…followed a cold dry April! After around 6 weeks with almost no rain at all, we installed 3 large water containers, some of the neighbours kindly filled them up for us and at that point almost to the day, it started raining again and hasn’t really stopped.
The cold has delayed not only the germination of the new seeds, but also the flowering of the many self-seeded poppies and the young pollinating plants in the nectar garden. When we finally get a bit of warmth and sun, we will have a fantastic display!
We have left un-mown most of the site, and will cut the various areas at different times throughout the year to encourage the best display of wild flowers.
We’ve had some boisterous teens in the pond again, resulting in the lifebuoy being broken into 5 sections (they still float so have been left until we can replace them with a new one), and one of the waterlilies coming out of its pot and floating to the surface. With a bit of luck the new shelter and exercise equipment that will be installed in June will give our bored teens something else to do!
Our volunteer Fridays are going well, with a small core team doing most of the work. The next urgent job is to weed the petanque court – the people playing on there yesterday didn’t find a very smooth surface! We don’t allow chemical weedkillers on the site, so we’re going to try using horticultural vinegar instead.
All pictures on this week’s blog were taken by local photographer Adrian Powter.