To Walter de Grasse
Dear Walter,
So, autumn is upon us! It’s been an interesting gardening month for me here in Norfolk, though I have to say spending rather more time on gardens and gardening projects away from Old School Garden.
That of course has made me feel a bit guilty, and with the damage done to the grass (I’ve given up calling them ‘lawns’) by the new brood of young moles, also rather dejected and overwhelmed with all that needs doing.
I have at least continued to harvest fruit and veg from the garden; the apples and pears are especially pleasing, and the cucumbers are beginning to overwhelm us! Still it’s that time of year when things tend to wind down as far as growing is concerned, and attention turns to selective tidying up and repair jobs. So, I’ve emptied the shed in preparation for constructing it’s replacement, replaced a wooden fence post, cut a shed full of firewood, cut the grass and cleared away the first leaf fall, and watched the autumn colours appear- especially from Asters and Sedums.
I also had a frustrating morning trying to get my new shredder working. You may recall that a kindly neighbour gave me this petrol driven machine, which after servicing I was eager to try out. Well, to cut a long story short, whilst I managed to get it going a few times, it kept cutting out on me and on one or two occasions stalled from too much damp, leafy material being fed to it. I gave up in the end and still have the aching elbow joint to prove how many times I yanked the starting cord, to no avail!
Away from home there’s been some interesting developments. I visited a social enterprise project called ‘The Grow Organisation’ on the outskirts of Norwich. They provide home garden maintenance services (providing employment opportunities to people who might otherwise find employment difficult) and are hoping to develop the surroundings of their impressive community hub building to provide gardens where people who have a variety of health issues can spend time using ‘gardening as therapy’ ; including a ‘Sensory Garden’ for those suffering from dementia. The project sounds great and having spoken with their Director, I’ve agreed to help them with some design ideas for these outside spaces.
The second project is one I’ve already mentioned in my blog- the Allotment Project at our local High School in Reepham. Here teacher Matt Willer has created a wonderful outdoor classroom using materials and other resources either borrowed, donated or upcycled. He’s also used a great deal of ingenuity to overcome some issues such as the lack of a pumped water supply by devising a system for harvesting rainwater and created a well for storing this.
The other big story is the success of the Harvest Festival event at our local church, St. Peter’s, where having cleared up the churchyard the week before, around 150 people fo all ages came to see the end of a vintage tractor run, listen to the Aylsham Band, sing some old favourite harvest hymns and take par tin various activities such as making bread and butter, sowing seeds, learning about compost, making their own ‘scrap’ tractors and tucking into some scrumptious tea and cakes. ‘Haveringland Groundforce Day #2’ is now planned for next week, where I hope that we can finish off getting the churchyard set up to become a properly managed conservation area which is accessible and provides a place to reflect and enjoy nature as well as visiting the graves of the recently departed.
I went in to Blickling on Wednesday this week and worked with Peter and Maurice clearing away the piles of pumpkin and squash greenery left behind after the previous day’s volunteers had harvested a fantastic array of squashes and pumpkins.
In the remaining hour before lunch we hoed and stone picked around the soft fruit bushes, where, Assistant Head Gardener, Steve, told us that new fruit cages were to be erected the following day. I look forward to seeing these in place next week.
Further Information:
Old School Garden 