{"id":13980,"date":"2024-02-14T00:43:11","date_gmt":"2024-02-13T23:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13980"},"modified":"2024-02-14T00:43:11","modified_gmt":"2024-02-13T23:43:11","slug":"imagine-getting-back-onto-the-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13980","title":{"rendered":"Imagine Getting Back Onto The Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

T<\/strong><\/em><\/span>HE VILLAGE GARDENER<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Imagine Getting Back Onto The Garden<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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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\u2019t over water.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t worry if you think you\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019re reading this.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Take care and happy gardening<\/p>\n

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\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-3Du","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9733,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=9733","url_meta":{"origin":13980,"position":0},"title":"Village Gardener Tips for June","author":"Alan Williams","date":"30th May 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"THE VILLAGE GARDENER Stella Gardening Tips for June Tips from Heulwyn Davies of the cherry tree garden. 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We need to be sowing annuals and getting veg beds ready to plant carrots, turnips, beetroot,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Items for March 2026"","block_context":{"text":"New Items for March 2026","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=431"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8296,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=8296","url_meta":{"origin":13980,"position":3},"title":"Your Jobs For September","author":"Alan Williams","date":"5th September 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"THE VILLAGE GARDENER Your Jobs For September Environment team tips. Make sure your stored produce is mouse proof. Clean out the bird feeders. Leave the ivy if it's not bothering you as the birds will love the berries over winter. Save seed, don't get caught out next year. Clear the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Village Gardener"","block_context":{"text":"The Village Gardener","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=77"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/garden.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14916,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14916","url_meta":{"origin":13980,"position":4},"title":"The Festive Season Is Upon Us","author":"Alan Williams","date":"10th December 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"THE VILLAGE GARDENER The Festive Season Is Upon Us With the festive season upon us, the garden gets a bit neglected. That is probably one of the reasons artistic gardeners say we should leave the dead stalks of perennials standing, as it gives structure to the plot. It\u2019s bad enough\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Village Gardener"","block_context":{"text":"The Village Gardener","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=77"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14508,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14508","url_meta":{"origin":13980,"position":5},"title":"Watering, Weeding And Dead Heading","author":"Alan Williams","date":"1st August 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"THE VILLAGE GARDENER Watering, Weeding And Dead Heading Watering, weeding and dead heading are the jobs that need attending to every day at this time of year in an attempt to keep the garden looking it\u2019s best for as long as possible. Some of the late flowering plants, such as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Village Gardener"","block_context":{"text":"The Village Gardener","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=77"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13980"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13980"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13981,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13980\/revisions\/13981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}