I gave a talk on the Park at Wardie Church Guild on Wednesday. Everyone was very nice and Justin set up the projector, avoiding my blushes! I therefore had a day off gardening but the Friends and Julie more than made up for my absence by getting loads done in the east border.
The park is looking good. The daffodils are shooting up and there’s plenty colour. We even had a visit from a pheasant on Friday.
If you look hard, you can see the pheasant
A fair and busy morning, digging, weeding and planting were the main activities. The main result of our work was an un-raked border.
Other features of today were the nice new notices at the gates and plenty signs of spring.
Spring is round the corner! There’s lots to do and frost isn’t forecast! Come along if you can.
The ground was frozen solid this morning but we managed to prune some more of the laurel (I do hope it’s hardy!), do a chunk of tidying up and enjoy coffee and cakes. Despite the cold weather some of the plants seem to think it’s spring. The daffodils are coming through and the primulas are giving a great show for frozen February.
There were loads of birds this morning with mistle thrushes, song thrush, blue tits, great tits, chaffinches, tree creeper, grey wagtail, wood pigeons, blackbirds, starlings, magpies, house sparrows, robins, dunnocks and crows all in evidence in the park.
Weather permitting!
The weather was much better than forecast (it was only very cold with some sleet), so we were able to do a load of planting and weeding. We also managed to finish the path to the compost bins, thus completing the work on the composting facilities. Many thanks to the City of Edinburgh Council whose Waste Action Grant funded this project. Thanks too to Janet for coffee again, which helped revive us after a cold morning’s gardening.
Freshly weeded – don’t be fooled by the sunshine, it was freezing!
The new bark path, screens and compost bins looking east
The new path looking west
The cold snap continued from last week. Seven of us braved the conditions yesterday, but only after some fortifying coffee supplied by Janet. Most of the borders were too frosty to dig but we managed some pruning, litter picking and some work on the path to the compost bins.
But there are a few signs of spring, and the view was terrific!
Our first snowdrop of 2015
New buds on the tree peony
Looking north
Snow and a cold wind meant it was only coffee and cakes in the park this morning!
First Wednesday of 2015 and it was a wild and windy morning at the park, with white horses and rainbows on the Forth.
Despite the wind, it was reasonably warm and dry so we got loads done. There was the usual weeding and tidying but we also have made a good start on the new path to the compost bins, despite some tree roots’ best efforts. Note the tidy borders and how excellently Graham and I were able to supervise Rod.
Friends of Starbank Park 