Task Reports

We made a real transformation today. It is not a big space, but by the end of the day we had constructed three raised beds, installed a half-barrel planter and made good progress with the bench. 

First the fabric mulch had to be removed in order to level the compacted soil. Once the space for the beds was prepared, they were laid and levelled, which took a little bit of patience. Once the beds were lined with weed suppressant fabric they were filled with 'veggi-soil'. We are returning next week to plant seedlings with the children in the nurserey. One bed has been dedicated to robust herbs and we made a start by planting some mint. 

The photos from today are in the Parkside Gallery for the time being. 

Our primary task today was to tackle the Himalayan balsam. This plant can create a monoculture which leads to a 25% decrease in biodiversity as it competes for light, water, nutrients and pollinators. We started in areas that have been worked on my Friends of Northcliffe volunteers for several years. It was very encouraging to find only a few plants in the area above the pond, and much reduced populations elsewhere. That’s not to say that there are still masses of plants around, but each plant we removed reduces the seedbank by about 700. So, it’s not exaggerating to claim that we have stopped the development of millions of seeds. Hooray. 

In addition to the balsam we also dug out some of one silt trap, and made repairs to the revetment timber wall. 

This was the final day of a three day stint in the church garden. Through the week we have continued work on the path, compost bins and profiling the bank for the raised beds. These were constructed today using sleeper-style timber, and will be filled next week by the Shaping Spaces crew. 

Compost bins, paths, digging out spaces for the raised beds. 

More path work in the church garden, working with Shaping Spaces young people. 

The weather conditions have been great for grasses – we were met, not unexpectedly, be a jungle to clear. By the end of the day we had made quite a difference. The pathways had been cleared as well as vegetation under most of the trees. In addition we used straw to mulch some of the trees and will monitor how effective this is. 

We have been trying to increase the nectar sources in the orchard for pollinators for the periods when the trees aren’t in blossom (though Court Pendu Plat was still flowering) and the Orange Hawkweed and Vipers Bugloss were looking great. We intentionally leave some of the grass long as it offers habitat for peat control species, as well as butterflies such as Ringlet. 

This was our rescheduled visit to the kilns. Thankfully the horses were fenced off so our trips up and down the track with the timber were not impeded. Well, only by our stamina – this is a hard task and we would not have completed our tasks without the help of the golf club green keepers who brought the last load up in their buggy, for which we are very grateful. 

Even with the extra help we had to work late to get the timber chopped, split and the kilns loaded, but everyone’s effort paid off and we left the kilns ready to be lit next week. 

At lunchtime we quietly acknowledged BEES achievement of having delivered conservation work in Bradford for 30 years. Thanks for the cakes! And the volunteer efforts by everyone over the years.

Fri 3rd June – Sunday 5th June

We have visited Upper Wharfedale for a weekend’s drystone walling for several years now. We stayed in Town Head barn again in Buckden, but this year our work was along the lovely Langstrothdale. We were rebuilding a section of wall that offers shelter for livestock as well as landscape value. 

The stone was large and required lifting devices and ingenuity at times, and it also dictated how much we stripped out, leaving some of the big stone in place. Although once working we found buried stone, at the beginning we decided to shorten the length of wall slightly in order that we had enough stone to create a decent height. 

The surroundings were delightful with the river at the bottom of a flower filled meadow. It didn’t rain at all, though it was interesting to realise how localised the weather is. Friends running the Whafedale half marathon got sunburnt in Threshfield on Saturday, whilst we didn’t take our jumpers off. By the evening the skies were fine for are annual BBQ.  

We have checked out next year’s wall; again large stone so keep in shape. 

The Team once more returned to the Parkside Centre today focusing mainly on the general tasks of up keeping the vegetable beds as well as the wildlife garden areas.

As a group of us made a start at weeding the vegetable beds a couple of us took to the task of laying an additional section of pathway and undertaking the small amount of maintenance required to the rest.

Laying a strip of mulching fabric before covering it with bark, the added section of path seemed to give the raised bed area a more finished appearance.

Additional growing beds were constructed out of salvaged material found on site and filled with veggi compost while the wildlife garden areas were mowed and weeded leave a small area as untouched meadow in order to help encourage wildlife.