Down In The Dell

Jobs in January

2012-01-12T12:15:00.000Z

There are lots of jobs for January, and Gals have started clearing ground for new plants. It's a good time to move shrubs as well as plant new ones.

The Town Council have granted Gals £300 towards new planting, and we've stretched this to include a small supply of chicken pellets to feed them and help them establish.

Happy New Year

2011-12-30T09:11:00.005Z

Just to let you know that Gals will be back next week. It's unseasonably warm so far this winter, (2nd warmest on record) and there are lots of small jobs to be done at this time of year whilst the weather is good.

(left) This time last year we were under a thick covering of snow and ice and temperatures dropped to minus 20!

Happy New Year to everyone!

Clearing ground, and 2011 draw to a close.

2011-12-01T13:17:00.002Z

The new pathway is finished and Gals have been clearing the ground between it and the gabions.

We've weeded and turned the soil over and, hopefully, next year will be able to help the Friends, by planting a fragrance walkway, with herbs and sweet smelling shrubs. There is the remains of an old cinder-type path under this soil, but it shouldn't be too difficult to sort out.

Gals decided to finish this morning for Christmas. We will begin again in mid-January. We've been gardening at the Dell now since October 2006, so have just started our 6th year! We're still going strong, and intend to do so for quite a while yet.

Have a lovely Christmas and New Year, and best wishes to everyone from Gill, Annabel, Lyn and Honor.

Thanks again for donations, and Thank You Leamington Spa Town Council

2011-11-24T14:11:00.000Z

Thanks again this week for donations. The lady who left these plants regularly donates to the Dell. We were delighted to have such a well grown pyracantha and choisa. We also had another bag of grape hyacinths from a local resident.

Our thanks also go this week to The Town Council of Royal Leamington Spa who have given Gals £300 under their Community Grant Fund, for planting in the Dell. We've lost plants this year because of the very cold winter followed by a very dry summer and autumn. We've done our best to water of course, but some losses have been inevitable.

The grant will help to replace those plants, and provide blank areas with new planting, so a huge thank you for their help as always.

I ought to just say at this point, that the Lottery Funding for the Dell covers new equipment and alterations and is being dealt with by the Friends. The money given is not available for the work Gals do, and we rely as much as ever on plant donations. Please keep us in mind if you have any spare plants this year. Thank you!

Donations

2011-11-03T12:44:00.000Z

Above the new pathway is going in just in front of the gabions. There will be an information board in the rectangular space you can see by the pathway. It will tell everyone about the history of the Dell, The Friends and The Gals.

Thank you to the kind local resident who left 6 carrier bags of plants for us this week. (cranesbill, grape hyacinth, day lillies and iris) They all have new homes now and will help fill some of the gaps on both slopes.

September in the Dell

2011-09-30T09:10:00.002+01:00

Leamington won a gold in the Heart of England Awards, and the Dell featured in their comments.

Well done to Leamington and it's In Bloom committee.

Here's a little autumn colour for you.

If you are busy dividing plants in your own gardens and have any to spare, please think of the Dell as a good alternative home! You can either contact us through the blog or simply deliver plants to the Dell whenever it suits you. Gals work there on Thursday mornings from about 9.30 until about 12.30. If we're not there, simply tuck the plants behind the hedges at one of the entrances. Thank you!

Barbecue in the Dell -11th September 2011

2011-09-05T09:19:00.003+01:00

Friends of the Dell invite you to a

Barbecue in the Dell

Sunday 11^th September

4 till 7 p.m.

with the music of

The Swaps and PAS Trio

Entrance is free but bring a contribution of food and your own barbecue, if you wish.

www.dellpark.demon.co.uk

Stone walls

2011-08-18T13:26:00.001+01:00

This week there's been some repairs to the old stone walls in the Dell.

Lyn spent a happy half hour shovelling the soil from underneath this bench and giving the flags a good sweep, and it looks marvellous. The repaired wall looks great and it's now an inviting place to sit and watch the world.

The stones on this wall are still loose as it's probably not finished yet, but doesn't it look better too.

Sadly, a lot of damaged plants to report this week, but we'll do our best to save what we can.

Identify please!

2011-08-06T13:59:00.003+01:00

Heart of England in Bloom Judging, and carved stones

2011-07-14T19:26:00.003+01:00

Gals and Friends of the Dell had a beautiful day in which to welcome the judges for the Heart Of England In Bloom competition.

Everyone had worked hard to get the Dell looking at it's best for the morning visit, and there were no problems. Here's a few photos of what they saw.

Above: the north slope

Left: the east slope

Below is a photo of one of the stones in the wall on the north side. Gill was intrigued by it's markings. We know these stones came from the Pepperpot Church, which was very near by, so assume it was part of a doorway or other decorative section.

Heart of England Judging - 14th July - All welcome!

2011-07-01T13:22:00.001+01:00

NB: REVISED JUDGING TIME FOR THURSDAY: JUDGES DUE AT ABOUT 10.30 AND WILL LEAVE AT ABOUT 10.45.

Potting up some Honesty seedlings for the Dell. We've learned that no matter how hardy the plant is supposed to be, nothing but weeds grow from seeds in the Dell! Much better to give them a head start with some tlc.

On Thursday 14th July, the Judges from the Heart Of England In Bloom, will be in the Dell as part of their tour of the town. The Friends of the Dell and Gals will be there to welcome them, so if you have time and would like to come and say hello, you'd be most welcome. They usually get to us at about 11.30ish, but it's difficult to be exact.

A copy of the booklet, which will be given to the Judges explaining the Gals involvement in the Dell. The Friends of the Dell will also be giving them a potted history of all their news too.

THE GALS IN THE DELL

UPDATE FOR 2011

www.downinthedell.blogspot.com

Bee Heaven by the GALS, North Slope, The Dell April 2011

(To be read in conjunction with the 2006/7 booklet and update for 2007/2008)

FUNDRAISING

The GALS have done no major fundraising since 2009 when a grant of £300 was received from Royal Leamington Spa Town Council, £50 from The Friends of the Dell, and another £100 private donation from a local resident, for plants on the east slope.

However, most of the subsequent planting has come from seed or from plants donated by local residents from their gardens, or by people who have read about the Dell in the press.

The Regency Round Table have donated 500 purple crocus bulbs as part of their Eradicating Polio scheme.

Warwick District Council have donated plants in lieu of and in recognition of the hours Gals have been gardening. They have also been very supportive and delivered a mass of spent bedding (hyacinth bulbs and polyanthus) from the Jephson Gardens, as well as finding the odd applemint plant or two.

The Friends donated 3 beautiful acer shrubs which the Gals were delighted choose and plant, and which have added some glorious red colour to the north slope.

An acer donated by Friends of the Dell

Hill Close gardens are still very supportive and kindly allow us their spent material, and Gals raid skips and compost heaps and nurse plants back to health before giving them a new home in the park.

Gals outgoings are small, as planting is not done on masse but, as well as donations, relies on good gardening practices such as division and cuttings, and proper maintenance.

