Snow comes to Minstead! All work on the garden stops as everything is covered in a thick layer of snow.....
The children from Freemantle academy are busy building compost heaps in the garden. David has finished pruning the soft fruit bushes and the terraces on the North bed are finished and ready for their Spring planting.
The Rot Zone is completely flooded after a wet half term. We will get it ready for action with a fresh layer of woodchips from New Forest Energy.
A cold night with a dusting of snow, our volunteers are wrapped up warm finishing the new raised beds. There’s still plenty of Winter salad to spice up the children's sandwich making. Tomorrow we will move to sautéed sprout tops for their greens.
The sun is shining and the ground covered in a light frost. Adam has been digging out the bindweed from the North beds ready to start the terraces. Hugh is finishing the last bit of Willow pruning by the roundhouse.
Chris Bird from Sparsholt was with us today explaining the techniques behind fruit pruning. The course gave us plenty of practical hands on practice in the Minstead grounds; pruning the espalier apple trees & the more mature Bramley tree. We learnt how to prune the soft fruit bushes in the fruit cage too and enjoyed a lovely homemade leek and potato soup for lunch!Chris Bird from Sparsholt was with us today explaining the techniques behind fruit pruning. The course gave us plenty of practical hands on practice in the Minstead grounds; pruning the espalier apple trees & the more mature Bramley tree. We learnt how to prune the soft fruit bushes in the fruit cage too and enjoyed a lovely homemade leek and potato soup for lunch!
The rhubarb has been split up & moved to “pastures new” which will hopefully produce a richer crop.
The wood has arrived from Soffe’s and the volunteers have been helping to construct the raised beds. We will put our old excess wool from the Gotland sheep in the base with some manure.
Rosie Yeomans has been with us again today showing the HCC Waste Reduction Team a range of composting methods
“What a lovely relaxing, enjoyable and informative day. I just loved it. I suppose you could describe the centre as coming under the Permaculture umbrella. A brilliant idea for re-invigorating us Champions. Wonderful centre for children, a large percentage of whom I would imagine have not experienced such activities.”
HCC Recycling Champion
After our annual tool stock check we are sending 19 items to Streets hardware in Brockenhurst to replace 19 broken shafts. Hugh has been laying our hedges down by the pond.