1 Sep 2007 - Keeping in Touch Issue 39 - August 2007
ROE GREEN WALLED GARDEN
For the third year running our garden has received the accolade of the Green Pennant, awarded by the Civic Trust for high quality green spaces that are managed by voluntary and community groups. The garden is looking magnificent this year. Visitors who have not been for a year or so have remarked on the improved display of flower beds, the water lilies, and the rockery, all due to the hard work of our volunteers.
We also featured as the only Brent garden in the London Garden Squares weekend in June (along with such places as Lambeth Palace Gardens and Westminster Abbey St Katherine's Garden - we are in good company!)
Brent Parks nominated our garden to feature as one of the parks and gardens being entered by Brent in the Britain in Bloom competition. Brent has such a good record that it is representing London on this occasion. The judges came at the end of July and this was followed by lunch at Wembley Stadium. One of the judges remarked how fantastic our garden was and praised our dedicated and enthusiastic group.
On a lesser note, we have had to carry out a health and safety audit and have identified a number of areas for improvement. A serious problem was the garage, which was in a precarious state, and we have had to dismantle it. We hope to replace it with a shed. Also we have taken steps to dispose of the many objects identified as not being relevant to our needs (ie clutter). That is the penalty of trying to recycle everything! Bernard
FRYENT COUNTRY PARK
Our friendly band meets each Sunday morning on Fryent Country Park where we carry out various projects. In spring the survey work starts ? we survey the Hay Meadow (hay meadows are a very important habitat as ours are organic), birds, frogs and butterflies, continuing into the summer.
Our spring and summer work has included pond work - there are as many as 23 ponds within Fryent Country Park. Sometimes we cannot see the pond when we start clearing it, but with great team work the end result is often amazing when the pond emerges with a wonderful natural habitat.
We clear blackthorn and blackberry from encroaching on the trees and hedgerows, we pick up litter, but feel generally that the litter problem is improving, as we now have regular volunteer litter pickers in the names of Adrian and Geoff, to whom we are very grateful.
August brings a favourite project ' the orchard' and gathering the fruit ? picking our apple, pear and plum trees and taste testing during our tea break. When we pick the delicious mulberry everyone knows about it as our hands are stained red from the juice. Our mulberry tree is very old. We know it was there 40 years ago. Can anyone remember it before that date?
Unfortunately we have noted some contamination of one of the streams near Valley Drive. Thames Water has set up a project to identify the source(s) of the problem and we will be closely monitoring it.
Volunteer for your countryside and come and join us, Kim
BUTTERFLY CENSUS
The butterfly census this season, not surprisingly, has been affected by the wet weather. April's fine start yielded a number of tattered but frisky overwintered Commas, and a fairly strong contingent of Peacocks and Speckled Woods, and a few Orange Tips. There has been a showing of Brimstones on Beane Hill, quite possibly as a result of this winter's planting of Alder Buckthorn - though it is a bit early to tell what effect that will have had. However, as the season has gone on, the number of marks on the recording sheets has not seen the sort of progression that we are used to: no desperately counting Meadow Browns by the dozen! In July, a butterfly and moth walk at Marshall's Heath in Hertfordshire provided me with an opportunity to meet John Murray of Butterfly Conservation, who remarked on Fryent Country Park's usually record numbers of Meadow Browns; I had to tell him that this year's figures were likely to be much more modest. . Michael
ACTIVITIES AT ROE GREEN WALLED GARDEN
We have continued to have visits from schools. In June Vrinda set up a special activity for children in which they were taught how to set up a wormery in a jar. The children put a mixture of soil, vegetable matter and tiger worms in the jar and they were asked to take the jar home and to watch how the vegetables were eaten by the worms and rich compost created for the garden. The children enjoyed this activity and, surprisingly, most of them were comfortable handling the worms.
We are open at the Roe Green Garden on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 10 am to 2pm. Sundays we are out in Fryent Country Park carrying out conservation project work. Please see the web site below for the programme of projects at Fryent Country Park or telephone the garden. Feel free to join us in our conservation projects at Fryent Country Park.
We are now collecting old pottery garden pots and would appreciate any you no longer want.
Our goldfish pond is getting a little crowded. If anybody would like one or two goldfish please contact us.
DATE FOR YOUR DIARY
Brent Countryside Day - Sunday 16 September 10am to 6pm organised by Brent Council.
Entry is free and there is a free bus service from Wembley Park, Kingsbury and Preston Road underground stations.
Barn Hill Conservation Group will have a marquee. Can anyone help on either the Saturday or the Sunday or both. It would be much appreciated. Give it a go. You will enjoy it.
