A very busy weekend

"never try to catch two frogs in one hand"

An old Chinese proverb.

With that in mind this weekend saw a lot of activity in the school pond.  On Saturday evening over 17 frogs were seen splashing about at the shallow end of the pond.  On Sunday morning there was a lot of frog spawn there and the frogs were still paired up and splashing about and resting on the sides.  After three years the pond has now matured enough to attract plenty of frogs.

Away from the pond area the greenhouse has over the past few days been dismantled and rebuilt and secured on a bed of concrete blocks.  The glass was removed and recycled and is being replaced with polycarbonate sheets

Once dismantled the site was cleaned and made ready for the concrete blocks

After repositioning the greenhouse the new polycarbonate sheets had to be measured and fitted to the greenhouse.

By the end of Sunday the roof had been re-glazed with the polycarbonate sheets and also one side.  By the end of the forthcoming week the greenhouse should be completely refurbished and we can move the exhibits and staging back inside and start planting ready for 2014!

Finally our good friends at Doonans popped by on Saturday morning and delivered some brick rubble which is just what we wanted to progress with the Jurassic Garden.  It will mean that the wheelbarrows and sledge hammer will be busy next weekend! We thank them very much.

As we left the garden a very vocal Green Woodpecker made itself known and possibly another queen Buff-tailed Bumble Bee was seen flying around the Aeolian wind organ.

Catching up

"Whoso neglects learning in his youth,
Loses the past and is dead for the future".


Euripides.  from Phrixus



Following the recent spell of violent storms and torrential rain the garden group has  met on a couple of afternoons to assess the damage and make good where possible.  Most things survived but the greenhouse took the brunt of the storm on 15th Feb.  However the frame held firm and just six panes of glass succumbed to the forces of nature.  Following this damage it was decided to replace the glass with polycarbonate sheets.  The glass is now getting very old and brittle.  When Ron gave us the greenhouse four years ago it had been stood in his garden for many years.  We thank the Friends of Holy Trinity for their generous donation which made the purchase of the polycarbonate sheets possible.


The good news is that the polycarbonate has arrived and hopefully when we get a couple of calm  days we can take the greenhouse apart, re-fix onto a bed of breeze blocks and fix down again.  Once this has been done we can start the long job of reglazing.



After downloading the school weather station the strongest gust in the school garden on the night of the 15th February was 50mph (just over 22m/s).  Of interest is also the amount of rain which has fallen on the garden this month so far. From 120mm at the start of the month to 520 mm this Sunday- about 15 inches!  The storm earlier in the month 5th/6th February and again on the 12th February showed the maximum gusts to be about 38 mph. Click on the graphs to enlarge

The 50mph peak gust is clearly shown

The dramatic rise in recorded rainfall over the ten day period.

Sunday was spent giving the Willow Classroom a good haircut.  Willow grows very quickly in the Spring and it is essential to remove unwanted growth and direct it where we want it- at the base to consolidate the sides with green leaves and also to tie in the dome on the roof.

The Willow gets a trim!

A couple of butterflies and bees had stirred in the glorious sunshine and showed themselves off in the garden. A male Brimstone butterfly and a Small Tortoisehell were seen and a large (possibly a queen) Buff-tailed Bumblebee.   Bumble bees, a Drone Fly and a couple of Honey bees were also seen.

Brimstone butterfly resting on the warm ivy

Drone Fly wallowing in pollen

Queen Buff-tailed Bumblebee- possibly nest hunting whilst feeding

Finally during the morning a pair of Great Tits were very active in the garden suggesting that they were looking for a nesting site.  That is exactly what they finally did but they shunned the bird nest boxes and took a big interest in one of the bat boxes! The female made a couple of inspection visits and then flew off over the fence. Birds are not unknown to nest in bat boxes.  We will watch to see how things develop!

The Jurassic Garden- first phase

There is an old saying that it is perhaps shameful that the birds should always be awake before we are.  With this in mind the garden group met fairly early last Saturday morning - shamefully after the birds -to kick start the work on the Jurassic Garden

The fence panel was removed and the ground cleared ready for the arrival of the first of two loads of ready-mix which would be used to make the retaining wall to create the ammonite shaped path.  The ready mix was put in bags which were laid almost brick like to slowly build up to the working level of the garden.

The required circular shape on the ground was marked using the traditional method of a rope and a stick.  Then a white spray paint line was laid down which gave us a working line to go by.  Shortly afterwards our good friends from Doonans arrived with the ready mix

A second load was delivered yesterday and the retaining wall is now complete and ready for the next stage which is the infilling of the half circle and general leveling of the site.

Away from the Jurassic garden area things are stirring in the mild weather.  The Hazel bush is showing off with a fine display of catkins

Tucked away in the sheltered side of the garden the Daffodils have grown rapidly and it looks as if by next weekend some of them will be in flower. 

Over the past few weeks we have observed butterflies and bumble bees on the wing.  The Blue Tits are exploring the nest box again and both the male Great Tit and Goldfinch are singing from the highest perchs in the garden. We can only hope that the fine weather has not tricked them.  With news that frogs are croaking in garden ponds in Dorchester we must keep a regular watch in the pond.

