Welcome to February’s garden update.

🗓️ EVENTS AT THE GARDEN

🀩Willow Obelisk Making Workshop, Sunday 25th February, 10:30 am - 12:30 pm

Join us for a unique and hands-on experience as we delve into the art of crafting beautiful willow obelisks with Lisa. 2 spaces remain. Tickets» HERE

Drop in Events at the Garden⬇️

• New Fruit Cage and Netting This will be a “Big Job Sunday” 18th February from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm

• Cobbing Day with “Galiford Try” on Tuesday 12th March from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm

• Completing the Wildlife Pond with Margaret on Sunday, March 24th

🎟️EVENTS OFFSITE

🌳Mount Volunteer Dates

The dates for the rest of this season are: February 4th and March 10th, 10:00 am - 1:00 pm

Helen Harris, our Chair, also helps to run the Mount Volunteers - a new local community-led conservation group that is working to restore an area of Chalk Downland habitat on the Mount, just a short walk from central Guildford. 

Helen says: "Our group meets on Sundays once a month during the winter, when there are no ground nesting birds present. We use hand tools to remove hawthorn, dogwood and bramble scrub. This stops the rare chalk grassland habitat, which is important for rare flowers and butterflies, from getting overgrown and disappearing. It’s fun - you meet other local people, get a good workout and the views over Guildford are beautiful. We always welcome new volunteers - so do come and get involved." 

Find out more information here.

⭐VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT - ANNELIZE KIDD

I started volunteering at the Rosamund Community Garden in the summer of 2018. My daughter, Isabel, was working towards her Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award, and had opted to do her community work at the Rosamund Garden, referred by Voluntary Action Surrey. That summer I was roped in to help her water the garden. I had not been to the garden up to that point, I did not even know of its existence, despite having walked past with walk groups numerous times! I was very happy to encounter this beautiful zen place and join the other volunteers, and I even became the Secretary of the Rosamund Garden Committee in March 2020.

Over the years I have met so many wonderful nature-lovers at the garden. Highlights for me have been helping to organise the main annual fundraiser, the Open Day and Apple Pressing Event in October. The Rosamund team also hosted a fabulous and very colourful Wassail Event one January. Sitting out in the garden on the longest day in June with fellow garden friends, sipping red wine and watching the sunset is another wonderful memory. I also love interacting with the beautiful Belties in the Rosamund Field during the winter months. I hope we can have another guided walk around the Rosamund Field this summer led by an expert telling us about all the wonderful wildflowers we have, thanks to the Belties.

The joy of planting, watering, caring for the veggies and fruit, and ultimately harvesting the beautiful organic produce lifts one’s spirits. I just love the Rosamund tea ceremony at the end of a work session. We make rosemary tea in the winter months, and mint tea in the summer. Rosemary seems to thrive at the garden, and the bees love the pretty blue flowers; the mint in the bath does its thing splendidly every summer.

We have recently had some wonderful warm blue-sky days and it’s great to see the first signs of spring. Like me, you must all be very excited that we will soon be spending warmer days working together at peaceful Rosamund Garden. 

📰GARDEN NEWS FROM CLARE

February can be a tough month for those of us who are desperate to see the glimmers of Spring weather, but it is also the pivotal month between winter and spring when we can see the days lengthening and the bulbs starting to break through the soil.

It's now still light til 5 o’clock and we can finish all the winter jobs while the plants are still dormant.

The Autumn raspberries can be cut down to the ground and any blackcurrants and gooseberry bushes can be given a prune. The grapevines can be pruned between now and spring, to provide a strong framework for the new shoots.

Kate has made some wonderful composts over the winter, and we can now use them to mulch and feed the fruit bushes and vines.

Charles Dowding (our organic veg guru) Charles Dowding - YouTube always cites Valentine’s Day as the point where we can start to sow spring seeds. Over the next weeks, we’ll see the salads and greens in the poly-tunnels start to come to life and we can plant and sow more salads. The seeds are in the tin in the kitchen.

