The Official Wenvoe Homepage
ENVIRONMENT GROUP
On a lovely December morning the Environment team met up on the village green to plant daffodil bulbs donated by Dyffryn gardens. A great turnout for the final meeting of the year; thankfully Ieuan turned up to bring the average age down a notch. Our next outing will be on the 11th January back at the village green at 9.30. Please bring cutting equipment and a rake. Tel 07704340840 to join this eclectic bunch.
Help Us With the Clean-up
The team met to clean up at the front of the community centre in October. We feel a civic duty to try and keep the village tidy. The one thing going for us at the present is the fact there are so few of us, that social distancing is never a problem. The team will meet again on the 9th Nov. in the phone box or on the village green if we have a good turn out
ORCHID FIELD RE-VISIT
Following last month’s visit to clear brambles by over a dozen workers, another attempt is planned to complete clearance of some areas on the field on Thursday 8th October from 9.30am. Hopefully the field will have had its annual cut and clear by this date. Please bring your own tools. All are welcome
ENVIRONMENT GROUP
Bramble Clearing Collective
The Wildlife Group had help from the Environment Team on a glorious morning at the orchid field. John made the suggestion to assist in clearing brambles.
We will meet on the second Monday of each month by the Community Centre at 9.30am in an attempt to keep the village tidy. October meeting Monday 12th. If anyone is interested and has an idea of where we should tidy up next, just come along and join in.
ENVIRONMENT GROUP
Orchard Field Work Group
The group will meet on Monday 14th September by the gate to the Orchid Field at 9.30am with the aim to clear some of the rapidly growing brambles around the field. Please bring suitable tools and gloves. (Sharp garden shears are very good for cut-ting back).
The meeting is open to all who wish to attend. There is plenty of space to ‘social distance’ while working.
THE VILLAGE GARDENER
Environment group’s tips for the month:
Michelle in Vennwood has some forthright advice for non gardeners:
Some of Wenvoe residents have great back gardens, including Heather on Gwenfo Drive whose rear garden would rival any show garden at Chelsea. Sixties pop star Brian and his wife Wendy have a classic rear garden anyone would love to have. Mr & Mrs Cottle and Mr & Mrs Lawrence have lit up Gwenfo Drive with their front gardens for many years. Mr & Mrs Grant’s garden is looking really good.
If your lawn hasn’t lived up to expectation this year, it will probably be down to a lack of effort last autumn. Scarifying is not easy but essential along with aeration and nutrients. Do not feed your lawn with high nitrogen feeds at this time of year. It will promote growth and weaken the grass. Autumn lawn feed should be used now as this is lower in nitrogen and will promote root growth.
Hanging baskets need quite a bit of attention to keep them looking their best. They need watering every day, especially if they are hanging under eaves and feeding at least once a week is a must along with dead heading when needed. Dahlias will benefit greatly from cutting the spent heads off, as will roses. Now is the time to stop feeding roses. Blackspot can be prevalent this time of year on roses. The brand Rose Clear is the most effective for controlling this, pick up any fallen leaves as they can spread the disease. Pelargonium cuttings can be taken now. They are easy to grow, certainly easier than growing from seed.
A lot more people have been growing vegetables in containers this year. From what I have witnessed, potatoes, French and runner beans, peas and carrots have been most successful. If there was to be an autumn show this year the competition would be stiff. The usual suspects will be in the running. The Hammonds, I know, have grown some wonderful stuff this year. A periscope will be needed to spy on Gordon’s garden this year, there must be some monster veg growing there as shutters have gone up all around the estate.
Take care and happy gardening.
THE VILLAGE GARDENER
Environment group tips for July.
Allotment holders tips.
There were some great front gardens to be seen in June. If you venture into Orchard Close you will see lovely gardens brimming with colour facing you. They belong to Mr & Mrs Green and Mr & Mrs Thomas. On Old Port Road Mr & Mrs McDonald have done a brilliant job on their garden since coming to Wenvoe. With restriction on movement still in place, a short walk around Wenvoe looking at people’s gardens will soon brighten your day.
July is another good month for pests and diseases in the garden. Aphids will try to ruin your runner bean crop. However you can treat these with insecticide or by squashing between your fingers; it’s a good way to shorten their lifespan. Powdery mildew, rust and clematis wilt are just some of the diseases that will affect your plants at this time of year. Cut out the infected areas as soon as you see it, then give the plants a feed to help them recover. Keep clearing up leaves and debris around plants, especially roses as this can harbour a lot of disease. It is a boring job but a garden vacuum will make this job easy.
Cut the spent stems off lupin, hollyhock and delphiniums down to a bud, then give them a liquid feed and you should have a second flush of colour. Once herbaceous geraniums have flowered, cut the whole plant back to about 10cms, it will then go into overdrive and give you another display, albeit not as good as before.
Deadheading is so important when trying to keep plants flowering, as once they have set seed their job is done. With your runner beans, you have to keep picking the young beans otherwise they will stop cropping. If you’re growing courgettes, you will need to pick them before they become marrows. Take off the leaves below set trusses of tomatoes, to allow air and light to get to the fruit.
Be on the lookout for any Ash or Sycamore seedling that have escaped your gaze. If they become established you will have a devil of a job removing them when they grow amongst your plants.
Take care and happy gardening
A Lovely March Morning
On a lovely March morning, the large turnout (4) cut back the roses on the village green. Group member, big John, told us of the method Len Jones used to cut roses back in the early Spring. Unfortunately, Gardeners’ Question Time has been cancelled, but we will reorganise this in conjunction with the Community Library, as soon as we are able to.
The Environment Group will not meet until further notice. Thank you
Braving the Elements
Last month we were a small party, probably due to the high winds. Those of us who braved the elements, with ballast in our trouser bottoms, cut back the roses and tidied the border in front of the community centre.The border has had a lot of daffs planted there, but they have refused to show willing so far, unlike the rest of the village where they can’t wait to show off for St. David’s Day.Our next meeting will be on Monday 9th March at 9.30 am. Our work load will increase now Spring has sprung, so any help would be most welcome. Thank you.