The Official Wenvoe Homepage
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.
We Are Short On Numbers
January’s work consisted of cutting back bamboo, ivy and thorns that were growing close to the wall dividing the community cemetery and churchyard.
We as a group meet on the 2nd Monday of the month, 9.30 at the Community Centre.
We are short on numbers at present and would welcome any help in trying to keep the village clean and tidy. Ieuan, a stalwart of the team, had a knee replacement recently. That’s what happens when you’ve been an elite athlete most of your life. Hope to see you back soon Ieuan and we look forward to welcoming some new members in the coming months.
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
It has been a challenge to all gardeners trying to keep all their plants alive during the heatwave and the community plants are no exception, but some devoted members of our team are managing to do a bit of watering. This lovely weather has its’ downside for we who long for some good solid rain. Watering is hard work, especially at the allotments where hosepipes are not allowed.
At our July meeting all the roses were pruned. No meeting in August.
Our team were saddened to learn of the death of Len Currie, known to us all as Len 2. A long time member of the team, he turned out when his health permitted and it was a privilege to have known him