Weeding, Watering & Woodchip

Moving into the heat of the summer 2022, our attention was definitely focused on weeding, watering & mulching.

Everything is growing so fast, so there was quite a bit of strimming too. During the Platinum Jubilee week, I managed a large litter pick and another go at clearing debris from the Victorian pond (a constant annoyance).

Everyone enjoying the celebrations at Old Catton Recreation Ground. Nice day for it.

We strimmed the usual favourites (around the Victorian pond, the dead 'climbing' tree and woodland path edges), plus the area around park benches & sculptures.

There was weeding and pruning around Repton pond, before clearing another of the planted beds (mainly nettles & bramble), to enable us to add more woodchip.

Watering around the park meant filling and attaching a bowser to the back of 'Zak'. This was filled quite a few times!

Watering was also needed on one of the beds in the picnic area. However, a lot of weeding was required before we could start.

Next was the blackthorn by Catton Hall (planted and mulched in March).

   

The mammoth task of the month was covering the hazel trees (the nuttery) which had been planted last December. As the area was not accessible by the Kawasaki, we could only drive to the entrance of the woods, transfer the woodchip into barrows and wheel them down through the woods before spreading the chippings around the young trees. 

We completely filled the back of 'Zak' 6 times and estimated there were 50 barrow load trips!

During our many visits to the woodchip pile, I came across this unusual sight.

It's not what you think. It's actually Dog Vomit Slime Mold', which begins as a bright yellow gelatinous growth, emanating from spores in the mulch (usually after periods of rain).

But that wasn't the excitement of the day, it was checking out a sparrowhawk's nest complete with 4 chicks!

July was pretty much the same, as far as weeding and watering was concerned. Time again to remove the toxic ragwort in the long grass. There seemed to be a lot less this year, which may be credit to our efforts last year.

Circus Cortex has arrived!

There was a record breaking heatwave in the third week of July (37C). Thankfully not on any of my days at the park!

Other jobs included coating the wood sculptures with decking oil, tidy-up/paint the various notice boards around the park, mending gates and even painting out graffiti on BT cupboards in the parish.

There was also more lopping of branches along pathways.