The poor weather doesn’t seem to affect the weeds!
The prolonged cold weather delayed the start of Gardening Club this year, as I was mindful of my young gardeners and the disappointment they would feel, if Gardening Club had started for the sake of starting and all their carefully sown seeds and the resulting seedlings, had succumbed to the bitter cold, hard frosts, waterlogged ground and/or snow. No, waiting those few extra weeks was worth it and Gardening Club has now begun. Unfortunately the miserable, cold weather hadn’t done anything to curtail the growth of the weeds and our long bed was a carpet of green …… largely unwanted green at that, although there were some onions in there somewhere!
And the sheltered interior of the poly tunnel housed a carpet of weeds!
And as for the poly tunnel ….. well you could barely see the pavers!
So first job of the season was to clear the mass of weeds and last years dried out bean plants, from the bed and the children set to with their usual enthusiasm, armed with trowels and kneeling pads to protect trousers/skirts/knees, deftly removing all but the toughest of weeds (my job), taking care not to disturb too many of the onions. For the most part the children are from the younger years but I have a very capable and adept older child as my assistant which is a great help and he is very patient with the younger children, having younger siblings of his own (although I’m pretty sure his mum would disagree with that statement).
My determined band of young gardeners soon dealt with the problem!
We’re lucky enough to have a villager living next door to the school vegetable patch, who is a keen and very accomplished and successful gardener. Over the years he has donated seeds and seedlings to our Club and this year proved to be no exception, as he passed tomato, snacking cucumber, courgette, squash, aubergine and leeks over the fence for planting out, as well as a Chinese Cucumber plant which, he informed me, is a fun crop which should produce super long cucumbers. We’re not at all sure what varieties of tomato we’ve been given but that’s the fun of these donations – knowing what they are but NOT what variety.
And my willing assistant made significant inroads into the poly tunnel squatters.
With the bed cleared, each of the children planted a donated plant out and then my assistant volunteered to start clearing the carpet of weeds from the poly tunnel whilst I sowed sweetcorn seeds with the younger children. The rest of the donated plants were then carefully carried into the poly tunnel by the children, where they will spend the next week, safe and sound ready for the next session of Gardening Club.
The generosity of parents and villagers to our Club always amazes me: yesterday it was plants; today it’s half a dozen packets of much needed seeds; and then over the weekend we’re taking delivery of two large planters, kindly donated by another villager who is moving away in a few weeks. I thank all of our benefactors because without kindnesses like these, we wouldn’t be able to grow half of the things that we do.
The Land Rover Owners Ex Wife 