The view from the chair
!?!
Earlier this year I entered the site at TOP with my camera and took shots as if I was a visitor coming in for the first time. What hit me ? Well an untidy, disorganised ugly mess was the first impression, and this continued as I crossed from one end of the site to the other. Some of the messes could be forgiven as unfinished projects, and others for practical reasons, but not all.
That day
I discussed the findings with one or two other members as they arrived, and we
decided to look as if we were first time visitors and make improvements as we
go along.
1. What we should see on entering
need not be beautiful and certainly not council bedding, but be interesting,
unusual, curious and for a purpose
2. If a project has failed it
should be redone and not left as a bitter memory
3. If something on site is
unsightly it should only be forgiven if it is PRACTICAL, NECESSARY and GOOD FOR
TOP PRINCIPLES Re-used, recycled materials, good for
nature, education etc. such as home made pigeon proof cages / cloches / seeding
heads on plants/ nettle beds/ semi-automatic watering systems and such like !
We have created a prioritised list of projects and tasks. Some are already being progressed. In order of priority
- Rubbish on site. Use it/ suggest a future use / or get rid of it
- Avoid / forbid / prevent further accumulation of junk / useless objects
- Sort out fibreglass pond, either bury or raise in soil
- Grow some purple sprouting Brocolli (Jan has planted some for you Mark ! – editor)
- Remove all blackberries from site excepting those on fence near church.
- Remove all docks on site except a few in wild areas
- Remove all convolvulus major (Bindweed) anywhere on site.
- Finish clearing small blackberries and roots (well underway thanks to Eric and Barry - Ed) and replant area with trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants
- Please record butterflies (first seen on site in each month) on chart on shed door.
- Create a plan and plant lists for veg plots and wild areas and whole site for us and visitors (phew !)
- Label beds / areas
- Create a bog garden next to the pond
- At all times enjoy yourselves / share in good food and drinks and definitely allow time to look and enjoy the site and its plants and wildlife. (I think this should be the number one priority actually !!)
I am
still hoping that the site may be good enough to put forward to be open on
National Garden Scheme next year if all goes well and everyone agrees.
Hopefully
we will have one or more groups of school children on site this year again.
Keep up the good work and enjoy it.
M.A.Spencer (Chairman TOP)
T.O.P. 2003 and beyond
As
pointed out by our Chairman, Mark, to an outside observer the garden does look
in a bit of a state (to someone on the inside as well), but as he also says
there is a lot to be optimistic about as well!
Recent work days have shown that TOP have a core of dedicated workers
including a few newer members who are very keen and have embraced the concept
of good food and drink as well (as May’s workday impromptu BBQ can attest
to).
We are
still managing to keep to our original stated aims and objectives we just need
more time and people power to effect these on a scale that is more noticeable
within the local community. It’s no
good having all these good examples if nobody sees them and makes them their
own. To this end I have completed a
survey for The Permaculture Association about our project in the hope of reaching
a wider audience including local enthusiasts who may not be aware that we exist
(I think this is called networking and it appears to be the way of the future)
With
regard to the concept of Permaculture this is something which in large parts of
the garden we already do and as agreed at the AGM we are introducing to other
areas in order to free up the time for the intensive vegetable beds so that we
can continue to enjoy the “fruits” of our labours. If any body has any questions about the
implications of this please do not hesitate to call me (679517) for an
explanation.
I have
expressed a desired interest, on the groups behalf, in TOP taking on the
management of the corner plot over the bridge that was formerly paid for by
Barry as an allotment plot and is currently used by other allotment holders as
a rubbish dump. Given that I have been
told that the plot is not suitable for allotment cultivation I feel quite
hopeful that we will be allowed to take it on officially. It is a natural extension of what we are
trying to achieve in terms of biodiversity and wildlife habitat anyway and
would allow us to add forest garden to our list of ecosystems.
I feel
that the garden is maturing well and that the existing projects that have been
recently neglected will pick up as we get on top of the points agreed at the
AGM (for a copy please contact me), especially as a lot of them were suggested by me and I am still
enthusiastic with regard to their completion and ongoing management.