Contact numbers: Garden 020-8206-0492 (answerphone if nobody there)
Chairman 0208-206-0589
Also at our website: www.bhcg.ik.com
and at www.brent.gov.uk/parks (for the Biodiversity Action Plan)
For the third year running our garden has received the accolade of the Green Pennant, awarded by the Civic Trust for high quality green spaces that are managed by voluntary and community groups. The garden is looking magnificent this year. Visitors who have not been for a year or so have remarked on the improved display of flower beds, the water lilies, and the rockery, all due to the hard work of our volunteers.
We also featured as the only Brent garden in the London Garden Squares weekend in June (along with such places as Lambeth Palace Gardens and Westminster Abbey St Katherine's Garden - we are in good company!)
Brent Parks nominated our garden to feature as one of the parks and gardens being entered by Brent in the Britain in Bloom competition. Brent has such a good record that it is representing London on this occasion. The judges came at the end of July and this was followed by lunch at Wembley Stadium. One of the judges remarked how fantastic our garden was and praised our dedicated and enthusiastic group.
On a lesser note, we have had to carry out a health and safety audit and have identified a number of areas for improvement. A serious problem was the garage, which was in a precarious state, and we have had to dismantle it. We hope to replace it with a shed. Also we have taken steps to dispose of the many objects identified as not being relevant to our needs (ie clutter). That is the penalty of trying to recycle everything! Bernard
FRYENT COUNTRY PARK
Our friendly band meets each Sunday morning on Fryent Country Park where we carry out various projects. In spring the survey work starts ? we survey the Hay Meadow (hay meadows are a very important habitat as ours are organic), birds, frogs and butterflies, continuing into the summer.
Our spring and summer work has included pond work - there are as many as 23 ponds within Fryent Country Park. Sometimes we cannot see the pond when we start clearing it, but with great team work the end result is often amazing when the pond emerges with a wonderful natural habitat.
We clear blackthorn and blackberry from encroaching on the trees and hedgerows, we pick up litter, but feel generally that the litter problem is improving, as we now have regular volunteer litter pickers in the names of Adrian and Geoff, to whom we are very grateful.
August brings a favourite project ' the orchard' and gathering the fruit ? picking our apple, pear and plum trees and taste testing during our tea break. When we pick the delicious mulberry everyone knows about it as our hands are stained red from the juice. Our mulberry tree is very old. We know it was there 40 years ago. Can anyone remember it before that date?
Unfortunately we have noted some contamination of one of the streams near Valley Drive. Thames Water has set up a project to identify the source(s) of the problem and we will be closely monitoring it.
Volunteer for your countryside and come and join us, Kim
BUTTERFLY CENSUS
The butterfly census this season, not surprisingly, has been affected by the wet weather. April's fine start yielded a number of tattered but frisky overwintered Commas, and a fairly strong contingent of Peacocks and Speckled Woods, and a few Orange Tips. There has been a showing of Brimstones on Beane Hill, quite possibly as a result of this winter's planting of Alder Buckthorn - though it is a bit early to tell what effect that will have had. However, as the season has gone on, the number of marks on the recording sheets has not seen the sort of progression that we are used to: no desperately counting Meadow Browns by the dozen! In July, a butterfly and moth walk at Marshall's Heath in Hertfordshire provided me with an opportunity to meet John Murray of Butterfly Conservation, who remarked on Fryent Country Park's usually record numbers of Meadow Browns; I had to tell him that this year's figures were likely to be much more modest. . Michael
ACTIVITIES AT ROE GREEN WALLED GARDEN
We have continued to have visits from schools. In June Vrinda set up a special activity for children in which they were taught how to set up a wormery in a jar. The children put a mixture of soil, vegetable matter and tiger worms in the jar and they were asked to take the jar home and to watch how the vegetables were eaten by the worms and rich compost created for the garden. The children enjoyed this activity and, surprisingly, most of them were comfortable handling the worms.
We are open at the Roe Green Garden on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 10 am to 2pm. Sundays we are out in Fryent Country Park carrying out conservation project work. Please see the web site below for the programme of projects at Fryent Country Park or telephone the garden. Feel free to join us in our conservation projects at Fryent Country Park.
We are now collecting old pottery garden pots and would appreciate any you no longer want.
Our goldfish pond is getting a little crowded. If anybody would like one or two goldfish please contact us.
DATE FOR YOUR DIARY
Brent Countryside Day - Sunday 16 September 10am to 6pm organised by Brent Council.
Entry is free and there is a free bus service from Wembley Park, Kingsbury and Preston Road underground stations.
Barn Hill Conservation Group will have a marquee. Can anyone help on either the Saturday or the Sunday or both. It would be much appreciated. Give it a go. You will enjoy it.
Contact numbers: Garden 020-8206-0492 (answerphone if nobody there)
Chairman 0208-206-0589
Also at our website: www.bhcg.ik.com
and at www.brent.gov.uk/parks (for the Biodiversity Action Plan)