WHO ARE THE GALS AND WHY ARE THEY GARDENING IN THE DELL

Gals aims to identify, tidy, clear, replant and reclaim neglected public spaces in their town. They aim to make them accessible, safe, and attractive for residents and visitors.

They are a hardworking enthusiastic group of 4 lady volunteers who love gardening, and whose aim is simply to enhance the local environment for people and local wildlife.

Gals only seek to make the environment cleaner and more enjoyable for all who use the town and had been involved in several projects in the town, including the Station Terraces, Packington Place, and York Walk. In October 2006, they began work at the Dell following a suggestion from a local Councillor, and after talking to WDC and Friends of the Dell.

The Dell is a quiet oasis in the middle of a busy town, but was not used as much as it is today. It was overgrown with bindweed, brambles and was rather neglected, and intimidating. WDC’s resources are limited, and they were not able to provide extra help to clear and replant. Gals, by hard work, and by raising funds from local business and obtaining grants from Royal Leamington Spa Town Council, were able to make a contribution.

They’ve tried to raise the profile and reputation of the park in a way which includes the whole of the local community and its needs. The area around the Dell has some social housing and a high number of council and privately owned flats some without gardens. There are a number of schools and nurseries nearby, and several residential care and nursing homes.

The work Gals have done has been reported in the local press at various times, and through such schemes as the Heart of England In Bloom. There is a blog which is updated regularly and which keeps everyone informed and involved with achievements. The feedback from the community has been wonderful, and Gals are overwhelmed by the positive response to their efforts.

The Dell is no longer a neglected, and under used space, but is a small thriving oasis in the middle of the town.

ACHIEVEMENTS

In 2008, Gals were honoured with an Outstanding Achievement in the Heart of England In Bloom competition.

They were also lucky enough to visit Houses of Parliament in October 2008, to promote The Dell to MP's, Peers, and various invited guests. They were 1 of the 10 groups selected from the recipients of the 02 It’s Your Community Grant, as an example of excellence.

Hopefully the publicity surrounding both these achievements will help put the Dell firmly on the map and mark it out as a place to visit, be looked after - not only by WDC, but by all who use it.

In 2009 Gals were nominated for a Civic Award (Environment Award) from Warwick District Council, and during July 2010 and again in 2011, photographs of GALS were also to be seen at the BBC Gardeners World Live Show at the NEC, supporting the RHS Neighbourhood Award scheme.

In May 2011 they were chosen by The Daily Telegraph, to highlight their competition, Gardening Against The Odds Awards.

It’s hard to satisfy the needs and demands of the increasing number of people who now use the park, and also Warwick District Council, who have necessarily strict guidelines on what can and can’t be done in a public open space. Children, naturally, love to play on the slopes and the council initially asked Gals to plant in such a way as might discourage them. This rule has now relaxed, but there is always the challenge of maintaining a garden in such a popular play area, and renewing planting is a continuous process.

2011 has also seen problems with the weather, being the coldest and longest winter for over 100 years, and with temperatures dropping to minus 20; the spring has been warm but very dry, and as a result a lot of plants were lost this year. WDC have contributed a large number of plants for difficult areas, and residents plant donations have helped fill the gaps.

And finally,

Gals have been in the Dell for 5 years, and love doing what they do, but couldn’t continue without the support and help of wonderful people like The Friends of the Dell, Warwick District Council, Royal Leamington Spa Town Council, Glendale, and all the lovely people who live around the Dell and who visit it whilst in the town.

June 2011 in the Dell

2011-06-23T18:24:00.002+01:00

Thanks go this week to Jim Dean of Friends of the Dell, and the Heart of England in Bloom team who donated 150 spare geranium plants to the slopes. Jim kindly delivered them for us this afternoon. They were left over from the geranium trains, that the In Bloom committee arrange every year. They are filled with plants which local school children have grown on from plugs. Hopefully they will provide a splash of summer colour.

This is one of our difficult to grow areas. It's in full sun under large trees, and is mostly clay so bakes hard in the summer. It's also a bit of a run for those children who want to get down from the fence at the top and onto the grass as quickly as possible!

We think that geraniums should be able to cope with this. After all, you often see them left, un-watered, in terracotta pots for long periods and they seem to survive.

This acer has provided beautiful colour since the spring. The New Zealand flax next to it, is beginning to show signs of life again after a very long, cold winter and several weeks looking like a compost heap.

The Rambling Rector rose is winning! The gabions are slowly being covered by it and the neighbouring honeysuckle.

This has been done to soften the look of the gabions, because cheap and practical as they are, not everyone loves them.

Found in the Dell

2011-06-09T17:54:00.003+01:00

Ok, so maybe not buried treasure! However we found this badge buried on the slopes and Gill took it home and cleaned it. We were wondering if anyone knew what SPGS stood for (St Pauls/St Peters Girls School?) and whether there was a history of archery practice in the Dell. Archery was a very popular Victorian pastime and the grassed area outside what was the bird/pet cages in the Jephsons Gardens was used as a practice area.

We'd love to hear from you, if you have any clues.

Hyacinths and Polyanthus

2011-06-04T10:45:00.003+01:00

Glendale obo Warwick District Council, have delivered about 15 large bin bags full of both hyacinth bulbs and polyanthus. They are the spent bedding from the Jephsons Gardens, and a huge thank you to both the Council and Glendale for being so helpful and for remembering us.

Gals will do their best to plant them in the next couple of weeks, but please help yourself if you would like some either at home or for your own community project.

Gals make it into the Daily Telegraph (Sunday 29th May 2011)

2011-05-31T22:36:00.001+01:00

The Daily Telegraph are running a competition called Gardening Against the Odds and wanted to use a photo and details of GALS to promote the idea amongst groups and individuals in the UK.

A copy of the article appears below, and can be read in the paper or online here. A photo of a shed comes up, and you need to click the arrow to get the image for GALS.

Gardening Against the Odds awards 2011

With the Gardening Against the Odds awards 2011, the Sunday Telegraph honours ordinary gardeners whose efforts inspire us and who revitalise communities, writes Anne Cuthbertson

Image 2 of 2

Community spirit: the GALS (Girls About Leamington Spa) transformed Leamington Spa's Dell

ArticleGardening Against the Odds awards 2010

By Anne Cuthbertson
9:30AM BST 31 May 2011

A world away from the perfectly straight stems and gold medals of the Chelsea Flower Show, gardeners tend scrubby allotments, tiny plots or community wastelands. They are ordinary gardeners, facing difficult circumstances, yet they show as much dedication and effort as the professionals. They battle the odds, be it physical handicaps, mental obstacles, or an inhospitable environment. And they deserve an award of their own.

Last year, The Sunday Telegraph launched the Gardening Against the Odds awards in memory of the much-loved writer Elspeth Thompson, above, who died in March 2010 after battling depression. Elspeth had always championed the small gardener, the unsung heroes of communities. Following a wonderful response to last year’s awards, we are delighted to join forces with The Conservation Foundation again to bring you the Gardening Against the Odds awards 2011.

