I was on holiday this week and could not post Jonathan’s message before today, so better late than never.
Greetings All,
There’ll be a volunteer session at Fairfield Orchard, Fauna and Flora, on
Saturday June 13th, commencing as usual at 10.00am at the Shed.
Our tasks for this occasion read a little like this:
* Clear the nettles around the fence of the toddler playground. If time
permits we’ll also clear nettles and other growth around the playground
and along the fence between the path and the allotments.
* Clear nettles from around the insect logs in the Orchard.
* Remove the alien bamboo plant in the wet area of the Orchard.
* Continue to build the fence around the Shed boundary.
* Secure the top of bird box 4.
* Pot on the wildflower seedling plugs in the Shed yard. (They’re too
small as yet to go in the ground.)
* Cut back overhanging cow parsley down the Pads and Long Pads footpaths.
Also dig out the odd ragwort down the Pads footpath and clear the growth
around the two benches.
* Continue trimming round the base of the Orchard fruit trees.
Trim back the nettles overhanging the Fauna footpath.
You may notice a strong nettle theme to this month’s activities.
That’s why we’re issuing an advisory dress code warning of long sleeves
and long trousers.
Come in shorts and T-shirts at your own peril!
And on that sobering thought I’ll leave you to think about your wardrobe,
Best wishes,
Jonathan.
Here is what we did:
17 volunteers for the Saturday volunteering session on a humid but thankfully dry morning when the forecast wet weather kept at bay.
• We strimmed the nettles around the fence of the toddler playground and strimmed down other nettles on the playground and along the allotments boundary fence. The resulting debris was cleared away.
• We cut back nettles around the insect log segments. The resulting debris needs clearance next time.
• Work continued building the Edenbreck boundary fence.
• The meadowsweet and yellowrattle wildflower plugs saved from last year were potted on.
• Overhanging cow parsley was cut back along the Pads footpath. The area around the two benches alongside the path was cleared.
• We continued trimming the bases around the Orchard fruit trees.
• The nettles overhanging the Fauna path were strimmed and the debris cleared.
• The fruit hedge was weeded and the adjoining grassland strimmed to give light. This enabled the planting of 30 new soft fruit seedings supplied by Keith (many thanks).