by Derek Smith
On Saturday we had a very successful plant sale in spite of the rain, 2 cm in the last two days as measured by our new rain gauge. Underleaf donated plants for the sale, a van full which I helped to unload on Friday. They supply plants to businesses and for events, and had a lot over. We were certainly …
The garden is working to become environmentally friendly. Not just in what we grow, but in other aspects. It’s a slow trek, all the time fighting the power of habit. A much underestimated power, the great flywheel of society as William James called it. He said we need to get rid of bad habits, and foster the good ones, like …
Kate Spencer was the second speaker in our fortnightly series of Sunday afternoon talks. About forty attended. Kate is a professor at Queen Mary college. Her research is in pollution. She lives on Earlham Grove and has been a friend of the garden since its beginning. Most of the audience had brought along a little of their garden soil. They …
Volunteers are the heartbeat of the garden. The garden can’t run without them. They meet and greet, they do lots of work: planting, clearing up, watering – and keep the place going. So on Sunday, 18 May we had a volunteer session. It was planned to be informative and enjoyable, and to help volunteers get to know each other. The …
Around 70 people attended our VE Day celebration. It began with Peter Williams telling us about Newham during the war: the evacuation of children, the phony war, the blitz, the prisoner of war camps on Wanstead Flats – one for Italians, the other for Germans. There were anti aircraft guns on the Flats too and barrage balloons. Forest Gate suffered …
Damselflies are mating over the pond. The male grasps the female around the head. He flexes his abdomen to encourage the female to loop her abdomen round to interlock with him, forming the ‘wheel’ position where mating takes place. They have spent two years as larvae at the bottom of the pond, before emerging as adults. The adults live for …
The Cherry blossom has gone from our two large cherry trees. First on the white blossomed tree where it had come earlier and then on the pink blossomed tree. The fall on the pink tree was like snow. Outside the garden, under the tree, was a large pool of blossom. I saw it at 7.30 one morning, a pristine, pinky …
Our pond has had a green bloom for the last year. The bloom is composed of microscopic algae, tiny single celled plants. When the bloom first occurred last April, I thought the bloom, by cutting out light, might kill off underwater plants. But there was no effect over a month or two, so I forgot about it. A few days …
There are four pigeons up in the sycamore tree. They are not eating but grooming. They are a pretty bedraggled bunch as if they have been out all night at a party. I can’t get the fourth in the photo. Three scruffs will do. Another pigeon, on the same tree, but some way from the quartet is eating the buds. …
There was a partial eclipse of the sun this morning, starting at about 10 am, peaking at 11.04 and finishing just after noon. An eclipse of the sun occurs when the moon passes between the earth and the sun. I had some eclipse glasses which I shared with garden visitors, as you must never look directly at the sun. I …
