Task Reports

wildflower seedsToday we continued our work in the vegetable garden at Parkside Centre. We added another couple of veg beds, and filled them all with veggi soil from Tommy Topsoil. We planted broad beans, spinach and beetroot seeds as well as onion and shallot sets in the beds. Four varieties of potato were planted in the open growing area; Sharpes Express, Osprey, Vivaldi and Sarpo Axona.  

Although a vast quantity of Blackthorn was removed when we laid the hedge in the winter, there are still quite a number of suckers spreading out in the garden. We grubbed out some, but this will be a continuous task throughout the summer. We sowed a few wildflower seeds in these areas, but they are pretty old and we do not know if they will be viable. 

Today we finished replanting Ginko biloba trees and constructing the protective caging.

Today we returned to Gaisby Lane to rectify the vandalism that had been perpetrated on the avenue of Ginkgo biloba trees. 

Seven out of the eleven trees had been snapped; none of them were dead, but the regrowth from low on the stem would prevent the landscaped avenue developing as planned by the architect for the Canal Road Greenway. Some of the damaged trees were replanted at further along the Greenway, nearer Shipley. The others were donated to Stoney Ridge Plantation, Cliffe Castle and Lower Fields and Peel Park Primary schools.

We replanted 3 of the trees today, the rest will be planted next week. The crucial thing was to make sure each of the trees were securely guarded to offer some protection. This was a tough job, digging though building rubble to secure the posts, cutting the wire to size and straining into position. However the task of lifting the heavy standard trees over the fence was made easier with the use of the Culture Fusion genie lift. 

We ended up in two shifts with some volunteers staying to help finish today's cages once the postcrete had set. Thanks again to Shipley College students for their involvement today. 

We will complete this job next week. 

We had a mix of tasks to get on with today, and were pleased to welcome a group of Level 3 Horticulture students from Shipley College to join us for the morning.

We completed the winter pruning, replaced the legs of the bench that had rotted, carried on with general weeding. We planted some garlic; we normally plant in early winter, so choose a variety that is suited to spring planting (Picardy White). 

As well as the gardening we also created some ‘mini-beast trap doors’. We hope that these will be attractive to some of the little creatures that live in the orchard so that when we visit with school groups they can see what is living in the orchard. 

We saw a couple of bumble bees, a nice sign of Spring!

The TeamWe had another great weekend helping Cumbria Wildlife Trust with the site management of Hutton Roof Crags. It has been a treat for us to get to know parts of this National Nature Reserve over the past few years.

This year the bulk of our task was to remove brash and product from areas where contractors had been coppicing. Over the weekend, two large bonfires were enthusiastically stoked to burn waste brash, whilst useful timber product was stacked to be made into charcoal and fire wood. This will hopefully help to fund future felling works. Meanwhile we cooked some superb potatoes in the fire.

The woodland management is designed to improve the habitats for butterflies and other invertebrates. A corridor was successfully cut through the wood to link up the open limestone pavement habitats with the coppice woodland area. It is hoped that the High Brown Fritillary butterfly will respond well and make good use of the route to spread around the reserve. In addition, the opening of the canopy should encourage a flush of violets, which will hopefully be favoured by the butterfly for their caterpillars to eat.

Wal has already got plans for us next year!

Today's task: Tree planting, with Ian Butterfield and the Forest of Bradford team .

At the northern reaches of The Peak District, south of Huddersfield, is Butterley Reservoir. The task today, planting native species such as, holly, oak, hawthorn, Scots pine and hazel. This tree planting was commisined by Yorkshire Water to prevent soil erosion and to minimise flooding. Due to our elevation, topography and the season, the weather was rather fresh.

With breath-taking scenery, and a marvel of Victorian engineering to admire, members of the team were somewhat distracted from the task in hand.  We were treated by the sighting of two kestrels and one rather timid flighty vole or something of similar description.

Everyone looks forward to visiting this location again.

Another murky day at Lower Fields, but the weather didn’t dampen our spirits as we tackled the tree tasks. 

This involved coppicing several clumps of willow to ensure the trees were not growing over the pathways and open areas. We also felled a few small Ash trees from the entrance to the amphitheatre.  

Some of the felled trees were used to create a low fence around the pond. 

We also dug up some young Ash saplings for Forest of Bradford to use in their planting schemes, and had a little fun weaving part of a mature willow dome. 

Today we started to explore the best way of developing a food growing area at Bolton St James church. It involved levelling some sloping ground to decide how best to install growing beds. Our favourite tool, the mattock, came into its own.

There were plenty of other tasks too; pallets were used to make a start on constructing a compost bin, roots of plants were dug out from the pathways, composting plant material was raked away to define the garden space, and two apple trees were planted at the front of the church. 

Today we continued with the brash burning that we started last week. We managed to deal with all the remaining off-cuts from the hedge (the larger trunks will be used more constructively) and now the space is ready to work as a garden again.

There is still a lot of litter to remove but the increased light and space will aid the fruit and veg growing.

We will be getting creative next week when we install a couple of benches, make a start on constructing growing beds and work with the local primary school to plant some fruit.

Today we returned to the Parkside Centre to work on the food growing area. Essentially this meant clearing the brash generated from the hedgelaying at the end of last year. Any logs over 5cm diameter were taken away to be used more productively, but the twiggy bits were burnt. This occupied all us for most of the day and we made a good impact. 

Before we left we made use of the snow around the fire and from the car park to smother the fire. We will continue with this next week, but will also start some more constructive jobs.