Working Notes - June 2022

It’s been another long dry week but due to the dedication of all our volunteers, and the added extension on the hose pipe, we are keeping up with wetting the garden’s tongue. Of course we were due a heavy downpour at some point and naturally it occurred yesterday during the SCG Social, leaving everyone scrambling for shelter and ruing leaving their washing on the line. Despite this it was great to see friends old and new sharing stories, tea and homemade cake.

We are already halfway through our second Growing Well programme of the year. This week the group planted beetroot, tasted a variety of mint and turned their hand to painting watercolours of the garden. We have had a couple of new volunteers join the team this week and so I’d like to offer them a warm welcome.

Dan Rhode, from Current Standard Electric, has just completed work on the electrical installation in Poly 3. We thank Dan for his hard work.

The temperature may have fluctuated somewhat over the last few days but it has remained consistently dry throughout. As you can imagine this has made the garden a very thirsty beast this week. Besides watering and weeding our volunteers have been ever busy.

Purslane and woad have been sown and many other flowers have been potted up and are acclimatising in our cold frames. Cucumbers, bell peppers and leeks have been planted out into their beds and our many varieties of peas and beans have been tied up to their supports. We are slowly making our way through the garden, tidying up the pathways and seating areas for guests to enjoy.

As we are always looking for new ideas in the garden from Wednesday the 6th of July we will be trialling a weekly quiet hour from 1.30pm – 2.30pm. This will be designed for volunteers old and new who are looking to escape the hustle and bustle of modern life and have some time to themselves. If this sounds like something you maybe interested in feel free to message Melissa or I for further details.

I also have a word from Frances who has just finished running 18 months of Give Peas A Chance –

Being still quite new to the SCG, I am always meeting members and volunteers for the first time and am always happy at how forthcoming they are to introduce themselves and share their chapter in the building of our garden. Today was no exception, meeting many friendly faces and talking about the past and plans for the future of the garden. Growing Well have done an outstanding job with their bug hotel, which is ready for the plant installations.

Our weekly volunteers have been as busy as ever, watering and weeding, feeding the birds and trying not to feed the slugs. Extra supports have been erected to protect our beans and peas from the wind and our brassica bed has been netted in anticipation of the dreaded white butterfly. It’s not just cabbage and cauliflower we’ve planted out this week but broccoli, kale, sprouts, courgettes sunflowers, zinhnia and carinthe too.

Our donations table has been relocated outside near the entrance and fitted with a spiffing new sign for all to see. I’d like to say a big thank you to those who could make it to the garden today to plant pumpkin seeds with their families. It was great to see loved ones enjoying time together in the setting of our beautiful garden.

May really was quite a month. Starting with a lot of upheaval, dismantling and relocating our water system to aid with the erection of security fencing around the old buildings. We now have a brand new shed donated by the good folk of Buxton and Leek college as well as a new address. There was also great success at the Rotary Fair, taking donations of £150 while spreading the word of the garden which is once again open to the public on Wednesday’s and Sundays. This week, thankfully, has been a little less chaotic.

Growing Well has started a second programme running in the afternoons – activities included using binoculars to observe plant and wildlife, checking on plants and seedlings and continuing with the new insect house. The greenhouse beds have been turned and courgettes, celeriac and chard have been planted. Woodchip has been added to the pathways which have also been weeded.