"Fast is fine...

but accuracy is everything"

Xenophon - a 4th century Historian, philosopher, and soldier. A follower of Plato and a student of Socrates.

The storms which hit Weymouth during January left their mark in the school garden. Storm Dylan inflicted the worst damage though. The tetrapanix had all of its' leaves stripped off and now looks a little sad but new leaves will sprout once the weather warms up.

The leaf scars on the tetrapanax trunk

At the other end of the garden the fierce winds ripped the roofing felt off of the tool shed to reveal some rotten wood underneath.  The roof frame had to be repaired before new felt was positioned.

The exposed shed roof once the felt was removed

Rotten timber

Even worse rotten timber!

New felt and timber was sourced and the repair undertaken in one afternoon so as to keep the shed watertight.

Old rotten wood being removed and replaced

Carefully measuring out the roof felt

The first layer safely it situ

The view from the top!

The roof made good again!

Spring flowers have come early again this year.  The Pulmonaria- much favoured by early waking bees is in profusion around the garden.

Pulmonaria

Early daffodils

More daffodils

 The daffodils seem to flower earlier and earlier as the years go by.

The first crocuses in flower- again favoured by bumble bees

Another project undertaken was the repair of the wind vane/ power generator . The blades had two fractures in them and were causing imbalance. The whole thing was carefully taken down, serviced then repaired and re-positioned in one afternoon.

Carefully lowered

Cleaned and serviced

The fracture awaiting repair

Re-positioned as the sun was setting

Temporary bracing till next weekend when a more permanent fix will be made

The 'paper bark' birch tree looking resplendent in the winter sunshine

Tree ferns all wrapped up to protect the crown from frost

Finally the Corsican Hellabore is in flower.  This magnificent plant was given to us by our friends from Abbotsbury Gardens and it is thriving well.

Corsican Hellabore

Work continues during the winter period and the pond area is the next on the list. Alien plants are smothering the native ones around the pond edges and this needs to be sorted! Our bees and hoverflies prefer native species and are often specialists to just a single plant genus- the campanula bee - at just 4mm long- is a good example of this.  Unknown in the garden until we introduced suitable plants it has now been recorded many times.