Fudge has completed the first stage of the roof on the Hub and it’s looking great! He’ll be back in a few weeks to complete the second stage, which will include roof lights at the apex. We’re really excited to see this part finished as it provides essential protection for the cob and daub walls. It also means we can work on the build in any weather.

Our new fruit-cage will arrive next month, and we’ll need all hands on deck to erect it over the loganberries and grapes. This will include much needed roof netting for the existing  cage, which has degraded badly. (see attached spreadsheet to put your name down for big jobs and events)

Lisa has put together a wish list for the solar pump watering system, which will capture, store, and provide rainwater for irrigation. We are applying for grants at the moment and hope we can get some funding for this and other projects at the garden. (see below poll for funding wish list)

Chris Harlow from Fully Charged Guildford (Electric Bike Shop Guildford | Fully Charged eBike Stores), has been busy making some bespoke wheels for the new gates, to make them really easy to open. They should be finished by the end of the month and, with our gorgeous new sign, will make the entranceway really inviting.

Craig Hills (Jellytree – Jellytree Productions Limited Company UK) will be moving his solar rig around to the back of the Hub in the next month, to clear the way for our new entrance pathway to be laid. This will provide safe access from the gate to the Hub for pedestrians and wheelchairs.

Craig very kindly brought us his amazing solar unit on a long-term loan to help with the hub project »VIDEO. We’ve used it to run a cement mixer for building, recharging our batteries, and running moth traps for surveys.

Going forward we will have a permanent solar unit for power at the Hub, once it’s completed.

🌿PLANT OF THE MONTH - TEASELS

The teasel is probably best known for its brown, prickly stems and conical seed heads, which persist long after the plants themselves have died back for the winter. Between July and August, when teasels are in flower, the spiky flower heads are mostly green with rings of purple flowers. Found in damp grassland and field edges, or on disturbed ground, such as roadside verges and waste grounds, they are visited by bees when in flower, and birds when seeding.

The seeds of the teasel are very important for birds, such as the goldfinch, which can often be seen alighting on the old, brown flower heads in autumn to 'tease' the seeds from them.

Fun Fact

The spiky seed heads were used in the past to tease or separate fibres in the textile industry.

Herbal Properties

• The water that collects in the leaves at the base of the plant is used to soothe and beautify the eyes.

• The root was also used in chronic skin disorders and musculoskeletal inflammatory disease.

• The species found in America and Asia has been used to combat Lymes disease and a large list of other illnesses, including jaundice and warts.

We have an abundance of these beautiful wildflowers in the garden and they make a lovely addition to our natural wreaths and flower bouquets. Grow them in your garden to create a natural bird and bee feeder, and use them to comb your hair!

📅FEBRUARY JOBS AT THE GARDEN

• Cut down Raspberry canes, weed and mulch with compost.

• Weave the raspberry canes into our new compost wigwams

• Clear any rubbish from the garden (lots has been blown around by the winds) and put in the orange bag by the sheds.

• Take any rubbish that you can, to the tip or for your bins.

• Weed the front beds ready for spring plantings.

• Cut down dead stems and seedheads in the flowerbed.

• Make creative edges to the beds around the arbour

📣AND FINALLY - “FINDING SOLUTIONS FOR WILD WEEING” WITH CLARE

In case you missed Clare’s talk during the Random Dialogues show » CLICK TO TUNE IN HERE  

🌳GARDEN VOLUNTEER GROUP SESSIONS

We have regular groups on Tuesday and Sunday from 2.00 pm - to 4.00 pm and Friday from 10.00 am - 12.00 pm so if you want to come and garden together, just turn up. If you are in our WhatsApp group, please also use this to check if people are in the garden for a session.

💰MEMBERSHIP 

The Rosamund Community Garden shares a membership system with Guildford Environmental Forum for joining info please email [email protected]

January’s Update