“Strength lies in differences, not in similarities

Last Saturday evening  the school garden was transformed into something a bit special.  The garden group volunteers had prepared the garden for a carol service with a difference.  The event would be held in the dark with members of the school present and also from Holy Trinity Church .

The main path was lit by candles up to the willow classroom and the classroom itself and other prominent features in the garden were floodlit.

As the carol service was about to start we were delighted to see our good friends and neighbours from Highclere House arrive and stay with us for the service.  The staff and residents were made most welcome despite a troublesome gate lock.

The following pictures give a feel to the mood of the evening.  The school choir led the singing which started with traditional carols and finished with a few more seasonal songs.

With the end of term rapidly approaching and the school finishing for the Christmas break activities in the garden will take a rest but work is planned over the holiday period when the garden volunteers hope to kick start the Jurassic Garden.

The lorry has arrived!

Earlier this week the long awaited load from Cambridge arrived. This was the path edgings for the ammonite shaped path in the Jurassic Garden.  A few of the garden volunteers met quickly to help unload the materials.

The pallet on the lorry was quickly unloaded.  The plastic planks and pegs are all made from recycled materials.The driver even gave us the wooden base which the plastic planks had been fixed to.  Nothing is wasted in the school garden. We recycle as much as we can.

Meanwhile the hedgehog seems to be sleeping well in the box. Hopefully it will stay there undisturbed for the rest of the winter.  We did have a sneaky look in to make sure that all was fine. 

A neat and tidy home for the winter!

In the greenhouse the Living Stones are flowering.  The snails have grazed a few but they are doing well.

The Jerusalem Artichokes have finished for the year and the plants have quickly died back.  Four plants were removed this weekend to see what the crop was below.  There were plenty of tubers from just four plants

A little history about the Jerusalem Artichokes will be included in the next catch up.  Cold wintery weather is forecast the next week.  Hopefully it will push the birds into the garden and they will start using the feeders.

The Aftermath..

"No one would have crossed the ocean if he could have gotten off the ship in the storm"

Quote by Charles Kettering-  a prominent American inventor, engineer and businessman

It was with some trepidation that we visited the garden the morning after the Storm called St Jude.  Winds of 90mph had been recorded along the south coast. We were keen to download our weather station and see what had been dealt to us.More later.

First though a quick visual assessment was made.  One broken pane of greenhouse glass,  one crab-apple tree snapped clean in half, the buddleia bent double,  sunflowers flattened, watering cans everywhere and most of the grapes having been ripped off of the vine.  Nothing in fact too serious in that an hour or two tidying up could not put right.

The sunflowers

Watering cans everywhere!

The snapped Crab-apple tree

The damaged buddleia

The weather station had recorded two strong gusts of wind that night.  One at about midnight showed about 35mph and another stronger gust at about 1am on the Monday morning showed about 42-45mph. Pressure had dipped overnight from 1000 to 975 and then slowly climbed up again as the storm passed by us.

Elsewhere the good news is that a hedgehog has moved into one of the boxes put out especially for them to overwinter in..  The animal is best left undisturbed now so please avoid the temptation in opening the lid!

The Aeolian Wind Organ was in fine form and notes danced across the pipes as the wind blew across them.  It is hoped to record them before long and put a link on the blog.

Finally a little bit of autumn colour as the fungi now make an appearance.  Just near the garden gate is this delightful clump of mushrooms

Summer is hanging on....

 "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin ......"

So spoke Ulysses to Achilles
Shakespeare from Troilus and Cressida.
 

Fitting words for this time of year as Autumn is clearly upon us now but summer is still hanging on

A few pictures from around the garden this morning.

This charming geranium 'Rozanne' has been flowering since May!

At one of the class plots- the 'pizza plot' - the pumpkin is still growing!

The ever growing pumpkin

The grapevine still looks healthy and the leaves are still very green and have not started to turn.  Many of the grapes are ripening off but it is unlikely  there will be enough to make a business venture worthwhile!

This weekend the garden group set about tidying a few areas up and targeting the greenhouse in particular.  The vines and creepers inside had all but died off and the tomatoes would certainly produce no more fruit. A good clean tidy greenhouse over the winter is very desirable. All that remains now are the  pitcher plants, the sundew, the venus fly trap, the Clog plant and the Antler plant succulents. Decaying vegetation is not good in a greenhouse!

General view in the tidy greenhouse

The pitcher plant is doing very well.

The Antler plants and the flowering sundew

The group will  save the sundew seeds and try to propagate some new plants for next year.  A little homework will be required for this venture!

We are hoping that groundwork will start very soon on the Jurassic Garden. The next big job in the garden is to examine and turn the many compost bins.  We expect to see a lot of spiders and slugs!

NOTICE:  It is intended to have a carol service in the school garden on Saturday December 7th.  It should be a splendid event with a few pleasant surprises thrown in. Updates and timings about this event will be posted here.