Here's the February update from the HCFA at Faggs Road. Enjoy!
The site in brief
Light bulb
Daffodil bulbs, being light sensitive, are starting to respond to the longer days. Shoots are coming up all over Oak Tree camp. They, like us, are just waiting for a warmer spell before they start to flower.
Plant sanctuary
HCFA has been relocating wild flowers and other plant specimens from vegetable beds to a more permanent spot on the site. Species rescued so far include Begonias, Spurge, Borage, Common Vetch, and Cranesbill.
Intelligent Design
It may be a controversial theory in evolutionary biology but as far as hedging plants are concerned most are more intelligently designed than the synthetic alternative. So at Faggs Road we have chosen; Hawthorne instead of barbed wire, Box and Beach instead of a picket fence, Yew and Privet instead of a high fence and Dogwood instead of a trellis.
Fairytales from Faggs Road
Once upon a time there was a fox, Artemis, named after the Greek Goddess of hunting, and many rabbits at Faggs Road (Mick, the last remaining plot holder at the site, can vouch for this). Artemis emulated her namesake and devoured all the rabbits on the site. Consequently she ran out of food and perished (well this seems to be the only rational explanation for their disappearance!). And the moral of the story – if you want to control rabbit populations get a Faggs Road fox.
Grassing up the sods
Like loyal school friends we decided not to at first – grass up that is. So we dug a trench, filled it in with the turf removed from the plots and covered it with topsoil – hoping the sods would rot down and enrich the soil. However, in light of the fact that the little sods might re-grow, we’ve changed our minds. So you will notice a new feature at Faggs Road as you drive past – piles of sods. Once these rot down we will return them to the soil. HCFA will be reviewing both methods and publishing a detailed study on the matter entitled “a horticultural perspective on keeping stum”.
A seedy business
In order to ensure that we have a variety of quality crops at Faggs Road, HCFA has acquired seeds and saplings from a number of sources; soft fruit from Hampshire, tomato saplings grown with the help of our members, rare breeds donated by the Heritage Seed Library (
www.gardenorganic.org.uk/hsl/hsl.php) and orphaned saplings salvaged from local nurseries. We are still looking for a herb and potato
supplier. Any ideas on how we can further complicate our supply chain are most welcome.
The Heart and Soil
Outstanding in their field……… would sum up nicely the HCFA volunteers this month. We haven’t been inundated in February – partly due to the weather. So those volunteers who did make the journey to Faggs Road were rather starkly “outstanding”, in the rain and wind, on the desolate plots. But sometimes it is nice to stand out especially when we are all neatly compiled into numbers, statistics and social groups. So whatever your motivation – thank you.
Acorns to Oak trees
Walk this way
At HCFA we have beaten a path in pursuit of the tracks made by Denham farmer, Peter Clarke. On the 6th of March he will be teaching us to plant and plan soft fruits. So please join us and don’t worry if you’re new to this – we’re all toddling at the moment.
Roll up, roll up!
Hand to mouth
Whilst HCFA strives to be a lean organisation our bank account would suggest that we are slightly malnourished. HCFA has applied for West Area Committee funding in order that we might purchase seedlings and saplings this spring. We will know whether or not we need to tighten the belt another notch or two when grant applications are reviewed in March.
