Home & Gardens

Home & GardenTREEWISE Going to the chapel for quality

ADVERTISE HERE: 01963 400186 Fancy buying beautiful, handmade (and locally made) gifts this Christmas? It’s been quite the year, and this has put a LOGS bit of a crimp in everyone’s festive WELL SEASOND HARDWOOD shopping. Cut & split to your requirement But in Sturminster Newton, the Various size loads delivered from £140.00 1.6m³ Tel: 01258 857 824 | 07741 463 605 Card payment accepted Experts Workhouse Chapel is opening up again, offering people the chance to boost local artists and bag lovely gifts you’d never usually find on the high street, to boot. FRANKS D T L Installations, servicing and maintenance 01747 826656 franksgroup.co.uk MAINTENANCE GROUP •Boiler Replacement •Boiler Servicing •Gas, Oil & LPG •General Plumbing •Bathrooms •Landlord Certification •Solid Fuel Stove Installation and Servicing PLUMBINGHEATIN G AND in all aspects For just two months each year an unassuming little Victorian Workhouse Chapel in Sturminster Newton metamorphoses into a glowing beacon of hope for all those who dread the annual Christmas shopping trip, and this year especially, keeping away from the crowds and keeping it local is more important and appealing than ever before. of TREE SURGERY, Curtain Circuit We turn your unwanted top quality Curtains, Rugs, Small Chairs into CASH. Our stock changes daily so come to see us soon. Open Tuesday to Saturday, 10.00am to 1.00pm The Old Cycle Shop, Long Street, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3BS Despair no more – as the Workhouse is covid-ready to welcome shoppers in. Not only will you be able to book an hour’s browse round the many original, unique and handcrafted items, you’ll be safe as houses in doing so. The place is bristling with original, handcrafted, quirky and local, textiles, ceramics, jewellery, leatherwork and paintings.

HEDGECUTTING & 01935 815155 info@curtaincircuit.co.uk Instagram curtaincircuitsherborne Here you’ll find garden sculptures, wood, cards, stocking fillers, gifts for him, gifts for her, things for the garden, child friendly puzzles, decorations for STUMP REMOVAL NPTC qualified & fully insured No job too small, Friendly, personal advice and your tree, cards for every occasion, and such a lot more - all lovingly made by hand. Dozens of highly skilled makers and artists from Dorset and surrounding counties have work for sale here - it would be hard to find a more glorious mix of unique and beautiful gifts anywhere. The makers and artists who are included in Handmade are carefully craftsmanship, originality of design, ecocredentials and where they live and work. Keeping it local, recycling and perpetuating real craft skills are at the heart of what the Workhouse Chapel is all about. Handmade’s organiser Rose Hatcher and fellow maker Kate Osman have also set up Handmade for Christmas Online, a sparkling cloud-cornucopia of selected, based on the quality of their free quotations.

Make a wise choice and call Professional soil testing service All services include:

David Merefield today on For gardeners, landscapers, farmers & small holders ✓ ✓ l laboratory analysis of nutrients, pH ✓ ✓ bespoke, detailed report 01747 850906 / 07966 522361 Visit: www.soilvalues.com

Home & Garden handmade Christmas presents

K D A Fencing Contractors all types of fencing carried out 07546393078

Manure - Well rotted manure £50.00 per transit load, phone Roger on 01202 826502 or 07885826396

Seasoned hard wood logs, Barn stored, delivery up to 20 mile radius, Sherborne, Call 01935 815534

TREE AND LANDSCAPING SERVICES All aspects of garden work undertaken, no job too big or small. All types of driveways and patios, Fencing, Tree Surgery, and much more.... Fully insured. Quality service. Call for a free quote today. 07435 220238 01258 858888

Handmade for Christmas

Now there are new ways to enjoy this annual extravaganza of local hand-crafted delights... ...shop online at www.workhousechapel.co.uk or book an hour-long ‘shopping appointment’ (only 4 customers at any time) for worry-free browsing*

Ceramics Textiles Jewellery Leather Paintings Cards Wood Metal

*See our website for how to book or ring 07900 580 716

The Workhouse Chapel, Bath Road, Sturminster Newton, Dorset DT10 1DS

Christmas Cheer (for those who prefer to shop wearing their slippers), and now that we’re out of lockdown again, they will be offering hour-long real life shopping appointments during December. Only four visitors at a time will be allowed in the Chapel, so you are assured a safe, relaxed and sociallydistanced browsing experience. If you would like to book a shopping appointment please note that Covid-compliant practices will be implemented and that no children are allowed. Ring 07900 580 716 or email handmade@ workhousechapel to make your appointment. Or visit workhousechapel.co.uk

Gardening...

