The garden is suddenly full of colour, with sunflowers, sweet peas, red and white runner bean flowers and the golden trumpets of courgette and pumpkin plants attracting bees, hoverflies and other beneficial insects. The espalier apples and the medlar are loaded with fruit. We must net the soft fruit next year though as the currants and the cherries were all bagged by the birds before we could get round to picking them.
All this produce belongs to the whole church community so do help yourselves and if you would like to offer a donation of time or money in return, we would be very grateful!
In the meadow only a few bee orchids have put in an appearance this year and the grass seems to have smothered some of the wild flowers. We plan to sow yellow rattle in the autumn as the roots will hopefully weaken the stronger growing grass. The common spotted orchid flowered again but unfortunately was beheaded by the strimmer!
The greenhouse has been a real boon and I can hardly remember what it was like before it had pride of place at the heart of our community garden. The hot weather a few weeks back took us by surprise and the tomato plants unfortunately got a bit scorched as no-one was around to open the door for more ventilation but there are some lovely little cucumbers forming and hopefully we’ll get a few tomatoes too.
The wellies adorning the railings at the front of the hall are looking splendid with pansies and lobelia. There’s a big red trug full of water inviting anyone passing to give them a reviving drink if necessary.
We’ll be getting our annual visit from the RHS assessors very soon so if you feel you could spare an hour or two to do some weeding, watering or mowing, please let Sheila or Isobel know. We’d love you to join us!
Community organiser