This year there will be an overall winner and runners-up in individual and group categories. Nominate yourself, a friend or neighbour or a deserving local group – such as the GALS (Girls About Leamington Spa, below) who transformed the neglected Dell area, making it a safer, greener park for the community.

Joining the judging panel this year is the Duchess of Northumberland, who has revived the fortunes of the historic gardens at Alnwick Castle. “I love the concept of the Gardening Against the Odds awards,” she says, “it embraces everything we strive to achieve in the Alnwick Garden. My interest in gardens and gardening lies principally in how they can be used to enhance life for local communities.”

Gardening as therapy is a theme we will be exploring this year. To illustrate the power of gardening to heal, Barney Bardsley describes how an overgrown allotment in Leeds helped her through the grief of losing her husband.

Donated plants

2011-05-21T14:59:00.005+01:00

Thank you to Jan and Peter who came along on Thursday afternoon to deliver 8 heathers which had passed their sell by date at home. They are now in a clump at the Beauchamp Road entrance.

Gals are so grateful to people who donate their left over plants as they try to garden without any grants or funds, preferring to rely on recycling plant material and the good gardening principles of saving seeds and division etc; they've even been known to raid skips and compost heaps to give plants and forgotten places another life. This week we've been able to pass on some plants to WDC who are going to propogate them professionally and plant them elsewhere in the town. (symphytum...either Ibericum, or Hidcote Blue; no one can decide what it is, but the bees truly love it)

The dry weather continues and the park is really full with people enjoying this green oasis in the middle of town. The Friends of the Dell are having a party this weekend to which all are invited. There's bands and a bouncy castle and much else. Do come along and perhaps bring your barbeque or a picnic.

The dry weather is making life a little hard at the moment for the GALS, especially with all the new planting that needs looking after but we're hanging in there!

Robin Stott, a well known local historian, has kindly agreed to write a bit for this blog on the history of the Dell. It will appear at the top of the page under the title.

New plants for the Dell from Warwick District Council

2011-05-06T14:13:00.001+01:00

The second lot of plants have arrived from Warwick District Council, for planting in the Dell's difficult to grow areas (under trees etc)

100 epimedium rubrum, unpacked, watered, and awaiting planting.

Many thanks WDC!

Easter highlights-a spot of purple

2011-04-28T16:57:00.002+01:00

Just into flower this week.

The last two weeks have been spent weeding and watering. It's been a very dry April following on from a very cold winter, and lots of plants are under stress. Fortunately the Dell is looking ok! (fingers crossed please everyone)

Gals were intrigued to find Easter eggs under some of the flowers this week. The Easter Bunny??

Spring in the Dell

2011-04-14T18:06:00.001+01:00

A small update on plants at the Dell.

Some new planting of Euphorbia. Warwick District Council bought these for Gals to put in.

We also planted some applemint courtesy of WDC.

From the top of the north slope looking south.

Hellebores and comfrey

Acers, now established provide a lovely splash of red in the spring.

Broom and forget me nots. All our forget me nots come from one plant, put in by Gill 4 1/2 years ago. We've divided and sown and they now cover huge areas. The bees absolutely love them, and the buzzing this afternoon was incredible!

An acer chosen and planted by Gals obo The Friends of the Dell who donated money for 3 trees.

Just a spot of new planting.

2011-03-10T17:00:00.002Z

A few new bits and bobs have gone in to replace a largish shrub which succumbed to the cold this winter.

Brilliant news. WDC have ordered 130 plants for gals to plant in the tricky to grow areas on the east slope. These areas are shaded by large trees and are clay, which is subject to baking in the summer and flooding in the winter.

The start of February 2011

2011-02-10T16:40:00.003Z

The Gals have made a start at clearing and cutting back. Next week we want to move some things and divide up others to help fill in the gaps left by tender plants dying in the really cold weather.

Hard landscaping always becomes more obvious in winter and today we had a bit of a clear up; a litter pick, removing stones from the grassed area, and rewinding the wire on the gabions.

As always, after a long break, there are always a few problems.

Very sadly this bench and tree have been set on fire. The ground surrounding the bench is blackened and the shrubs and tree have been scorched.

The holes in the wooden palings that we try and block off to prevent shortcuts down the east slope to the bottom have re-opened. The hedging seems a bit sparse here too. We don't remember seeing it like this last year, but maybe it's just the cold weather and it will spring back into life in a few weeks.

Why walk round a park when it's so much more fun to dive through?!!

(Footnote: this was apparently done by the fireman in a hasty attempt to reach the bench which was on fire!)

January 2011 and a very chilly start.

2011-01-20T15:23:00.003Z

It's been a really cold December. These are the Jephson Gardens on Boxing Day. The lumpy white things are the fountains at either end of the lake.

Just after our last visit to the Dell in mid December, the weather worsened with heavy snow and deep frosts. In Pershore, which is not too far away, the temperature fell to over -20C, and it has been the coldest December here for over 100 years.

Not surprizingly then, a few of the New Zealand flax are looking the worse for wear. The snow flattened, and the cold penetrated the centres. It's too early to tell if they have died or will spring back to life over the coming weeks.

However, there are signs of new life everywhere. You can just see snowdrops poking their heads above the leaf litter.

and the trees are full of catkins.

Skimmias have the start of pink flower buds....

...and the polyanthus that were donated by WDC from the finished bedding schemes at the Jephsons, are beginning to flower too.

Spring is just around the corner.

Gals will begin work again on Thursday 10th February, tidying up and pruning/transplanting shrubs etc.

Happy Christmas and New Year.

2010-12-10T14:08:00.000Z

Due to really bad weather conditions and the impending Christmas holidays, GALS have decided to have a break now until the middle of January, when they will be back as normal on Thursday afternoons from about 2pm onwards.

End of year update.

2010-12-02T15:04:00.001Z

Hello, and lots of goings on and thank you's for another year at the Dell. Below is a letter sent to The Friends, WDC, The Town Council, The Regency Rotary Club, and lots of people who have shown their support and interest in the Dell.

Dear All,

This is just an update from GALS, about the gardening news at the Dell. It has nothing to do with the current application for funding for improvements which is being dealt with admirably by The Friends!

This afternoon, the Regency Rotary Club have donated 500 crocus bulbs to the Dell and Gals have planted them at all 3 entrances. The attached photos may help to locate the areas if you can't wait for them to come up in the spring! Apologies for the poor quality of the images...I used my phone and I obviously wobbled quite a bit.

These are not just any old bulbs however, but part of the Rotary Internationals Polio Eradication awareness campaign, and are a variety called The Ruby Giant. They are purple which represents the dye colour dabbed on the children's little "pinkie" finger to indicate they have been immunised against polio. I will put up a leaflet explaining this once the Planning Application notices have come down. So enormous thanks to Karen and chums from the Regency Rotary Club for that.

