Taken from Lynne’s weekly column ‘Green Scene’ for the Western Mail
31st August 2024
Trunk(s) …
This year the Woodland Trust contest for Tree of the Year celebrates magnificent oaks across the UK. With centuries of history behind them, each one has a fascinating story to tell, as well as supporting important wildlife, cleaning our air, boosting wellbeing and much, much more.
The expert panel has shortlisted 12 fantastic oaks from across the UK for Tree of the Year 2024, and you can vote for your favourite and help crown a champion. Voting is open until 11.59pm 21 October and the winner will represent the UK in the European Tree of the Year competition
Wales is represented by the Gregynog Oak, in Tregynon, Powys. Around 500 years old, the magnificent Gregynog Oak stands alongside several mammoth trees in Great Wood in the grounds of Gregynog Hall. This area is immensely valuable for wildlife and considered one of Wales’ most important ancient parklands and wood pasture habitats. Thought to be at least five centuries old, the impressive oak hosts countless species including important lichens. With many an esteemed visitor to the Hall over the years, the likes of Gustav Holst, George Bernard Shaw and Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin may well have admired this incredible tree.
You can vote at www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/tree-of-the-year and if you know of a worthy contender for next year, do let them know.
… And Disorder-ly
I have recently been diagnosed with a ‘disorder’. Self –diagnosed admittedly, with the disorder being OCD – Obsessive Compost Disorder.
It is something that has become more apparent with age, although the signs were definitely there when I was a kid. Despite hardly being able to recall pin numbers and passwords, I vividly remember my granddad’s compost heap and being totally enamoured with it. I would have been about 5 years old. It was at the top of the orchard and in good old-fashioned style, was a freestanding, perfectly square heap of gardening – and kitchen – history, revealing just what had been cut back in the garden or cooked in the kitchen. The sides were perfectly straight and square – with no thought ever given to a compost bin or bay. I didn’t appreciate the engineering involved as a kid, but certainly do now, and whilst I admittedly use timber in some form to avoid spillage and ‘muttering’, I do endeavor to make compost in most of my client’s gardens.
As if the perfectly square, sweet-smelling, magnificently managed compost heap wasn’t impressive enough, my granddad used to utilise it by growing courgettes and pumpkins in it. I recall watching the hungry feeders respond like Jack’s beanstalk, by growing a mile a minute and with Dr Who-like tendrils. Such wonderful and vivid memories.
I grew courgettes and tomatoes on a client’s compost heap this year and was recently rewarded with an excited text and photos of their haul in both raw and cooked stages. More wonderful memories made.
I have another client who makes her own simply-beautiful compost. I have never seen such magic – not even in my granddad’s orchard – and freely admit to a little compost-envy. It is the most friable, rich medium and she casually admits to ‘nothing leaving her garden’, with all ‘waste’ being composted.
No-dig guru, Charles Dowding’s new book, ‘Compost’, is subtitled, ‘transform waste into a new life’, which of course is exactly what happens, adding to the magic. Released on September 5th, I have been lucky enough to review the beautiful book and love it. I think a lot of people are ‘afraid’ of getting compost wrong – which of course, is possible. It’s not just a case of chucking ‘everything in a corner and letting it rot’, but with a bit of knowledge and care and love, it is very doable and very rewarding.
I often get asked if you can compost perennial weeds like docks, and as Charles reassures us, the tough roots will also decompose as long as they’re not exposed to light. Similarly, people are uncertain about adding weed seeds but again Charles explains that just a day or two above 50 degrees is enough to kill weed seeds, so he advises putting them in the centre of the compost heap. Of course, success is all about the quality of the compost heap itself, which is why I highly recommend reading the book. Preparation and understanding will allow you to ‘recycle’ most things in your garden and reap fabulous rewards.
Whilst it is common practise to have slatted sides on a compost bin, trial and error has proven otherwise for me, and Charles confirms this by explaining that it simply lets air in which will cool the compost. Solid sides are much better as they allow moisture to be retained and heat maintained. This wouldn’t have been the case with my granddad’s freestanding compost heap, which makes his endeavors even more impressive, and him even more of a hero in my eyes.
You can pre-order Compost from www.charlesdowding.co.uk and enjoy lots of other advice and guidance on his website, including signing up for his monthly newsletters.
September to Remember
So we can touch September on the nose already. I like autumn. I like all the seasons; they all have different attributes, but I like autumn as it sort of gives me permission to slow down a bit. The evenings are drawing in, negating the guilt felt by not using up every bit of daylight to be productive outdoors, and the woodburner will soon be a welcomed companion at the end of the working day. As a gardener, autumn offers a lot whilst demanding less energy and attention than the other seasons. It is said that, ‘autumn is a second spring with every leaf being a flower’, and apparently ‘nothing changes as quickly as a woman’s mind and an autumn sky’.
The Met Office is predicting a warm, sunny start to the month – just as the kids go back to school – so enjoy the early crackle of autumn and make September a month to remember.
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