Some welcome shade at the allotment

Having overhanging trees on the allotment is not what everyone wants and I have often complained about it, wishing we could have them cut down. But during this spell of hot weather the shade they provide has been quite welcome.

It has been too hot to work in the garden, so one day we escaped to the allotment to do some work under the big sycamore tree. We call this area the woodland garden. We can't grow anything here because of the tree, the slope and all the roots in the soil. When the grandchildren were younger it was their den. We now have a sitting area and a bug hotel there and use some of the space for storage. There are also a couple of little flower beds where I grow woodland and shade loving plants.

It was all very dry looking, a lot of the elder and privet needed cutting back and the weeds were beginning to take over.

It was a little cooler working under the tree and by the time we had cut every thing back we could actually see the sky.

I'd  thought I would get some wood chippings to cover the ground when we'd finished, but lucky for us we didn't need to buy any as someone dumped a big pile of them for the allotment holders to help themselves to. It looks much better now. I left our grandson's old den there, I couldn't get in there myself but I rather like it.

   

A few little jobs

On Saturday I popped down to the allotment  to do a couple of jobs whilst Richard was busy in the garden doing repairs to the fence. I went just to fill up the bird feeders, pull some leeks and the last of the cabbages. But once I was there, I decided to hoe and tidy the beds where I had been pulling up the veg. Then I decided to give the leeks a boost with some chicken manure pellets. I also noticed that the purple sprouting broccoli needed staking so I sorted that out too. There are always jobs to be done even in the winter.

When I arrived at the allotment site there was a pile of bark shreddings on the car park which had been left for the allotment people to take. I was quite pleased about that as I had been wanting to renew the bark mulch which I had put down on the path through the woodland wildlife area at the top of our plot.

The woodland wildlife area was originally made as a play area and den for the grandchildren. But they have grown a little older and have lost interest  in the allotment. Not me though, I love this little space. There is a bug hotel, a nest box on the big sycamore tree and shade and woodland loving plants. There's an old bench at the top, where it's good to sit and look down on the allotment. I found that putting the bark down has helped to suppress the weeds and it looks good too.

So another job I decided to do was to take a couple of barrow loads of bark from the pile on the car park. We both returned on Sunday to continue with the work, Richard barrowing the bark whilst I did a bit of tidying up and then spreading out the bark. The woodland garden is looking much better now.

Beacon Fell

We were looking after  two of our grandchildren for a couple of days during the Spring Bank Holiday week. I know they would have been quite happy to stay in and play on their ipads or watch TV but I like to get them outside for fresh air, exercise and something  a bit different to do or see. Besides which I don't like staying in and it's a good excuse for me to have a day or two out somewhere.

We decided to go to Beacon Fell Country Park, where we could have a walk, a picnic and look at the visitor centre. We hadn't been there since our daughters were young and that's a long time ago. When we arrived at the visitor centre car park, the first thing we spotted was a falconry and owl display. The children are always fascinated by these birds so we spent some time watching them.

We then headed off to the visitor centre which was quite small but had plenty of interesting wildlife information and activity tables where the children could get involved. There were word searches, colouring in sheets and an origami frog to make. We took the word searches and colouring sheets home, but our granddaughter managed to make several frogs before we dragged her away.

After a picnic lunch we set off walking along one of the trails. The children spotted some things to climb on in the woods so we took a detour. It was lovely in the woods.  There were lots of tree branches lying around, loads of pine cones and other bits of nature things. Fortunately I had remembered to bring a couple of carrier bags to collect 'nature treasures'. There were big tree trunks lying on the ground which were great for climbing on and we found a tree trunk snake which was one of several sculptures to spot around the park.

Throughout the woods there were dens made out of tree branches. These had been made to show people how to make a den or tipee. Visitors were allowed to have a go at making their own den with all the woody material lying around. We watched a family making their own den, we didn't make one ourselves because we have made one at the allotment and know how to do it.  But it would be a good fun activity.

 

We walked back onto the trail path and walked up to the summit where we had beautiful views of the surrounding countryside.  Then we headed back down through the woods again, stopping to look at one or two ponds on the way.

 

We timed our walk well as we got back to the car park just as it started to rain. I had a carrier bag full of twigs, branches and interesting things which the children had collected. We had great plans to make things with them when we got home. I wasn't sure if we were allowed to take things home with us, but when I saw other families loading tree branches and such stuff into their cars I decided it must be ok. What are we going to do with these things you might ask.  Well that might be a subject for another blog post.

Woodland den

On the day of the teachers' strike this week we were looking after our two grandchildren.  When I suggested going to the allotment I got the usual response--"oh yes!" from our grandson who loves going and "oh nooo" from our granddaughter who doesn't.  At my next suggestion, to make a woodland den at  the top of the allotment, all eyes lit up--yes this was much more interesting.

At the top end of plot8 is a slope with a big sycamore tree and some bushes, an elder and a holly.  It's not possible to use the space for growing vegetables or fruit.  The grandchildren always enjoy playing up there, it's a good place to hide and run around, but there are lots of weeds and rubbish- nettles, brambles, glass and plastic.  It wasn't a very safe area for children.  So I've had a plan in mind to make it into a safe area where the children could play and have their own space.

Armed with strong gloves, rubbish bags and secateurs, the children and I set to work clearing the area and cutting back branches.  My 9 year old granddaughter normally has no interest in the allotment, preferring to stay at home and read a book.  So it was good to see her full of enthusiasm for the project and to have her say that it was the best day she had ever spent on the allotment.  I had to admit that I was quite enjoying myself too. 

We managed to clear the nettles, cut back the brambles, trim the holly and clear up most of the rubbish. Under my granddaughter's supervision I cut back overhanging branches to her height and made an archway of branches at the entrance to the woodland, a soft curtain of leaves in the middle to provide a hiding place and a pathway all the way through. As we worked away we thought about what we could do to make the woodland area into a good den.

We got rained off later and after adjourning to the shed for our lunch we went home to make plans.  I got them to think about what they would like to have in their woodland den.

So we now have a list of ideas:

• Make seats out of some of the bricks and planks of wood lying around on the allotment
• Bird feeders in the trees
• Make a bug house
• Make a shelf to put interesting nature finds/treasures
• Make things like mobiles or sculptures out of twigs, stones, pebbles, leaves etc
• Have a rope ladder so they can climb the big tree (Hmm, well maybe granddad can fix something up)
• Have a camouflage awning (this could cost money)
• Make a hideout from long branches like a teepee (we could collect branches from the woods across the lane)

I have to say that I'm quite excited about this project myself, but I'm wondering if adults might not be allowed in there once it's finished. I'll keep you up to date with our progress.