Birds at DigIn

Lovely afternoon watering at DigIn.  The polytunnel is looking great with loads of seedlings and young plants growing well.
This pair of sparrows were enjoying the pond and there were lots of bluetits and blackbirds flitting about.

The flag irises in the pond are flowering now and add a lovely splash of colour.
Could do with the grass around the pond being cut, but there are damselflies around now, so we'll have to be careful as they like to hide in the tall grass.

The vine has started to put on lots of growth.  It'll be a weekly task now to tie it in to the supports - if we don't, the branches will snap off under their own weight.

The medlar tree is in full blossom at the moment, such pretty flowers.

Willow Obelisk Workshop

We held a willow obelisk making workshop on Saturday, led by Joy Killowe.  Here are a few pics of the workshop taking place.  We were lucky with the weather and everyone could spread out on the orchard without the fear of whipping or being whipped with willow!  Everyone made impressive obelisks to take away for their gardens.

The next workshop is Papermaking on Saturday 25th June, 2pm-4pm.  Booking is essential, please send an email to reserve your place to our bookings email.

These workshops are free of charge thanks to funding from Comic Relief.

Hawthorn

The hawthorn tree is in full blossom at the moment, absolutely smothered, and looks fab!

Hawthorn, aka May Blossom

The grass got its third mow of the year today so there's plenty of grass cuttings for the composters to deal with again!

We sowed some runner beans, a little later than we normally would, but this was due to all of the seeds sown a few weeks ago failing.  Lets hope this little lot germinate for us.

We also sowed some wild flower seeds from Grow Wild in our small wildlife area.  The area is doing quite well with at least one of the birdboxes we made being occupied.  We won't be looking to see if the other box has been used until probably October, just in case it could still be used for a second brood.

Windy Saturday

A bit of a blustery one today at DigIn.  Absolutely LOADS of seed sowing and potting on done today, the polytunnel is bulging at the seams.
It was Angela's birthday too, so we had chocolates as well as the tea & biccies at break time - thanks Angela!

Here's a pic of one of the vine cuttings from when we pruned the vine in January.  Its amazing that a dead-looking twig about 6 inches long when pushed into the ground in January can actually produce flowers in a few short months.  These flowers would go on to become grapes if we let them, but they will need to be removed as the cutting is so small it wouldn't be able to support them.

Here's a pic of a newly emerged dragonfly.  It seemed to have fallen into the pond and was struggling, so we moved it to a safe place on the decking for it to dry out & regain some sort of composure.  I think you'll agree, a fine looking specimen to grace our wildlife pond.  I think we'll name it 'Lucky'.  Does anyone know the species?

Childminders' Cook and Eat Session

Lovely weather for a busy morning at Dig In! Old friends Draycott Childminders and Stapleford Childminders came to get their gardens sorted for the spring and to try some tasty healthy food cooked by the fabulous Mary and Angela. Dig In volunteers watered, planted potatoes, potted on salads and also tried some tasty healthy food!

 Sharon and team pull up the giant parsnip!

 Look at how many hairy legs it's got!

 Digging over the Draycott plot.

 Digging over the Stapleford plot.

 Sowing seeds...

 And covering them up.

Time for Rainbow Couscous, Moroccan Checkpeas, Raita and Coleslaw! That's Angela and Mary in the background.