There were also plans to plant a number of herbs etc this autumn courtesy of Jon Holmes at WDC, but we're into cutbacks now and the pot may well be empty! If anyone out there has any herbs they would like to donate that would be wonderful. We have quite a few on the slopes and they seem to do well and the insects like them; we had a large number of tiny mint moths this summer on both the mint and the marjoram. It's also lovely for people to be able to pick the herbs for stews etc if they wish.

The three acers paid for by The Friends are now established. The one at the front on the Warwick Place entrance was a bit poorly for a while probably due to lack of water and the root ball drying out. It was taken out, given a good soak, admonished, and returned to it's hole. We've kept a close eye on it and am happy to say that it seems to be recovering. Although the acer the GALS donated in honor of Jack Watkins, has had a set back because the main stem has been snapped by enthusiastic exploring youngsters, it has begun to shoot again so we feel it will also be ok.

We continue to have lots of plants donated to us from various sources, so thanks to all those who've thought of us and bought us plants..especially those hardy souls who've braved the wind and rain. Special thanks to Jan and Peter, for their continuing support and bags and bags of plants. I can't begin to count the number they've given us.

The gabions are looking a little squashed for some reason, and some of the wire mesh has been cut or has broken releasing some of the stones. We've done what we can to rewind the wire and replace the stones, but I imagine this may be a problem which will get worse? We've sort of given up replacing the old church stones on the north slope side as they are removed and played with so often; we just aim just to keep the grass clear for whoever has to mow it.

That's it I think! Gals are beginning their 5th year at The Dell now, and we are pleased to do what we can to keep the park looking nice. We support and wish good luck to all those in The Friends and local community who are working so hard to improve things such as access and play equipment.....it's a tiny little oasis but is worth the effort. It also seems to be becoming more and more popular and is no longer the neglected, little used space of previous times.

Happy Gardening,

GALS

A walk in May

2010-05-07T14:56:00.000+01:00

Gals thought you might enjoy seeing the park in spring. The daffodils are over, but the iris and the alliums are just beginning.

All the entrances have been cleared and filled with donated plants from many sources, for which we thank you! We've just had a week of rain and are knee deep in weeds, but the plants needed a drink and it saves us a lot of watering.

WDC are planning to donate some more plants for the slopes in the autumn; this is because between 4 and 5 Gals have now done a total of between 2,100 and 2,625 hours of voluntary gardening in the Dell, in the 3 1/2 years we've been there, and the Council think they can adjust their budgets to take this into account.

WDC and Gals think that a selection of herbs would be great. WDC are also planning to deliver a lorry load of hyacinths etc from the Jephsons at the end of May and you are most welcome to come to the park and help yourself to some.

And on into 2010

2010-01-04T15:51:00.000Z

Gals would like to wish anyone still out there A Very Happy and Healthy 2010!! We begin work back at the soil face in a couple of weeks.

There seems some concern that we are still here, but I can assure you all we most certainly are. We gave a commitment to Warwick District Council, The Friends of the Dell, and the community in general, that we would continue to work in the park for as long as possible, and we have no plans to change that in the foreseeable future. I think the problem may be the lack of blog postings which have dropped down to just 3/4 a year.

This year we have had quite a wet summer which was fortunate for us because it saved a lot of work watering all the new planting. Hopefully, all these new shrubs and flowers will now establish well and be fit for a good growth spurt next year.

We have also cleared the two remaining entrances to the park. The Warwick Place end has been planted with a tree paid for by the Friends - a beautiful Acer, which should look spectacular over the coming years - and a variety of flowering plants. This was done in order to make the park look more inviting and less intimidating. The small walled area between the railings and the entrance slope is looking a bit bare, but we won't plant this until we know what WDC have decided to do about the walls on that side. Some mention was made of repairing them.

2 more acers, courtesy of Friends of the Dell were planted on the bend on the north slope. They are varieties chosen to be suitable for a park and the varying planting conditions, and should provide a lovely splash of colour.

The entrance on Beauchamp Hill, has now also been cleared of snowberries and a mixture of planting put in. We have planted each bay with a pampas grass which we gleaned from the compost heap at the Station. They should establish well here and will make a stunning entrance to the park. These have been underplanted with small shrubs donated to GALS, and various plants rescued from the compost heaps of Leamington Spa.

In January we shall be continuing to lift and divide plants and spread them around the north and east sides of the park. We have also begun to replant in the areas on the north side which have been trampled and cleared by the children. It is important to do this not only because of aesthetics but because compacted soil in straight lines will mean water will funnel through and erode the slope.

Although we have mass planted with large new shrubs (recycled), we have not forgotten the children and their need for play. Now we have approval from WDC we have merely redirected some of the pathways and diverted them slightly. They are hidden amongst the shrubs and should make for more rewarding play; they remain very informal though as we are aware of Health and Safety implications. We hope this will provide a solution to some of our gardening problems; it is an ongoing task and won't be finished until the spring.

The Friends of the Dell are also seeking to improve the Dell over the coming months and years and are in the process of applying for grants to make major renovations. If you would like to know more or have any comments to make, please contact them direct (link in sidebar)

Annabel

Heart of England in Bloom. RHS and BBC Gardeners World Live

2009-07-24T12:53:00.000+01:00

Jim Dean from Friends of the Dell, and Annabel were delighted to welcome the Chair of Leamington In Bloom, Simon Wheeler, and two judges from the Heart of England In Bloom to the Dell last week.

Warwick District Council had done a first class job on getting the lawns, hedges, edges, and snowberries trimmed and looking neat and tidy. The sun didn't shine, but at least it wasn't raining heavily as it had been doing in previous years. Fingers crossed that they liked what they saw.

During July, GALS were also to be seen at the BBC Gardeners World Live Show at the NEC. Blown up pictures of Gill, Lyn, Honor,Penny and Jack could be seen on the RHS Britain in Bloom stand in the middle of the Floral Marquee.

Leamington In Bloom

2009-07-10T12:57:00.000+01:00

The judges for the Leamington In Bloom competition will be in the Dell at approximately 11.50 on Wednesday, 15th July 2009. All are welcome!

The park is becoming very popular with lots of after school clubs using the play equipment, and children at various times during the day. This is wonderful news and shows that everyone's efforts have been worthwhile.

Of course, the thing children most like to do, is to run about all over the slopes and pick their way through the flowers and shrubs. The GALS original mandate was to plant to discourage this, and also to try and prevent the slopes being used as a short cut to the gates or to holes in the fences. (A Health and Safety issue - no one wants to be sued in the event of an accident) Because of the sheer numbers of children, we can no longer do this, and, after consultation with WDC who have accepted the problem, we will no longer replace plants or continually dig around them to prevent compaction.

However, by enabling play and leaving the pathways alone, it's possible the paths will merge to form a muddy bank, which apart from looking unkempt, will be subject to erosion. How that is dealt with is a problem for us all at some point.

Thank you!