I especially support Mark’s comment about the site not looking like a
council bedding plot and would like to remind everyone that this is a working
project that will, in the wider sense, never be finished. I see TOP as the material extension of the
ideas and values that we both believe in and subscribe to in our daily lives,
and if we keep this in mind then setbacks can be seen as opportunities to learn
from rather than failures to knock ourselves down with. The decisions made at the AGM with regard to
management of the garden are a very good example of our ability to react
appropriately.
Regards
to all, and see you at the next party (workday)
Buzz Buzz –
Wonder why they duz
One family’s pain is soon to be our gain.
A group
of bees swarming in a garden in Broadstone will be relocated to the Tops site. These little pollinators have been ‘on offer’
from a local beekeeper for some time. They will benefit the fertility of fruit
and other plants for several miles around the site. The team have been planning
for the hive to be situated away from the main paths to avoid conflict. The
beekeeper, who works nights, will generally tend the bees during the week, when
we, and the church are quiet. And Eric is determined to make some Mead from the
cappings.
Workdays – Dates for your Diary Generally
the third Saturday of the month. These have proved very popular, do please come along, bring something to eat or drink if you can (home made, and TOP ingredients of course are best). | |
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How many people can we fit in the greenhouse ?
On a cold workday in February
we tested to the limit ! |
Saturdays June
21st Midsummer’s
day July 19th Aug 16th Sept 20th Oct 18th |
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There is
nothing to stop you coming to site any other weekend, or in the week. Most
Saturday afternoons finds a gaggle of us on site, and from Mark’s list, there
are always plenty of tasks to be done, or the garden to just be enjoyed.
Visit TOP
Online www.geocities.com/poole_la21/tops.htm
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The
internet is a wonderful thing – for getting muddled. We found when we visited
It all
started with larvae we were turning up in TOP compost – how do you tell between
the two ? It is a bug, so the best policy is to ask Mark. Apparently Cockchafers
are more active, and attack roots and vegetation, Rose chafer eggs are laid on
rotting wood, and the larvae tend to lie in a tight ‘C’shape and wriggle less.
Their main food appears to be helping creating our compost, and they get a bad
press.
Of
course, with 2,500 species of chafer, and because some eat the odd leaf, the
conventional wisdom is to zap the lot with Lindane or handpicking, but what do
these grubs create ? The cockchafer is also known as the Maybug – now you know
it, and the larvae, also called rookworms can live underground for up to 4
years. The Rose Chafer, Rose Beetle or Goldsmith Beetle on the other hand is a
metallic green colour, growing to about 2cm long.
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Apparently
the American Rose Chafer is brown, a voracious feeder, a completely different
beast. The adult European Rose Chafer beetle feeds on foliage, buds, flowers
and fruits of blackberry, raspberry, strawberry, cabbage, beans, beet and
pepper. One of my sources suggested the European version is found in southern
and central
And the
family name ? Scarab beetles. Now that has a pedigree back to Egyptian times.
At TOPs we’re prepared to loose the odd petal to feed this pretty visitor.
Andy H
As a keen entomologist and organic gardener for many years, I have always encouraged plants such as Hedge Garlic in my garden, in the hopes of finding the tiny, first creamy then orange eggs of the orange tip butterfly deposited amongst the flower heads.
Most years at least 6-12 eggs are laid, the butterflies always selecting the feeble individual plants as opposed to the healthy looking large plants growing well in clumps !
I also grow Hesperis (Sweet Rocket), Cardamines (Lady’s Smock and other Water Cresses) and Lunaria (Honesty), which are all said to be potential foodplants for this butterfly, though I have never yet seen any of them used in my garden, except by the Green Veined White and a few moth species.
There is however another plant called the American Land Cress, which is sometimes grown as a substitute for Watercress, but which is grown in ordinary, quite dry soils. It is this plant that is the main reason for me writing this article, as an individual plant growing in a large pot last spring had about 8 butterfly eggs deposited on it which I had assumed were those of the Orange Tip.
