Donations, a canoe and another lockdown!!

 Garden work continues at Chalk Farm Hotel. 

This month we have been working on the outside of the hotel and tidying up old shrubs and trees. 

So we began, by chopping and removing old plants.  All of our green waste is being chopped as much as possible before we add it to our compost heaps on the allotment.  This area of the hotel is busy with people on walks and visiting the garden centre, we received so many compliments of the good work we are doing.  

The area was a mess of old brambles, a fallen tree and ivy. 

What a difference already, it is nice to see the old brick wall, which shows character and history to the building.  

Plants on the move!!!  We removed Eurynomos plants from another part of the garden and filled in some of our bare space.  The students learnt that the horticultural name for this is called 'Transplanting'.  The shrubs were put into tubs of water for a day so they could absorb water to their roots before planting.

Always the exciting bit, adding a plant to bare soil for an instant difference.

The end result.  We were very pleased with the outcome, standing back and taking time to appreciate the difference.  Also, we made time to plan what else should go here.  Suggestions were, daffodils, lavenders and colour plants.  Looking forward to seeing this area develop over time.  

Update

After one week, ground elder plants have appeared.  These plants are known as weeds as they have long tap roots and spread quickly.  We have learnt how to spot these weeds and try to remove them when we see them.

 

Its raining, its pouring!

A rainy day gave us chance to learn how to maintain our tools.  We used sand paper to sharpen the blades and remove rust and dirt.  After this we cleaned down with soapy wipes, dried and then sprayed with lubricant oil. 

 

Some important measuring on the allotment.  The

students recorded measurements for our polytunnel plans.  We measured space for a 6m x 4m tunnel.  

A polytunnel will give students a working covered space, to grow seeds, propagate and learn new skills in their horticulture training. 

New polytunnel's are very expensive so we have plans for building our own out of pallets, water pipes and polytunnel sheeting.  Watch this space next spring!!!

The students cottage gets a tidy up.  The garden students got to work on tidying up the gardens outside their cottage.  Makes such a difference to come to work and passing the garden now.

We added osteospermum, heathers, cyclamen, crocosmia, honeysuckle, salvia hot lips, rudbeckia, bearded iris and even a fig tree!  

Baby plants for now, but they will fill the space eventually.  Gardening is all about being patient.

Donations

Thank you for the donations so far.  We have received kind donations from our advert on face book to residents in the local area.  We received many items for use in our gardens and even a canoe!! Surely anything can be turned into a flower pot?

Tree spotting anyone?  Wow, we have some wonderful trees in our gardens.  Some students spent the whole morning identifying the trees.  Sycamore, ginko tree, Yew taxus, Magnolia, red prunus, Pine tree, conifers, Japanese Maple, Ash and many more. 

Every time we pass a tree now we try to remember the names.