2009-04-24T10:23:00.000+01:00

After a few days of heavy rain followed by a bout of unusual but gorgeous sunny weather, the Dell is beginning to sprout bindweed which is keeping us all busy!

However, we have also done a lot of planting, and are very grateful indeed to the plant donations that people have made to the park in the last few weeks. Enid Simms and her husband always remember us when clearing their garden; Mr and Mrs Lucas from Kenilworth have been clearing a bed and allowed us to collect unwanted plant material; Hill Close have generously allowed us to salvage material from the unwanted pile and compost heaps (!) and Mr and Mrs Marsh from Leamington have also donated a huge pile of grasses which have been outgrowing their original home.

Without all of these wonderful, free, contributions to the cause, the Dell would be a sadder place, so Thank You All from everyone who uses the park!

(nb for those interested, some of the donated plants were: geraniums (cranesbill) tree peonies, love lies bleeding, pulmonaria, ferns, anemones, asters, grasses (Poa Labillardieri, Miscanthus sinesis Kaskade, Panicum Virgatum Prarie Sky) astillbe, and sisyrinchium.)

Spring 2009 - A Walk Round The Dell

2009-04-10T15:59:00.000+01:00

It's about time for an update on the Dell, and what better way than to take you on a tour. It's now the 2nd week in April, and although many of the very early spring flowers (yellow daffs, and primroses) are past their best, many more flowers are coming through and will provide a succession of colour - hopefully all through the summer.

We start with the entrance onto Beauchamp Hill, and here is the acer planted by GALS in memory of Jack Watkins. It will provide colour from early spring until autumn.

Moving off down the path and looking into the Dell at the north slope.

Looking back up at the north slope from the grass at the bottom of the Dell.

The centre of the north slope...lots of forget-me-nots.

Walking along the east side; the one with the gabions. Gals have only been working on this for a year and much of the planting is still small. There are one or two gaps which will look better when the perennials begin to poke through. Sadly we lost quite a few plants the first year particularly where the digger had to put a trench in for the water supply. However, having water is such a big bonus that we were more than happy to start again on this bit.

Below: Sproul Corner. This area was a big problem, being in dark shade for much of the year and subject to very dry weather and occasional floods. Here are the special heuchera plants - which are a little less boring than ivy and the usual planting for such areas. These plants are lovely and have been funded by Nic Sproul and his family.

The last of the primroses... (the daffs and snowdrops are over now, but will be followed shortly with bluebells.)

GALS have just begun to clear the entrance to the park on Warwick Place. This is to make the park seem less threatening to anyone poking their head around the entrance, and hopefully will encourage them to venture a bit further into the park.

2008 Review

2008-12-30T12:50:00.000Z

Well, another year comes to an end. The GALS have been working in The Dell since October 2006, and have slowly managed to clear and replant the north slope and, with some help from WDC, the east slope.

Water has been installed by WDC and hopefully this will make next summer a lot easier and help some of the smaller flowers and plants to survive. It will certainly mean an end to the carrying of water from the Gals homes 2 or 3 times a week.

We are coming to an end of the major replanting now, and will be doing mostly maintenance - dividing plant material, moving, replacing, weeding, pruning, litter picking etc., in the future. We will carry on doing this for as long as we are able and have given this commitment to both The Friends of the Dell and Warwick District Council. The council will be doing some clearing on the two remaining sides next year and will hopefully be able to cover the top of the gabions with soil which will make it easier to cover them with planting.

People to thank this year, include Nic Sproul for his continued support for our work both with encouraging words and private donations for buying plants and gardening gloves etc. Without his support, life would be just that little bit harder! Big Thankyou!

Our thanks also go to The Royal Town Council of Leamington Spa, who in addition to giving us a grant last year for the east slope of £700 for plants, have given us a further £300 to replace lost plants and to help buy new ones for a summer display. Together we hope to be able to make the town that little bit nicer to be in for residents and visitors alike.

Achievments this year, must surely be winning an Outstanding Achievement in the Heart of England In Bloom competition, and the Gals' visit to The Houses of Parliament in October to promote The Dell to MP's, Peers, and various invited guests. Hopefully the publicity surrounding both these achievements will help put the Dell firmly on the map and mark it out as a place to visit, be looked after - not only by WDC, but by all who use it.

Finally, before signing off we just want to send our Best Wishes to Margaret, on honary Gal. Jack sadly died in November and will be much missed. He did a wonderful job supporting Gals, and The Dell, and was responsible for making and putting up our birdboxes and giving us advice on how best to look after the wildlife in the park, and encourage more in.(hedgehogs, frogs, butterflies, moths, toads, bees, as well as all the birds)

The Gals will now be dividing their time between the Dell and other projects in the town. This blog will continue to be updated but less frequently. Further news about our exploits can be seen on the sister blog, and possibly new blogs as other projects build.

Thank you all for your continued support, and best wishes to everyone for 2009.

In Memory of Jack

2008-12-13T12:59:00.000Z

In memory of Jack Watkins (1931 - 2008)

Heart of England in Bloom and the Dell

2008-11-06T11:20:00.000Z

The Heart of England in Bloom organizer, Jenny Redfern (and Graham) have given the Gals a copy of this magazine. On page 12 there is an article about the Neighbourhood Awards scheme and there is a photo of the Dell with Margaret Watkins and Annabel, taken by the Judges in July.

It's a small photo, but can be clicked on to enlarge. The article highlights what can be achieved by communities through the Heart of England In Bloom awards scheme. Thanks for choosing us!!

A great meeting in the Dell

2008-11-05T12:52:00.000Z

Today, Ilona, Jim (Friends of the Dell) and Annabel (Gals) met officers from Warwick District Council and Glendale in the Dell to discuss how to move forward with the ground works. Here are some photos of the south and west sides, which are a bit neglected. We all thought it was about 5 years since these parts of the Dell received some proper tlc!

A new waste bin will hopefully be sited at this entrance and possibly by the basketball hoop. There are a number of bins scheduled for the Dell (possibly 4 or 5) and these can be replaced. We are down to 2 bins for the whole space at the moment due to vandalism. New ones ie more than the existing 5 would require extra from the budget and might not be possible at the moment.

This is the south side of the Dell and these snowberries need attention. A team from Glendale will spend a week working here and on the west side to thin out and clear dead wood. It's expected that these snowberries will be reduced by approximately a third.
The following photos show the west side, which will be thinned considerably, with things like self seeded shrubs removed to allow for new planting. It will inevitably mean that this side of the Dell will look bare for a bit and it will expose the wall to grafitti etc., but it should just be temporary and is a job that needs to be done.

The photo below shows one of the self seeded laburnums that Annabel was particularly concerned about, as she has seen children playing with the pods and seeds. We asked for these to be removed some time ago. Hopefully these will be removed as a matter of priority when the tree works programme gets under way.
These next photos show the tangled mess at the top of the north slope. These shrubs and trees will need to be thinned and removed, as they are in a parlous state and are overhanging the footpath.