Autumn is a time when compost heaps start to bulge as gardeners tidy their plots. Compost heaps generally come in two types – those that work efficiently and quickly turn vegetation into compost, and those that take an age. Understanding how the composting process works is the key factor in making your heap efficient. The most important part of the composting process is the part you won’t see, the billions of microorganisms working on your behalf. Look after these and your stack of plant material and kitchen waste will quickly transform into well-rotted compost, a perfect soil conditioner. It is essential to provide microbes with the right conditions to carry out their work. Firstly, like us, they need a balanced diet. The balance in their case is the proportion of foods high in carbon to those rich in nitrogen. Carbon (C) provides microbes with energy while nitrogen (N) is used for biological processes. Theoretically, the magic ratio to aim for your compost heap is 30 parts carbon to 1-part nitrogen (C:N = 30:1). If the C:N ratio is too high (i.e. too much C) decomposition becomes terribly slow. However, if the C:N ratio is too low, (i.e. too much N) the nitrogen will vaporise as ammonia and your heap will start to smell. But don’t worry, calculating the exact ratio of a heap is practically impossible. You would need to be a mathematician and know the exact C:N ratio and weight of each item added to the heap, and if we were to do that nobody would ever make compost! Fortunately, common sense saves us with this guideline: ‘mix the heap to mix different compostable items’. This is possible by knowing which commonly composted materials are high in carbon or nitrogen. Compostables increasingly high in nitrogen: n Coffee grounds n Cow manure n Poultry manure n Vegetable waste

myhomemaker.co.uk

Please ring for latest stock availability. Collection and delivery service is available, please call for further details. We are currently following government guidelines at this time - please stay safe.

Shaftesbury

Longmead Industrial Estate Shaftesbury, Dorset SP7 8PL 01747 851476

Warminster

5-6 George Street Warminster, Wiltshire BA12 8QA 01985 219200

with botanist Dr Dave Aplin

n Grass clippings Compostables increasingly high in carbon: n Leaves n Pine needles n Straw n Newspaper n Bark n Sawdust n Paper Horse manure and fruit waste are naturally around the ideal C:N ratio. The second important factor is temperature. Heat is generated as micro-organisms decompose plant material. 4360°C is required for the best composting rate to be achieved. Between these temperatures, weed seeds and most diseases cannot survive. It is important piles are turned frequently to ensure all parts are exposed to these high temperatures. Thirdly, turning the heap allows air to enter, which the microbes need to survive. Finally, keep the compost moist because decomposition can take up two-thirds of the original water content. By broadly following these guidelines, your heap will become efficient and provide your garden with wonderful compost.

Seasoned logs for sale Barn Stored Ash beech and oak. Full trailer load £150, half trailer load £80 01963 23733 /07967 929055 / 07903 535745

Environmentally friendly hedge cutting, pruning, coppicing and land clearance using Stihl's professional electric equipment causing less noise and pollution. Call David 07786 658708

Cut and potted Christmas trees Beautiful real and artificial wreaths Bare root trees Plants and pots for winter colour

Milton on Stour, Gillingham, Dorset SP8 5QA 01747 824015 Monday to Saturday 9am to 5.30pm Sunday 10am to 4pm

Tales from a Half-Wild Garden...

December is the time for all the seriously unsexy chores in the half-wild garden. Chief among these is the scrubbing of accumulated green slime from exterior greenhouse glass and poly plastic – a feat which is best accomplished during a driving rainstorm. Deep joy. And then there’s the turning of all six compost bins. Charles Dowding, our guiding light of gardening know-how, only turns his compost once. But that’s because he’s a magical compost genius. We are not. Our compost is usually either slightly soggy or too dry in the middle. So we turn our bins multiple times, correcting the wet-dry balance as we go. It’s an activity that works muscles I never knew I had.

