Garden News - October 2024
- Clare Millington
- Oct 31, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: May 1
Autumn is here!! I’m always amazed by the shift of the sun in early September, and the gorgeous light in the morning and afternoons.
Open Day
The apple pressing day was forecast with thunderstorms and we’d resigned ourselves to a volunteer get-together, sheltering under the newly completed Hub roof.
But, we didn’t get a drop of rain and it was a fantastic day with lots of families and new faces arriving to enjoy the communal pressing, apple juice and gorgeous food.
Our volunteers surpassed themselves with amazing soups, breads and cakes and we sold everything, with record takings! »PICS HERE
Very special thanks to Mary Makes Jam, who donated all her considerable takings for her delicious preserves made from foraged and donated fruit and veg. Find her newsletters here.
The Hub
At last, the roof is complete, with a beautiful polycarbonate top, which makes the space feel open and bright. It was severely tested by a massive thunderstorm on the Friday before the open day and passed with flying colours! It was a bit alarming watching the lightening through the roof lights though, and we decided to abandon ship.
Having a usable space to gather is fantastic and the Hub was buzzing with visitors, and much admired.
We can now invite community groups to use the space, and continue our cobbing out of the rain.
Volunteer days
October is set to be very busy at the garden. We have the RGS and GHS lower 6th coming on Tuesdays to help out. They came last Tuesday and were delighted to help press the last of the apples before we packed up the presses. It was great fun and much apple juice was enjoyed. (next week they’ll be shoveling manure so watch this space).
SCC are coming next week and will be learning to cob and helping us clear along the poly-tunnels, ready for the water harvesting. Mike from SCC is going to cook up a storm from our produce for lunch in the Hub, so we should get it all done on full stomachs.
Galiford Try is booked for the 8th to install our solar water system. They will be finishing the guttering on the poly-tunnels and hooking up the water tank to the solar power on poly 1.
We have been approached by local architects Scott Brownrigg to do a volunteer day on the 24th October. They are excited to learn cob, wattle, and daub techniques and have offered to design an outside kitchen area for the Hub, including a wood store and clay oven. We’re feeling fortunate with all these connections.
Surrey Hills Society are coming in November and hope to facilitate regular groups to help at the garden.
In the Garden
In the poly-tunnels, we’ve been rewarded with self-sown seedlings emerging. The rocket and Russian kale have been particularly successful, and shows how a bit of patience allowing the plants to complete their cycle, really pays off and saves time and money. It probably produces much hardier plants as well, without us interfering and telling them where to go!
Ann has been busy sowing our winter salads in the greenhouse and the DofE students learnt to take herb cuttings to sell or plant in the spring.
The next months are a time to collect all the apples (it’s been an amazing crop this year) and fill the poly-tunnel beds with plants.
The raised beds are still full of the black tomatoes and we have some tiny climbing courgettes that have been a very pretty addition to the trellis.
Big Job Sunday
This Sunday (6th) we’ll be getting together and starting to plan and dig our new hibernaculum.
Helen, Margaret and I had a lovely visit to the Garden House near Godalming and were given a tour (and lots of apples) from Andy.
We were particularly impressed by the hibernaculum dead hedge he’d created and have decided to make one alongside our compost bays.
A hibernaculum is an underground chamber that amphibians and reptiles use to protect themselves from the cold. You can dig a trench and fill it with rocks, logs and pipes, cover it with a log and earthen roof, and then build a dead hedge on top where you can put all your woody stems.
In the afternoon the DofE students will be harvesting the dye plants and making different dyes for bunting for the Hub. We have nettles (green) dyers chamomile (yellow) woad (blue) and onions (beige) watch this space for the results!
Helen’s Foccacia!
If you were lucky enough to savour a piece of Helen's delicious focaccia bread along with one of the tasty soups at our open afternoon with apple pressing, you're in for a treat! Here is the tried and tested recipe she uses, so you can recreate it at home.
Cleaner Air Day Guildford
Janice and Jane enjoyed a rather windswept Sunday at Guildford's "Cleaner Air Day". They helped to raise awareness about our wonderful wildlife garden. The apples from the orchard went down well! With thanks to Lisa for our new flyers and Steph at ZERO Guildford who has offered to help design and source a banner that we can use at future community outreach events.
And breathe.“Guildford’s Cleaner Air Day encourages motorists to choose alternative travel such as walking, cycling or public transport, instead of using their car for the day. At the same time, we can reduce air pollution and give more room to breathe.
Working with Guildford Borough Council’s Environmental Services team, and partners such as Surrey County Council, University of Surrey, Zero Carbon Guildford, and health providers, this free event showcases what is happening locally to make a “Greener Guildford”.
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