Members of the Nature group have been revelling this year in the delights of the wonderful Moorlands hay meadows, especially those managed by the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust. One small example is the meadow in the Foxlowe garden, seeded some years ago by green hay from one of their reserves. It's scythed every year as part of its management programme and this year some of us came to watch the action and listen to Mark Johnson and Maggie Pollard read their meadow-inspired poetry. Thanks to Peter Oakley and Nigel Williams who did the scything and to the poets. We reproduce Maggie's poem here.
Scything Time
Turning, tipping, just so slightly,
fair July gives way to August days.
It's very encouraging to see a practical initiative to enhance biodiversity and support pollinating insects in Leek, especially one with collaboration between the Town Council and MCA. The project was initially mooted by Cllr Bill Cawley, working with Cllr Lyn Swindlehurst and Leek Town Mayor, Cllr Stephen Wales, as part of a beeline wildlife corridor concept, and was supported by Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and MCA member, Jane Tattersall, who was responsible for planning the planting scheme for the Russell Street site. Funding came from the Town Council Mayor's fund, Protech Electrical, Keates Hairdressing and Neil Corbishley Aggregates. The planting was done by Stephen, his wife, Julie, and Jane. She thoroughly enjoyed researching and sourcing the plants used to fill the containers and will continue to keep an eye on them, weeding, pruning and planting spring bulbs. The Town Council's lengthsman, Tony, will be watering the site during the summer and so far the feedback from passers-by has been very positive. Jane describes the plans and planting here.
Often small actions can make a difference when tackling climate change and sometimes it’s just a matter of seizing opportunities that present themselves. One such is the conundrum of what to do with influxes of tree seeds, such as acorns and beech nuts, during a mast year. Most town dwellers don’t have enough space for mature forest trees but they may still experience a rain of nuts falling on their gardens or allotments from trees in neighbouring gardens. According to the Woodland Trust, an oak can drop several hundred acorns in a single square metre, which certainly matched the experience of MCA member, Nigel Williams, who having wondered how best to deal with them in previous years decided in 2020 to overwinter his harvest of acorns in his greenhouse to give them a safe germination opportunity, away from predatory squirrels, mice and other such beasties.
At last we have a start date for our Climate-friendly market stall. It will be on Saturday, 24th April on the Market Square in Leek and we’ll be there on a quarterly basis on the fourth Saturday of April, July, October and January. So do come and visit us, take away some samples of green manure seeds and also peat-free composts, so that you can take part in our Peat-free Challenge. [see also our Peat-free Growers FB page]. You can choose some seedlings from those that our green-fingered members are supplying, which of course will all be grown in peat-free composts and without a trace of insecticide (neonicotinoid or otherwise). Those plants will be really good for people wanting to encourage insects, especially wild bees (read Maggie’s’ article about them), which expect very high standards.
We have a wild beehive in our garden. It provides a home and we don’t take their honey. Bees have evolved to take care of themselves over thousands of years. When humans realised the potential and health promoting value of their honey, they began to take it. Beekeeping now involves taking honey on a truly industrial scale and I would not want to you see videos of that! It is my belief that one reason why bees are in decline is the over theft of their honey. We know that honey has antibacterial properties, which is one reason we take it! But the bees need their precious resource to fend off disease and to keep them healthy through the winter. Beekeepers replace their honey with a sugar solution, thus lowering their immune system. Beekeepers say ‘We leave them with enough’. But how do we know? The bees know….
So, if you are still with me…. Provide a space and they will come…
We don’t open or enter their hive. We have had the bees for 4 years now. Because we live in a very exposed place, we do cover the hive over the worst of the winter. But mostly that isn’t necessary. And we do one small job twice a year, ie we change the aperture from open to almost closed, to prevent frost getting into the hive. On a warmish winter day the bees will want to come out, and then we reverse it in the summer We are still learning.
Read more: Care about bees? How about having a wild hive for them?
Green manures are plants grown specifically to improve the soil. Their use goes back far beyond the introduction of industrial agriculture, whose practice is dependent on machinery, pesticides and artificial fertilisers. All of these use fossil fuels in their production and also damage the microorganisms that help to keep soil naturally healthy and productive. Green manure plants are described as cover crops when used primarily to protect the soil.
Green manures function in a variety of ways:
• by being deep rooted;
• by covering the soil to prevent leaching of nutrients;
• by fixing nitrogen;
• or by breaking up the soil with fibrous root structures.
In all cases they are then dug or mulched back into the soil, adding organic matter which helps retain moisture and feeds the soil’s beneficial organisms. To dig in, chop up the green manure with a spade and turn it into the top few inches, 10-12 cm or so, of soil.