9 minute read
Gardening Diary
March is one of the busier months of the year in the garden and it is a good thing to be kept busy during the long gloom of Lent. The planting of deciduous trees, shrubs, fruits and roses should be finished as soon as possible to give them a chance to get a grip of the soil before drought may punish them. In a warm sheltered border we may be planting evergreens such as Laurels, conifers, hollies, azaleas and rhododendrons. Most herbaceous perennials can also be planted now. Rose pruning should be carried on and finished this month, subject to the weather: better not to prune during a period of heavy frost. Hybrid tea roses may be pruned back to five or so buds with all sickly and dead wood cut away. Climbing roses should have their side branches cut back to two buds. It is worth feeding the roses with a dedicated rose fertiliser now as the leaves are making their first appearance and spraying with a fungicide from now until June should keep the leaves looking clean all season. Unlike most bulbous rooted plants, snowdrops will benefit from being lifted and divided every few years as the clumps can become very crowded, leading to a mass of blind shoots. In the vegetable garden we should be aiming first at the creation of the all important fine tilth. As always, the weather is master/mistress. The soil should be visibly drying; better to wait until the end of the month or beyond before sowing a seed if there is any hint of stickiness. The reader will have dug over the plot thoroughly last autumn, digging in barrowfuls of horse droppings, compost, shoddy and celebrity magazines. The floods and gales of winter will have weathered the diggings down to an uneven crumbly surface. Patient raking eventually renders our seed bed smooth and fine, air pockets being trodden out as we go. We might allow ourselves five minutes leaning on the rake indulging in a short pipe and a gloat over our seed bed, well prepared and superior to next door's. Only now may we sow. The first sowings may be of peas, leeks, parsnips (always use new seed), broad beans, parsley, spinach and radishes, onion and shallot sets may be planted nearer the end of the month, a trowel is better than a dibber for these as any compaction encourages them to wriggle free of the ground. Garlic may still be planted but no time should be lost. New beds of Thyme, Tarragon, Mint and other herbs may be planted out towards the middle of Lent. Early potatoes to go in from the Ides of March, planted about six inches down, these early plantings will run some risk from frost but it is good to see the neat rows of tight foliage as soon as possible and any frost-blackened shoots will soon be replaced. The older gardening books advised to carry around a bale of straw at all times during March and early April to spread over tender shoots in the case of a late frost. For those who commune with the moon and garden by her phases and the biodynamic system of lunar planting, root crops to be planted or sown during the waning gibbous, from the 18th to the 25th. The rows for runner beans may be prepared now, this should involve digging in barrowfuls of compost or horsey stuff a foot and a half down and allowed to settle down over the next six to eight weeks before sowing.
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Young at Heart is back in full swing - children visiting us from Dallington, Punnetts Town, Maynards Green, Skippers Hill, Parkside, All Saints and St Richard’s Primary Schools, Little Tinkers Nursery School and we have visited Bedes Senior School. We are very fortunate to have so many schools supporting us. We are also extremely privileged to have been donated a minibus from Age Concern, Heathfield which we are now able to increasingly use with Covid restrictions lifting. Last week we visited Bedes School who generously hosted a baking session for us all. Cherry Spring Studio continue to supply our crafts, Rowana Mladek hosting Qi Gong sessions and Angela Brookes supported by Cake and Wine Club Choir lifting the roof of the club with music and singing. What an amazing community we have! Hands on History are joining us next week and we have a lunch excursion with the minibus this week. Huw Merriman, our local MP, joined us at Young at Heart this morning for questions and answers - very interesting for all our members. Lots to look forward to! Nobody should be lonely! Please contact Rachel on 07971032667 if you know someone who would benefit. We would love to meet you! Free first session.
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We meet every second Saturday of the month: https://www.facebook.com/RepairCafeTN21
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Wealden District Council await outcome of judicial review for East Hoathly
WDC are apparently not reviewing any major apps at the moment because they are awaiting the outcome of the JR brought by East Hoathly residents about a planning app there, this is thought not to have a resolution till summer 2022. So plenty of time to lodge your objection to the following...
Old Orchard House/Southside WD/2021/2356/MAO
It is a sorry state of affairs that even though at appeal in summer 2020, the Inspector said this site was unsustainable and inappropriate, Chailey Homes & Parker Dann (their agents) think if they keep coming back and reducing the numbers, then they are going to get planning permission.
Presumably the beauty of the Rosemead estate opposite has sent the developers into a tailspin about creating a sympathetic idyll on the other side of the road. The house count has gone down to 38 units in a bid to take this ill judged application into sustainable territory. But where are the solar panels, the heat pumps, the electric charging points and the right number of car parking spaces for a traditionally car dependent resident, who cannot use the poor public transport for work or play? The potential residents of Linda House app on Little London Road are being offered free bus passes for 6 months and subsidised after that...great if there was actually a regular schedule, but next to useless with the current service! Mark Best from agents Parker Dann (responsible for Rosemead) is gushing uncontrollably about what a marvellous development this will be, basing his arguments on information that is out of date - going back to 2018. I would like to take this opportunity to reshare his comment on Twitter about local residents and Horam Parish Council in relation to Rosemead, see below. I know we are all sick to death of writing objections but if this ones slips through, Cauldavon on Horebeech Lane will come back to the table (next to my old house Alberdene) further on down the road and will be a shoe-in. And bit by bit all our green spaces will be nibbled away. Maybe we ought to look at how this green space can become a community asset? So please object. Thanks in advance.
Parish Councils letter to Minister
You may recall in our January issue that we published a letter from the Parish councils of Chiddingly, East Hoathly with Halland, Hellingly, Heathfield & Waldron, Horam, Laughton & Warbleton. The parish councils decided to join forces in expressing their frustration and opposition to the irreversible loss of green fields and countryside from the overwhelming housing development that is being promoted by the government. The letter was sent to Michael Gove asking him to review the planning requirements which place the councils under intense pressure to approve unsustainable planning applications in unsustainable locations, with no access to public services, transport or everyday necessities such as schools, healthcare or work.
