More bars to raise!

Following an earlier post about Raising the Bar - a project at Addison Howard Park where we constructed 2 raised beds and created a bog pond, on 13th Feb we went back and raised more bars (well rails actually) and constructed a fence.



Above: First we cleared overgrowth from the area.



Above: John is aligning the posts as we construct the fence.



Above: The completed fence made from half round rails (planed). Another group will be planting a hedge behind this fence before the end of the winter.

Hedgelaying at Warden Hill

This winter (well at least for some of it) we have been hedgelaying at Warden Hill, Luton.



Above: Martin and Joe working away.

From the corner of The Slipe (where we layed 530m of hedge last year) along the edge of Warden Hill field up to the bottom of 'the hill', we will have layed 230m when all is completed.



Above: This is how it will look.

On Thursday 1st March, we hope to finish the last 10m of laying, finish the staking and binding and burn the remainder of the arisings. If you want to come, please e-mail beds@btcv.org.uk for more info (the same goes for any other activities you would like to attend).

New year, new skills

The weather may be grey and cold, but there's always plenty to be getting on with on the community allotment. A few weeks ago, Katy shared her skills by giving the group a masterclass on pruning fruit trees. Here she is showing June how to tackle the slightly neglected apple trees.

Here is a close up showing Katy cutting back some of the growth. As she explained to us, first you need to take out any diseased or damaged wood. Then you can start looking at the general shape of the tree, and make sure none of the branches are crossing over each other.

We're hoping for a bumper crop of fruit this year! After tackling the fruit trees, we moved onto the soft fruit bushes. Here, through a tangle of gooseberry and blackcurrant bushes, Katy is showing Jayne how to maintain the bushes so that they are healthy and productive. There is an ulterior motive - Jayne is known as the queen of jam making on the community allotment, and we're looking forward to the next helping of scones with jam!

Raising the bar

Earlier on in the year, BTCV were asked by Bedford Borough Council to help build 3 raised beds (planters) and create a bog pond at Addison Howard Park in Kempston.



Above: Katherine saws the timber to length, Ed is helping hold the timber and Duncan is ...urm... supervising!



Above: Hazel, Katherine, John and Martin are preparing the ground so that the raised bed will sit level.



Above: John (left) and Martin (right) are fixing the timber together.



Above: Duncan shows that he's a cut above the rest when it comes to working with timber!



Above: Here is Duncan digging a hole for himself ... oops, I meant to say a hole for the bog pond!



Above: On Monday 24th October, members of the public were invited to take part in filling and planting the bog pond for Make a Difference Week. A number of adults and children took great pleasure in getting muddy and putting in plants that love boggy ground.

This took place alongside the completion of the raised bed constructions. And whilst some people were working hard... see Hazel, John and Martin below:



Other people took some time out to make a sand castle... see Katherine & Jill below:



Once the raised beds were built, we put a porous liner on the inside & base (it will help retain moisture but as it is porous it won't become too waterlogged).



Above: Martin spreads out the gravel (this aids water to seap away) at the bottom.



Above: John compacts the mixture of soil and compost used to fill the top 2/3rds of the planter. Natural compaction will occur anyway and this allowed us to top it up before leaving site.



Above: The finished planters. The two in the front of the picture are at a height and width suitable for disabled access.



Above: Behind the L shaped raised bed, from left to right, Ed C, Jill, Larissa, Katherine, Hazel, Martin, Duncan, John and Ed G (me).

Posing again!

Not that Duncan is always keen to get himself on the blog - but he willingly posed behind the interpretation board that the Weekday Conservation Team put up in Luton recently - at least, I think it's him judging by the hat...



Hazel has also been known to pose occasionally.... here she is showing off a new use for the knee pads. Her career as an American Football player is just starting to take off...

Himalayan Balsam

Recently, the Weekday Conservation Team has spent quite a few days tackling Himalayan Balsam. This plant is very invasive, and crowds out native plants as it colonises huge areas, usually along river banks. Luckily for us, it's fairly easy to pull up as it's an annual plant - so it doesn't have time to get a huge root system going. Unluckily for us, there are usually masses of plants to pull up, often mixed in with nettles, often in really muddy/wet/squelchy locations.

Somewhere in that lot is a whole bunch of keen BTCV volunteers - you have to get right down to pull the plants up from the base, as otherwise they tend to snap off leaving the roots in the ground to potentially keep growing.

Below - the offending plant - it's quite pretty, and is a hit with bees - but it crowds out so many native species that it's got to go!

Below - the obligatory shot of Duncan sitting about while everyone else is hard at work! Not really - Duncan and Martin did plenty of work that day, honest!

Layed Hedge in Spring

When spring arrived we started to see the fruits of our labour. The hedge laying in Luton that took place over winter looks great now that it is finished.




















Above: Layed hedge complete with stakes and binders.




















Above: in places along the hedge we left a few trees as standards. Here you can see a Field Maple (Acer campestre).