All in all, a wonderful and fuitfull meeting. Also discussed were the gabions, which it was suggested be topped up with soil so that they could be planted into. WDC have gone away to see if the budget will stretch to the amount of soil needed.

GALS go to the Houses of Parliament

2008-10-25T09:18:00.000+01:00

On Tuesday, 21st October, Lyn and Annabel from the GALS, went to the Houses of Parliament for a lunch reception.

02 provide £1,000 grants under the It's Your Community scheme, and give about 60 of these away every month to good causes including the Dell. These grants have been operating for some time so you can imagine the many hundreds/thousands of awards that have been granted.

The Dell was one of 10 schemes chosen to highlight the It's Your Community grants to MP's, Peers, and others. 02 intend to extend this scheme across the world, and wanted examples of what can happen with their money and how they are helping local communities.

The presentation was a "gallery style opening", and Lyn and Annabel were able to talk at great length to everyone about the Dell and what had been achieved over the last 2 years. The lunch was on the Terrace overlooking the Thames, and the following photographs formed part of an exhibition about the Dell and Gals, along with a brief description of who we all were and what we hoped to achieve.

This photo was also blown up to a much larger size and caused some consternation for Annabel.

All in all both a delightful, and very useful day!

(nb Apparently Guerrilla Gardening doesn't translate very well into some languages, and some people in Spain and South America were perplexed to say the least. They thought we were Gorilla Gardeners!)

RHS Britain In Bloom Neighbourhood Award

2008-10-13T13:03:00.000+01:00

Below is a copy of the certificate awarded on Wednesday evening by the Chair of Warwick District Council to Gill of the GALS. Speaks for itself really!!

We're working hard planting shrubs and hundreds of bulbs. We've chosen several varieties of daffs and narcissus along with alliums, crocus, snowdrops, and bluebells.

The water tap has been vandalised so we haven't been able to use it yet. We're hoping that there will be enough rain to keep the newly planted shrubs alive until it's repaired.

Heart of England in Bloom - Neighbourhood Awards

2008-09-20T13:25:00.000+01:00

Well, the very good news indeed is that the Dell has won an Outstanding Award at the Heart of England in Bloom. The town also did well and achieved a gold. Here are some updated photos of the north slope in autumn. Still lots of colour but if you would like to see it as the judges saw it in July, simply scroll down the postings.

The judges said....

"Not satisfied with creating a new shrub/perennial border at the north end of the open space the GALS (gardening Around Leamington Spa) have now started work in conjunction with Warwick District Council to improve the east border. The introduction of bat/bird boxes has seen an increase in the numbers of bird species. The diverse range of plants gives good all year round colour and those needed are shade tolerant. The open space is now used by all sections of the local community and is used by families for picnics and the play equipment is well used and the older teenagers are playing ball games."

Thanks to Honary GAL, Margaret Watkins for her imput on the day, and providing the judges with a handout about the history of the Dell. Thanks to Jack Watkins for his imput on birds/bats etc.

The New Entrance - Sproul Corner!

2008-09-20T12:47:00.000+01:00

This is the cleaned up entrance from Warwick Place. Unfortunately your author didn't have the wit to take a "before" photo so you won't be able to see the difference clearing the snowberries has made.

It was not possible to see into the park before because the snowberries were overgrown and all was hidden behind a lush and unkempt barrage of foliage. This has a very off putting effect on visitors particularly if you're feeling a little unsure or unsafe about using a park which is hidden from many of the surrounding roads and pavements.

The removal of the foliage now means that you can see into the grassed area and you can see that efforts are being made to plant and maintain the area. In other words, it's looked after and is not a "no go" area.

The planting may look a little sparse in the photos but of course GALS are planting for the future so have allowed adequate growth around the plants and hopefully they will fill the space in the next couple of years, unlike a council, for example, who would plant densely to fill an area and allow plants to crowd and die off as they compete for space, light, moisture etc. We cannot afford to do this, and object to the wastage of plant material.

Moving on around the corner to the entrance we come to one of the problem areas. Not only is this on a steep slope, dry, and is in heavy shade, we have the problem of the football as this bit of gabion is used for a goal! Gals feel that this is great, and would not want to discourage anyone from using the park in this way - it's what it's for, and it's lovely to see people getting fresh air and exercise.

We have planted the gabions densely with ivy, honeysuckle, clematis, and have put tough, but we hope interesting shrubs and perennials, into the area. Some will inevitably get knocked around but we have noticed that those who play football in the area are trying to look after the plants, and if their football does go onto the slopes they take great care when retrieving it. We have spoken to some of them, and it's clear that they appreciate the plants and don't want to cause damage where it can be avoided. Well done to them and thank you!

Below you can see the stones which we have sunk into the slope. This is to dissipate any flooding from the road (blocked drains etc) and is an attempt to limit the damage caused by small feet trampling over the slope as well as providing planting pockets for bulbs and plants. The ground will stay moist under the stones.

We have now finished planting this area. We have put in hundreds of snowdrops and bluebells, as well as replaced the dead and stolen WDC planting which was put in during the spring. We were able to do this with funds from Royal Leamington Spa Town Council and with a generous donation of £100 from a local resident, Nic Sproul. Our thanks to him for enabling us to try and do something with this awkward corner. Gals have come to know this bit of the slope as Sproul Corner, and hope Nic doesn't mind!

Below are some up to date photos of the east side. Still masses of work to do, but this is the middle of the slope so far.

Below is the far end of the east slope. Lots of summer colour still here. Hopefully it will be even better next year.
Below. Gals next concern is to start of this part of the planting. We have been unable to tackle this over the summer, because although we did originally plant the slope, it was all lost when the digger came in to clear a ditch for the pipework for Severn Trent. Now the water is connected, it's safe for us to have another go, and although funds are now a little low, there is much we can do by division and cuttings from material on the north slope.

Entrances and thanks!

2008-09-01T16:46:00.000+01:00

There are 3 entrances to the Dell, 2 off of Beauchamp Hill and 1 off the main road, Warwick Place. Occasionally the GALS tidy the entrances, clearing the stones, removing weeds, and trimming shrubs, but have never done much more.

On Friday, we continued to work on the problem area under the trees on the east side. The entrance from Warwick Place is also here, and whilst standing back to admire the view after some planting, we took a long hard look and tried to see the area through the eyes of a visitor. It was threatening. Everything looks dark, overgrown and unkempt; in fact a bit of a no go area. One of Gals aims, is to help make the park a safer, friendlier place for everyone, including many, many mums, children, and women who might be put off by this and not go into the park, so we decided to see what we could do.

We cleared the snowberries, dug out and re-laid stones, removed the soil that was clogging the path and tidied up. It looks SO much better!

The soil under the snowberries was moist and had a lot of leaf litter in it, so we have hope that things will grow despite the shade. The path side of the slope is not troubled by the football. So, we have bought ferns, primroses, snowdrops, bluebells, cyclamen and white geraniums to fill the area. Here's some photos.

