A beheading!

While there've not been any blog posts for a while, the Annecy Gardeners have not been idle. Over the past few weeks we've been tidying up the beds after a winter break in our work sessions, we've also been sowing seeds & planting seedlings. We've also been spreading well-rotted manure on the beds, the manure a gift from kindly Cheltenham Borough Council.

The dark areas on the beds are where we've been spreading well-rotted manure

We've been fortunate at the Annecy Gardens not to suffer much from vandalism, we've been pleased with how people have engaged with the plantings while treating them with respect. So a little saddening to see that one of our Echiums by the front gate had been beheaded.

Here's the intact one:

Echium pininana x wildprettii ~ the flowers should be opening within a week or two

Here's its unfortunate sibling:

However, aside from this warm weather & adequate moisture means plants have been growing at quite a rate. There are also many spring flowers, including Brassica 'Red Frills', apple blossom (even on our newly planted 'Hunt's Duke of Gloucester' maiden tree) & Wisteria on the pergolas surrounding the garden.

Ribes odoratum 'Crandall', a selection of buffalo currant & apparently this will produce a crop even in a very shaded spot (such as it enjoys at the Annecy Gardens)

Wisteria, just coming into flower

Apple 'Hunt's Duke of Gloucester', the tree was only planted in February

Brassica 'Red Frills' in flower



Finally, a date for your diaries: we'll be having a plant sale at the Annecy Gardens from 10am till 1pm, this coming Saturday 3rd May 2014. All kinds of plants including veg & bee-friendly, all very modestly priced.

Visitors from Sweden

At the end of March 2014, we had a group of visitors come from four different Transition Town projects running in villages in central Sweden. They were doing some very interesting things, such as sharing a cow between 7 families, with each family being responsible for ministering to the cow & milking it one day a week; another project involved restoring a derelict flour mill & growing the grain to provide raw material. While in Gloucestershire the group visited a number of Transition initiatives, including the Sedgeberrow Energy Project, and also the Annecy Garden. Our visitors were very enthusiastic participants & required no encouragement before they were setting to on the weeding. They were also amazed at how advanced the season was (about 7 weeks ahead of their area in Sweden); growing conditions in Cheltenham are certainly a lot easier, our visitors were relating that they expect their last frosts on the year on about the 21st of June & their first on about the 18th of August ~ so that's a 2-month growing season (here I'd expect to have to have the 6 months May to October more or less frost-free).