Meadow Maintenance

Today I went along to a work day with the Water of Leith Conservation Trust.  At Bell's Mill Weir there is an area that they have been maintaining as a wildflower meadow for the last couple of years.  The thistles, docks and those riverside plants that look like rhubarb prevail but they are getting less each year.

First task was to hack back all the vegetation. My weapon of choice was the Slasher - a big blade on a heavy pole that was swung from over the shoulder down across the base of the vegetation. The weight of it does the hard work but equally, its weight gives a good work out too!

Then we needed to rake up so the strimmer could be taken across the area. More hard work for the arms and back but that's what I love. Following strimming it was another rake to get it as close to bare ground as possible. All the cuttings needed to be removed as well so that they wouldn't rot down feeding the nettles and thistles and other non-meadow plants.

After a break for lunch we moved on to the planting. I've realised that a "bulb planter" is a very useful tool, especially on firm ground that is full of plant roots!

On the very rare chance you live in Edinburgh... If you're past Bell's Mill Weir next summer, be sure to have a look and admire the flowers.

Study Break

As a way of relaxation in my study breaks and evening times I've been begining to think about my garden and what I might plant. I'm still a little scared by the vegetable side of it what with crop rotation and all the different varieties available so I decided to start with the flower bed.

My drawings aren't as lovely as those perfect coloured in garden sketches that you see but at least it gives me an idea. I've also found a use for one of my spare geology feild notebooks. It has become my garden book, containing details of plants I want to grow, conditions they need and aftercare etc.

First day in the garden.

I've been very busy with uni projects recently and by 3pm after a long day studying I was starting to get cabin fever. I knew I had a long meeting to sit through this evening so I decided to escape in to the sunshine and visit my garden. I began by pulling out grass that was growing at the start of the border, as I wasn't sure what the owner wanted me to try and save by way of plants. She popped out later and confirmed that the whole lot could go and be planted with new things.


I found this little guy amongst one of the plants. At the time I thought he was a toad as I'd never seen frogs that big. I hope he'll find somewhere nice and safe to shelter whilst I dig up the beds. I'll maybe leave him a little pile of sticks and leaves to shelter under.

After hacking it all to about waist height it was starting to look good so I got out the fork to see if I could start to dig some stuff out. It was a lot easier than I imagined as the soil is really good. By really good I mean it's somewhere between loam and peat. Really soft and moist and full of organic goodness. It was so soft that with a bit of fork wiggling and then a bit of Kat wiggling, I was quite easily able to start lifting some of the plants. I was sad to drag myself away to the meeting but it will still be there another day.

My little slice of happiness

Today, I met with the owner of a garden down the canal. There is already a volunteer in the garden (whom I met with a couple of weeks ago) but it was a bit too much for her to manage on her own. Everything went well and I was so excited by the garden. L, the other volunteer has a patch further up the garden and I have offered to tackle this overgrown stretch. It currently has saplings, old raspberry canes, brambles, grass, St John's Wort(?) ferns and various other miscellany running wild.

It will take a fair bit of work to clear out the bed. I'm planning on initially hacking it all down to about knee high to make it more managable and then starting at the end nearest the house and working my way along, digging everything out. Normally garden shares work by the grower giving some of the produce to the owner but as she's not taken anything from L, I've offered to plant flowers in the section nearest the house for her enjoyment. I can then use further along for fruit and veg. The owner, E, mentioned she likes hydrangeas so I'll probably stick in one of them, a clematis to cover some of the wall and then some general flowering plants. I'm going to leave planning my veggies until I see how long it takes me to clear the ground.

Yaaaaarrrrrrr!

Avast me hearties, I be making ye walk the plank... and all that pirate nonesense. Today was the Water of Leith Conservation Trust's Children's Treasure Hunt in the Dells. It was Peter Pan themed and I was helping H make children walk a plank into/over the river. The kids with wellies on went in, those without turned around and went back. It was so much fun. We only soaked one child's feet (kid's wellies are shorter than grown up wellies) and only made one kid cry (child of the volunteer coordinator!). It was a fantastic day and about 57 families came along. Tried to get a shot of my outfit when I got back in but it's always so difficult when it's on timer and there's no one to check you're fully in shot.

River Clean Up!

I went out on a river clean up today and loved it! I got to wear waders and go out in the river to attempt to remove rubbish and traffic cones from a pile of trees that are caught across the river. Unfortunately we couldn't get all the rubbish as the small channel that the river can still flow through had got very deep. It's been on the council's list since Christmas. If it's still there in the spring I'd love to get a group of people out there to at least clear some of the branches and trees that are caught up against the original fallen tree. It'll only take another bad winter and it'll be completely blocked! The clean up effort was to get the area ready for an event this Saturday.