I resisted the temptation to collect them and put them immediately into protective custody, and allowed them to develop outside for a while (they are a little difficult to look after, when very small, indoors anyway). They all hatched and fed well and I finally brought them indoors when they were reduced by predation to only 6 caterpillars. Later I was to find that only 3 were Orange Tips, the other 3 proved to be Green Veined Whites, I had wrongly assumed that egg laying on the flower heads meant Orange Tips !
The main point is that members can grow a plant that is edible, more attractive, and a bit smaller and tidier than Hedge Garlic, if they wish to attract these two lovely butterflies to their gardens. Best of luck !
M A Spencer
Nettles (Urtica dioica)
Stinging nettles, a wonder weed. A Liquid Fertiliser. A complete Plant Food. It is as nourishing a green vegetable as any in the Kitchen Garden, it contains vitamin C and Iron in even greater quantities than Spinach! It makes a pleasant Wine and Beer both to my taste although perhaps a little ‘rustic’ to our readers with a more refined palate. The fibre yields a yarn used by fishermen in bygone times to make cordage, nets and a handsome cloth. It’s flowers are inconspicuous but it has what might, a little fancifully, be called ‘flying blooms’, the Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Comma, Painted Lady and Red Admiral butterflies rely on the Nettle as the food plant for their caterpillars. It is the home for many insects amongst them an aphid which is so happy on this aristocrat of nutrition that it can’t be bothered to attack any other plant in the garden it attracts predators especially the Ladybird Larva which will then move on and consume other Aphids which are garden pests.
Chard with Garlic in Oil (Monty and Sarah Don)
Two hearts or a small basketful of Chard from the garden, two large Cloves of Garlic roughly chopped, two tablespoons Olive Oil, large pinch dried Chilli flakes (or fresh chopped Chilli if you like it hotter), Lemon juice and Salt.
Strip the Chard leaves from the stems. Wash the leaves leaving a little water on them. Soften the Garlic in the Oil, add Chilli and Chard leaves and cook until soft but still bright green. Add Lemon juice and Salt to taste. Serve on Toast or as part of a meal. Gary Finch.
Note. : I’ve been cropping Spinach from my allotment in Dartford
for some weeks now and the only way to cook it, (I’ll brook no argument), is as
for the Chard in the above recipe submitted by Gary for a previous newsletter-
Barry
Adams.
Plant of the Month
Chard, it’s a love it or loathe it ‘Green’ especially with Children. Easily grown, Chard has no serious pests, even the Slugs agree with the children, the children who turn up their noses that is! Simplified cultural instructions would be – “throw the seeds on the veg plot and stand back”. The more fertile the soil the bigger the plants will grow and if you allow a couple of plants to set seed you will have more than enough easily transplanted, self set seedlings to meet all your needs. A Potager favourite, this decorative plant is super nutritious and with a minimum of protection will crop throughout the year. Surely a plant well worth cultivating and a taste well worth acquiring!
Hillborne School pay us a visit
Last summer the garden entertained children from Hillbourne school. These little visitors aged between six and seven were bubbling with enthusiasm as they arrived at the Organic Patch. During the visit they undertook several small projects, but the most popular was our main man Mark with his creepy crawlies.
Mark had been round the garden earlier capturing some of the finer species and these were passed around excitedly, inside small plastic containers. The children also did some pond dipping which they enjoyed as water and children always seem to go together. We also managed to establish that vegetables grow in the soil and that the garden was not a supermarket ! They sampled some wild strawberries. The visit was too short as far as Mark and the children were concerned and mark was still chatting away to them as they boarded the bus.
The school will do another visit with the children on June 18th (helpers needed !!), and we hope to extend these visits to other schools. In this way we hope to educate our children who we hope in turn will grow with the objectives of preservation and care of the planet in the forefront of their minds.
Jan
Newsletter Editor : Andy Hadley
01202 389782