Little Green Space
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Little Green Space |
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March 2010 March 27, 2010 Orchard planting, again
Not content with just one orchard planting this week, we went along to help at the planting of a community orchard at Megdale, Matlock. The planting was organised by Transition Matlock, with 27 trees - a mix of apple, pear, plum and cherry - donated by Matlock Town Council. All of the Megdale residents were invited to attend the planting of their orchard, and there was quite a good crowd assembled at the site, a piece of unused grassland, at 10 o'clock. With such a large group of people, the 27 trees got planted in no time at all. And fortunately, for once, it wasn't raining! March 26, 2010 Bug hotel and orchard planting A busy afternoon. First we popped into All Saints Infants to take a look at the bug hotel that the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust are building with the children. It looks really fantastic!
While we were at the school, we planted up six rosemary plants around the raised vegetable beds. The plants will release their wonderful aroma when the children brush against them, and will attract pollinating insects - hopefully those in residence at the bug hotel! Then we collected 15 fruit trees this afternoon, and completed the planting of the orchard at Hackney Lees. We had ordered a variety of apples and pears, including a couple of old varieties: Orleans Reinette, an 18th century variety, and Ashmead's Kernel, which is also nearly 300 years old. Planting older species of fruit trees - just like raising rare-breed pigs or chickens - is a great way to help protect the biodiversity of our planet. As modern varieties of crops and livestock prove increasingly more efficient - more disease resistant, bigger, more prolific - the older varieties begin to die out. About 30% of farm animal species are at risk of extinction because of this, and relying on an ever-dwindling selection of crop types can't be a good thing. 2010 is International Year of Biodiversity, so it's a good time to really think about the ways we all garden, farm, and shop. We felt good about planting our old varieties of apple trees - well, as good as you can feel whilst planting trees in the pouring rain. We seem to be doing a lot of planting in the rain this week! March 22, 2010 Nectar-rich planting Talking of bees and butterflies, we were at Matlock Bath Primary School this afternoon, planting up a bee and butterfly garden with the infants. It poured with rain for much of the afternoon, but the kids loved getting their hands mucky, and were delighted with the number of worms we found in the soil! The plants all came from Neil Thompson Nurseries in Tansley, and were purchased with money from Derbyshire County Council's Greenwatch Grant. March 21, 2010 First butterfly, first bee Saw the first bumblebee of the year today, and a couple of butterflies flitting across the field - too far away to identify for certain, but I saw a comma in the garden a little later. Last year, just like the frogs, the first bees and butterflies emerged much earlier, in February. March 13, 2010 Frogspawn
The frogspawn appeared in the pond yesterday. Here's a photo of the frogs looking pleased with themselves. Looking back through the diary archives, I discovered that frogspawn appeared in the pond on 28 February in 2008, and on exactly the same date last year, too! Just goes to show how late spring is this year. March 6, 2010 Shallots Finished planting all the shallots today - it's the first time the ground hasn't been too frozen to even think about planting anything. I've planted two varieties this year: "Jermor", which have always performed well in my garden, and a round, Dutch variety "Picasso".
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