GOOD QUALITY SEASONED OAK & ASH LOGS Barn stored, £150 for 8ft by 6ft trailer load, Delivery free within 10 mile radius of Templecombe, 07773 254174, ANDY

GUTTERS CLEARED WINDOWS, fascias, soffits, gutters cleaned, Repairs, Free Estimates 07788-376752

Wonder Wood Logs, All Seasoned Hard Woods, Oak, Ash, Beech, £75 for 1 cubic sq metre or £140 for 2 cubic sq metres, 07990 511340 or 07847659881

Christmas Trees, all sizes, holly wreaths, will be sold from the 1st December. Next to Railway Bridge in Motcombe, SP7 9HU 01747 850129 for details.

All ironwork: Handrails, gates, railings, repairs, restoration. 01258 880301 On the plus side, our polycottage (like a polytunnel, only prettier) is full of happy verdant growing things. Winter greens for our December harvest, and newly-sown broadbeans for later. Overall, we find the hard, year-round effort is more than balanced by the deep satisfaction the garden brings. But on the other hand... I recently watched a video about Japanese natural forest

Manure Well rotted manure £50.00 per transit load, phone Roger on 01202 826502 or 07885826396

CHRISTMAS TREES, cut and potted. Holly Reefs now available, 01258 452513 - Langton Nurseries, Blandford

BARE ROOT HEDGING now available, 01258 452513 - Langton Nurseries, Blandford

GARDEN MAINTENANCE & BUILD n Free Quotes n Garden/Lawn Maintenance n Gutter Cleaning n Patio/Drive Cleaning n Tree Felling n Painting n Repointing Garden Retaining Walls n Fencing n Concrete Bases for Oil Tanks & Fitting Call Tristan: 07931 811089 gardening. Apparently this involves making hundreds of little clay seed balls for all your food crops, and scattering them liberally throughout the wilderness. The idea is to let Nature do what it does best, entirely without human interference. No weeding, no watering, no mulching, no pruning. No washing down greenhouse walls in the pouring rain. I’ll admit it sounds intriguing, but I do have questions. Like...how do you know where your crops are? Are you just supposed to stumble upon a cauliflower nestled amid the bindweedbramble-nettle-cleavers? I confess I have my doubts. So we won’t be giving up our tidy beds to reforest our fruit and

Danny's Garden & property maintenance. All trees, hedges, fencing, gravel paths/driveways, pressure cleaning, concrete bases, free quotations, fully insured, 07545 61973501258721376

GARDEN RESCUE TEL 01747 821 726

SEASONED OAK LOGS for delivery F.O.C. within 10 miles of Blandford. One Cu.M @ £60.00. Contact 07733067062

Seasoned hardwood logs £145 double load £85 half load 01258 880892 07980 036250

Petrol 26cc engine, garden blower vacuum, very little used, £60 ono. 01963 363233

BIKE SHED. Asgard Annexe secure bike shed, 2 years old £400 077929 60951

with Carrie Triffet

veg garden anytime soon, despite the obvious laboursaving advantages. Yet now, I’m looking at the rewilded half of the garden with new eyes, and wondering at the productivity possibilities over there, under its tangled woodland canopy. After all, a few wild-caught courgettes might be rather nice. So a very small bit of Japanese forest gardening might be worth a try over there. Who knows, making seed balls could turn out to be an ideal way to pass wintry evenings. As a cold weather activity, it beats outdoor slimewashing, any day. Carrie Triffet is an award winning author of four books, none of which are about gardening.

Seasoned hard wood logs, Barn stored, delivery up to 20 mile radius, Sherborne, Call 01935 815534

Christmas Trees, all sizes, holly reefs, will be sold from the 1st December. Next to Railway Bridge in Motcombe, SP7 9HU 01747 850129 for details.

G Plan Lounge Furniture. 3 Seater settee £90, 2 seater settee £70 and single armchair needs attention £25. Buyers collects, offers invited. Call 01963 210668

Sofa bed, Black, Metal action, used once, super condition, £250, 07975 526119

Real Christmas Trees For Sale from £30. Mapperton Hill (Gillingham to Mere Rd) BA12 6LH Kevin Cosh 077938 44249