We are holding another gardening party tomorrow Saturday 29 May at 14:00. Please come and join us.

The garden at St Nicolas Pastoral Centre has come a long way and now features amongst many other things a bug hotel, a herb spiral, a multitude of bee friendly plants, log piles.

As the garden will be opened on 19 June as part of Bookham open gardens we are working hard to make it a nice space for wildlife. A few fruit shrubs would be a welcome addition if anybody has any going spare (currents, gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries and/or any others).

Saturday 16 October

On Dorking High Street front of Barclay’s from 9AM-2PM

Join us on the High Street to find out more about Transition Dorking— we’ll have leaflets and more importantly time to talk.  We’re holding a book swap—please bring along one or two books (no boxes of books-please!  We don’t have the space) about living simply, gaining skills, or the environment and swap them for others that look interesting.

Are your apple trees producing more fruit than you can handle? Then bring your spare apples to the stall and we’ll juice them using a Vigo screw press—no gas! No electricity!

If you’re interested please bring your clean, chopped if possible, apples (eaters not cookers) to the stall where we will chop and press them.  No need to peel or core, just chop them roughly and put them in a bag.  You need to bring a clean, dry container for the juice—a 1 litre milk carton would be perfect. Fresh apple juice doesn’t keep very long so be sure to drink the juice the same day.  Not sure if your apples are cookers or eaters?  Just try biting into one.  If it’s too tart to eat, it’s too tart to juice.

Westcott villagers have put forward plans for a nature reserve to take the place of a proposed housing development.

Residents have submitted proposals for a community nature reserve to Mole Valley District Council. The scheme suggests that Springfield Meadow, which developers Taylor Wimpey want to turn into a 34-home estate, should be transformed into a village amenity. The meadow plans have been backed by Westcott Village Association, the Surrey Wildlife Trust Green Spaces Project and the National Trust.

The application proposes the development of Springfield Meadow into a Community Nature Reserve. Plans proposed involve enhancing the existing meadow and wetland habitats, whilst planting trees to link existing woodland habitat found surrounding the site. A range of protected species, such as kingfishers, kestrels, badgers, reptiles, and bats (amongst many others) are known to the site and the habitat enhancements for the Community Nature Reserve could greatly increase this wildlife value.

You can find out more on the Westcott Meadow Action Group's web site here.

 At village day on Saturday 19 June Transition Bookham are planning to launch a garden share scheme for Bookham.

There are now a large number of people on waiting lists for allotments in the village and on the other side, there are gardens that are unused or even unloved.  Some owners haven’t got the energy, or the time or simply the enthusiasm to look after a substantial garden.  We will call on garden owners who are prepared to let somebody with an interest in growing their own food use part of their land in exchange for some produce. Hopefully a few matches will be made creating lovely organically and locally produced fruit and vegetables.

 A similar scheme is already up and running in Ashtead, and Dorking have a community orchard they are very proud of.  Land can also be registered via a national scheme launched by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall at www.landshare.net

For any queries contact: esther_s_phillips@hotmail.com or on 01372 456 905

If you have an hour to spare with a cuppa this week-end is the Big Garden Birdwatch organised by the RSPB.

This winter has been particularly hard for many species and so this survey will give the RSPB an idea of how the various species are doing.

https://birdwatch.rspb.org.uk/

In our garden we recorded the following over one hour:

Woodpigeons:6

Blue tits: 4

Starling: 2

Blackbirds: 2

Great tit: 1

Song thrush: 1

Robin: 1

And we think a female blackcap

The Green Mole Forum has now started a loan scheme of Energy Meters across Mole Valley in conjunction with Mole Valley Disctrict Council.

Meters are available for a two week loan from Anne Brewer in Dorking, Derek Smith in Leatherhead and Esther Phillips-Constans in Bookham.

We have so far a waiting list of 22 people and the first meters have now gone out on loan. Richard M. from the Green Mole Forum probably holds the record for having signed up most people at our stall on Bookham village day. Well done!

The first device measures power demand of individual appliances (Dear I hope I get this right as my physics were never brilliant). The second one (much more fun) is a whole house meter.  Once plugged in it measures and displays the consumption of the whole house and also displays the running costs. We tried it for two weeks and it is great fun and gives you quite an incentive to chase around in the evening to switch off everything but the fridge.

Should you wish to be added to the waiting list or know somebody who lives in Mole Valley and could do with a carbon diet, please contact us via the Forum.

Creating a sustainable garden

A garden for enjoyment, a garden for growing food, a garden for wildlife

Since we have moved to our house the garden has been a work in progress, an ever changing canvas where I like spending a lot of time.

The dreaded Leylandiae or “green concrete” have now been taken out and replaced with fruit trees and fruit bearing shrubs:

A conference pear, a victoria plum, two currents, raspberries and a blueberry.
I was a little concerned about the sharp winter frost but they have all survived and the currents are already bearing fruits.

I have ensured there are a lot of flowers for the bees, and we  have tadpoles swimming around the pond.  As a couple of mice have drowned last autumn we have made improvements to the ladder that allows beasties to escape from the pond if they have fallen in.

The neighbours have put in a new fence and we have ensured there are still wildlife corridors for hedgehogs, frogs etc. between all the gardens.  Yes a Schengen for wildlife…

Our dining shed’s green make-over is also finished and the extension now has sheep wool insulation, double-glazing and was boarded with Fermacell recycled gypsum boards and re-decorated.  Now it is acting as a greenhouse for bringing on the vegetables!

Here and there I introduce more edibles amongst the decorative plants.  I’m just bringing on a whole crowd of artichokes that will provide some architectural interest as well as a few meals.

Our garden will be open for viewing and inspiration during the Gardens of Bookham open day on 22 June.. Cyclists will get extra warm welcome.

Compost Works to the rescue

Mole Valley Council's sudden decision to scrap their food waste collection means that lots of Bookham and Fetcham residents suddenly have to decide. - Go  back to putting in the black bin after finding out how nice it is not having a smelly bin ?  Or, much better, find out how to turn it into valuable compost, known by gardeners as black gold. Luckily help is at hand - Local group Compost Works are offering to show you how to start composting and how to get a bin. They are holding a Compost Open Day on Saturday 4^th April at 8 The Drive, Fetcham KT22 9EN between 10am and 4pm.  

Hugh Baker from Compost Works said  "We can show you how easy it is to start composting using a subsidised compost bin, and how to make your own free large bin in 10 minutes. There will be a range of compost bins on display, both plastic and home-made. You can  see the inside of a real compost heap, and find out if a wormery would suit you.  We'll have  tips and info on the dos and donts, and ways of speeding up compost -making. And with our shredder, which you can borrow, you can see how to turn all your woody prunings into excellent shreddings to compost along with your kitchen waste and grass cuttings."    Much more information  at www.compostworks.org.uk        Admission is free, with donations requested for the Gaza Appeal.

And a final tip from Hugh "Don’t delay getting composting - the subsidy on compost bins  from the government is stopping all over the country in September, so this could be your last chance."

  Hugh Baker
COMPOST WORKS,
8 The Drive, Fetcham, Leatherhead, Surrey,  KT22 9EN
COMPOST HOT-LINE : 01372 376642
e : info@compostworks.org.uk    Web :  www.compostworks.org.uk

Member of the Community Composting Network www.communitycompost.org