All the ferns are different varieties. Your author has to confess that they all look the same to her, but hopefully as they grow, the differences will become apparent. Primroses are in the foreground.

Some of the bulbs which will underplant the area.

Finally, a huge thank you to Carolyn, a resident from Rugby Road, who kindly donated a large viburnum. (OK, well, Huge vibernum) which we have planted on the east side. Thanks also to the gentleman from Lockwoods who kindly helped her lift it into the car and then onto our slopes. We will do our best to help it survive.

Problem Area

2008-08-11T12:19:00.000+01:00

We have a problem area (more than the usual sort of problem that is!) under the trees at the far end of the east side. The trees are large and are horse chestnut and oak. There is also a laburnum close by which the council will be felling at some future point. In addition to the deep shade, the area is on clay subsoil which makes it very dry and hard in summer weather and subject to run off from rain and overflowing drains in wet weather. Add to that, the gabions and the football!

We have had some wonderful suggestion from the judges of the Heart of England in Bloom, but Gill (a very hard working GAL) has had a bit of an epiphany about it too! We have begun to sink some of the stones from the walls of the dell into the slope. This should dissipate the rain, provide planting pockets to help keep moisture in during the summer, and provide protection from the football and little feet. It also makes it easier to garden too!

We have researched possible planting and spoken to a local nursery, who suggested heuchera. The toffee coloured ones below will be an amazing splash of colour if they take. They like the shade (they scorch in sun) and will tolerate dryness. If we ever get our water connected that of course will no longer be a problem anyway.

As well as the heuchera, we will plant bulbs for spring colour ie bluebells, wood anemone, snowdrops, wild narcissus, and hardy cyclamen. Towards the back will be acuba, lonicera bagginsons gold (which looks amazing with the plum coloured heuchera) geraniums, and philadelphus.

Over the gabions we will increase the planting to include more ivy (paddys delight), clematis montana, and honeysuckle. We will also try a shade tolerant rambling rose at a later date.

More judging and photos

2008-07-23T12:24:00.000+01:00

3 judges from the Heart of England In Bloom came to visit the Dell this morning as part of the Town's entry for this year. John Carrier, from Leamington in Bloom, Nigel Bishop, Margaret Watkins, Jack Watkins and Jim Dean were also there. Margaret and Jim both gave a brief history and explanation of the role of the Friends in looking after the park, and Annabel gave a little resume of the planting and problems encountered.

We all had our photos taken in front of these flowers.....

This is an updated photo of the east slope with some of the flowers that are beginning to show through.
The visit was short - it had to be with the whole town to look at, but we were delighted to see and welcome the judges, and we hope we have done a little bit towards making the town look beautiful and cared for by it's community. Fingers crossed for a gold!!

The Heart of England in Bloom

2008-07-19T10:25:00.000+01:00

Well, at least it didn't rain on Thursday (the 10th July) when 2 lovely judges (Mark and Ken) from Heart of England in Bloom came to look at the Dell.

Margaret also came to represent the Friends and tell everyone a little of the history of the Dell. (She is now an honorary GAL and is in charge of such things! We had discovered the remains of a small building on the north slope some months ago, and now know why it is there and what it is built of. )

We had done our best to make the north and east slopes look colourful and attractive and we hope the judges thought so too. Because of the changes at WDC, contractors hadn't managed to keep on top of the strimming and so we had to give some of the edges a last minute hair cut. Gill also gave the entrances a bit of a tidy up, but sadly it's rather too big a job for us to tackle on our own.

The graffiti didn't do a lot for the overall effect either, but we have our fingers crossed, as only the north and east slopes were entered. The Friends are trying to sort the graffiti problem out and are awaiting the right cleaning stuffs from WDC.

We were given some excellent planting suggestions for the gabions, and also for our "troublesome" bit in deep shade under the trees at the south end. This slope has also become a goal for the local football enthusiasts so whatever goes there has to be very tough indeed! Roll on autumn when it should be safe (ie summer will be over?!)to resume planting.

Geraniums and judging

2008-07-05T15:58:00.000+01:00

A huge big thank you to all the school children of Leamington Spa, who have donated the geraniums that were left over from the Town's trains, to the slopes of the Dell. Lots of people will be able see them and enjoy your hard work, all through the summer.

Our potatoes (International Year of the Potato) are coming along well. They are a variety called pink fir apple which are very small knobbly potatoes but they have a lovely flavour. Keep your eyes peeled on the east slope towards the back and see if you can spot them.

The Dell is being judged on Thursday 10th July between 11.30 and 12.30. This is for the Neighbourhood Awards. Last year we received a Merit, and also helped towards the Town's Gold Award. The judging for the Town's award will be on Wednesday, 23rd July. All welcome.

End of June flowers!!

2008-06-30T10:49:00.000+01:00

This is the north slope. The purple flowers are alliums (bulbs) and the sweet williams growing up through them are a beautiful mixture of reds and crimsons.

Foxtail lillies tucked into the bottom left hand side.

The gabions on the east side. Sparse but coming along!

Slight Problems

2008-06-30T10:45:00.000+01:00

This graffiti has appeared over the weekend.

The water pipe and tap are now in place but the water is still not connected so we have had to hold onto most of the plants and not put them on the east slope. This is because without water they will probably die on such clay rich soil.

Plant Donations and bargain buys

2008-06-16T11:41:00.000+01:00

Gals had a longish discussion on Friday about how the east slope should be planted (now we have water, we can begin planting in earnest). We have to be realistic about what we can manage over the long term, and as well as colour, interest for visitors, supporting bio diversity and providing nectar and shelter for insects etc., we also have to consider the maintenance. Scrambling about on steep slopes becomes increasingly difficult as you get older!

We decided that it would be best to go for shrubs which could grow large and form a backdrop for smaller herbacious planting at the front on the slope. We were anxious that these two areas would not look like 2 separate gardens but go gradually from one to another. We also have to match the planting on the north slope.

Above are some of our first bargains. We have to shop carefully and the local garden centre had these in the "hospital wing" and they were only £2 each.

Today the local nursery in Barford (who supplies many local National Trust properties including Hidcote Manor) had some good bargains too. Lonicera (bagginsons gold) for £2 for a large plant, escallonia Edinesis for £2. Here's a photo.....

You can see everything here from New Zealand flax, hypericums, perovskia to anthemis and marigolds. A completely full car load for £154, which will keep the Gals busy for a while yet.

We are also grateful to the lovely couple who bought down to the Dell some "mock" bamboo. They were dividing the plants and donated them to the slopes. I understand that they get very large (over 10 ft) so they have already made a great addition to the back of the east side in front of the wooden fences. Thank you so much!

Hurrah!!!! Water at last - thank you WDC xx

2008-06-13T18:56:00.000+01:00

The north and east slopes

2008-06-13T18:37:00.000+01:00

Some photos of the north slope which has really filled out this year. (It may even need some thinning!) We have secret little areas designed to increase bio diversity and provide a habitat for frogs and toads of which there are quite a few. Mostly they are hidden behind plants, but you may see small piles - of what looks like rubbish - peaking out here and there.

