted a large Oak near Tretower.

The tree was measured and photographed, and it turned out to have been unrecorded up to that point. An Ancient, pollarded Oak proved to be one of the oldest in Wales. A WWG member subsequently mentioned reading a book called Running for the Hills by Horatio Clare in which he describes growing up on a farm near Tretower where there was a massive Oak. It turned out to be the same tree, so it had appeared in literature but had never been officially located and described. At over 9 metres in girth and many hundreds of years old, it was thanks to Ian’s eagle eyes that the tree was registered and celebrated.

So, the legacy is there. Orchards that should be good for 100 years and a tree that could have witnessed the times of Owen Glendower.

We shall be covering the topic of funding and what we spend it on in the next issue but meantime our grateful thanks to Glenys and Mike and everyone else who supported the event for raising the amazing sum of over £1,200 for WWG at the Village Show

There Are Good Gardeners Around Wenvoe

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

There Are Good Gardeners Around Wenvoe

The village show highlighted the fact that there are good gardeners around Wenvoe. Bernard, who judges the vegetables and takes his job seriously, was so impressed by the quantity and quality on display. There is of course a small minority that get their produce from Waitrose, but the judge has seen it all before and advises that removing the price sticker might help. He was nevertheless taken by surprise by an entry from Nicola of the Twyn, who had obviously been on her travels to Lilliput. Nicola brought along what she claimed were tomatoes, in what can only be described as a Lilliputian snuffbox. Without glue they refused to stay on the display plate, being blown off by the waft of a butterfly wing. The only way they stood a chance of being judged was a taste test; unfortunately, they slipped down the throat like a greased paracetamol before you could bite them. All this added to what was a really enjoyable day.

The garden will start to look bare after the annuals have been discarded and the perennials cut back. You have choices to make now on how you’re going to protect the soil from erosion over winter. Using the spent compost from pots that had annuals or tubers in, buying in bark or leaving the fallen leaves on the borders for the worms to mulch down for you will work. Admittedly the leaves look messy, but they will do your soil a power of good. You can, of course, dig them in which will speed up the composting process. Always collect rose leaves with black spot and burn them.

Some have managed to keep displays of begonias and dahlias going until recently. Looking after the corms and tubers of these showy plants is a must. We need to make sure there is no foliage left on them and that they are dried out properly before storing in a dry frost-free environment. The late John Rich always kept his in kiln dried sand and had a very good success rate.

Take cuttings of your favourite shrubs, just cut below a leaf joint, peel off the leaves and poke in the ground next to the shrub, so you’ll remember where it came from.

Take care and happy gardening

‘The Gentleman In Velvet’

‘The Gentleman In Velvet’

He was toasted as the ‘gentleman in velvet’ by the Jacobites. A recent classic book was called ‘The Boy, the ?, the Fox and the Horse. In Under Milk Wood, Dylan Thomas wrote:

‘The houses are blind as ? though ? see fine tonight in the snouting velvet dingles’

He was a leading character in the Wind in the Willows. The answer and missing word is, of course, Mole.

The Jacobites, who supported the deposed King James II, were delighted when in 1702 the then King William, died after his horse stumbled on a molehill. He suffered a broken collar bone when he fell and died a few weeks later. The Jacobites then traditionally raised a toast to ‘the wee gentleman in the velvet jacket;’ who had brought about his downfall.

These days moles tend to be seen as a nuisance when they create molehills on pristine lawns, cricket pitches and bowling greens. But for many centuries moles, once called ‘mouldywarps’, were valued for their fur which has a short, velvety texture. Particularly in Victorian times it was used for garments and accessories. So they were trapped in large numbers. The Molecatcher of Wenvoe is recorded as having killed 3,000 moles in 1932 and 3,400 the year before. (Nigel Billingham research).

The mole has a cylindrical body and very powerful forelimbs with claws like shovels making them strong diggers capable of tunnelling 20 metres a day. The tunnels help to aerate the soil and mix up the soil levels which is beneficial to other animals and plants. Their main diet is worms which they consume in large numbers but they also paralyse some with their saliva and stash them alive in ‘larders’ for later consumption.

So whether you are a Jacobite, nature or literature lover, why not drink a toast to our velvet friend?

1 2 3 4 5 6 … 34