Well, we hope you think it's better than the solid bindweed that was on the slopes 18 months ago.

And here is the start of the east slope. Things were delayed whilst waiting for the water, which as you can already see from the posting above, has now arrived. We can now get on with it.

Update at last!

2008-05-30T18:46:00.000+01:00

Apologies for the lack of recent blogging. This is due to your author being kidnapped by aliens. All is now back to normal and photographs will be coming shortly - watch this space!

Spring Sunshine and a delegation of judges.

2008-04-05T13:00:00.000+01:00

We've had a few lovely sunny days down in the Dell, but snow is forecast for the weekend, so we've taken a few photos of the daffodils and forget me knots to gladden your spirits!

I climbed the north slope and took this photo looking down onto the grassed area. You might not see the Dell from this angle very often, but we do as we potter about on a Friday afternoon.

We think it looks even better from on high.

These are some alliums just getting ready to burst forth. There are some foxtail lillies just beginning to emerge alongside them. Also to come in the next few weeks are some English Bluebells which Councillor Bill Gifford planted under the trees you can see in the photos below.

We were visited today by a coach full of judges, and members of WDC, together with John Carrier who is the Chairman of Leamington in Bloom. They are on a tour of the town for training purposes and popped by the Dell to see how we were getting on. Thankfully there are still plenty of daffodils and narcissus in bloom for them to see.

New plants for the gabions

2008-03-20T09:40:00.000Z

Warwick District council have now finished planting up the east slope of the Dell (huge thank you!) and it's now up to the GALS to supplement this to provide colour etc by planting perennials and bedding during the next few months.

We are waiting for the standpipe to be installed before beginning in ernest as obviously we have no way of looking after new planting without water. However, we have begun to buy and will be planting these healthy specimens over the gabions.

There are a couple of large leaved yellow ivys with the lovely name of Paddy's Choice; 3 honeysuckles of differing varieties and 2 clematis montana - a pink and a white one. We have also bought a dozen pinks - Mrs Sinkins amongst them. The gabions are large and there will be more to come but we have to buy in small amounts as they have to be carried to the Dell in bags.

We have also been busy repotting the geraniums we saved from last summer. The vast majority have over wintered well and hopefully will spring into life with a bit of water.

Also new this week, we've been sewing seeds of nasturtiums and californian poppies for bedding out later on. This has been more successful for us than sewing seeds in situ.

East, West, and North - attacks on all sides!

2008-02-29T12:24:00.000Z

GALS have begun some weeding and pruning on the west side of the Dell whilst we wait for WDC to replant the east side. We have also been feeding the north side with pelleted chicken manure, and have been dividing and maintaining generally.

You can clearly see crocuses pushing through the soil - they were completely hidden before.

A spot of pruning to the laurel bushes so the children can be seen if they try and escape the park.
North slope - a few bulbs coming into flower.

The new gabions on the east side. The soil has been mounded behind covering over the weeds that grew there before.
The gabions/entrance.
As I was leaving I spotted a couple of groups of new growth - I think they're alliums.

Spring has sprung

2008-02-08T17:11:00.000Z

Well, there's been such a lot going on Down In The Dell. Gals have just begun clearing the north slope of it's winter debris - pruning, weeding etc. Here's some snowdrops just to gladden your heart! These were planted in the green and have been much more successful that the corms that were planted last autumn - which are still there but are a bit slower to start.

Whilst we wait for WDC to start replanting some of the east bank with new shrubs etc. (a plan which has been agreed with the Friends) the GALS thought they'd have a go at the west side which is also very overgrown. Here's the bottom of the path on the west side that has had the soil shovelled back into place, and has had it's rampant self seeded buddlia pruned. We thought this would be nice planted up with flowers for a summer display.

Two trees that are bothering us slightly because of there proximity to the pavement and road. You can see the one behind is pushing the dead one over and is only being held up by a small wobbly wooden fence.

We're back and off to a good start

2008-01-26T13:11:00.000Z

GALS began work again in the Dell at the beginning of January.

We have been clearing the dead wood from trees and shrubs on the north slope, to make it safer and lighter. We haven't removed anything - all remains the same - just given it all a bit of a haircut!

WDC have finished the gabions on the east side and are in the process of profiling the soil behind them. Spraying with weedkiller and replanting will be carried out shortly. GALS will then use the £750 given by the Town council to plant bulbs, perennials and flowers for colour, fragrance, and to enhance the habitat for butterflies etc.

Some of the new bulbs have begun to peep through the soil on the north slope including some snowdrops. Pictures next week.

Photos at dusk - north slope is put to bed!

2007-12-01T09:22:00.000Z

More bulbs!

2007-11-24T09:49:00.000Z

Graham Redfern from Warwick District Council very kindly dropped off 1,000 narcissus bulbs (Carlton) for the Dell, on Wednesday. It's a little late for planting daffs, so GALS have been working hard to get them in the ground quickly. Next week should see them all safely buried!

Other news from the Dell this week is that the gabions for the east slope will finally be done. Work is due to start on Monday. This will mean that WDC and GALS can start work soon after by spraying the weeds prior to replanting. There is a planting scheme in existence but it will probably need some tweaking, especially as the GALS now have the extra money from the Town Council to add to the funds.

It's unlikely that one application of weedkiller will suffice. Glyphosate only kills systemically and you need leaves to take the chemicals down to the root systems. Unfortunately there aren't many leaves on the bindweed at this time of year - they seem to emerge around April time.

Thank you Royal Leamington Spa Town Council!

2007-11-17T09:01:00.000Z

We've heard this week that the Town Council have awarded GALS £750 towards planting on the east slope. Hurrah!

We are hoping to use this to supplement WDC planting plans for the slope - when the gabions are completed. If this is delayed, or if the council decide not to plant the slope, GALS will go ahead with clearing anyway and use the £750 for new shrubs etc. (It won't be enough to do the whole slope, but with our recycling efforts and hopefully some more plant donations in the spring, from people dividing stuff in their own gardens, we will be able to make a reasonable impact)

In the meantime, most of the replanting work on the north slope is completed. Next spring we will continue to garden and maintain the slope, and will hopefully be able to put on a colourful show for next year.

We now go into a sort of hibernation. We'll keep an eye on the slope and pop down now and then as the weather permits, but December and January will be very quiet for us so we are taking a little break. Back in February!! Best wishes everyone. GALS

An end in sight!

2007-11-10T11:19:00.000Z

After a few weeks of solid clearing and digging, we have made a substantial impact on the snowberries. Hooray! There's bound to be the odd bit of root still left in and no doubt they will spring up again next year, but we have managed to remove most of them and replant with smallish shrubs.

These shrubs will grow and fill the spaces around them. It looks a little sparse just at the moment and will probably take a couple of years to establish properly (the ground is very dry and growing conditions under the trees are hard) but if we get our water supply before the spring, there won't be a problem any more because we will be able to water as needed.

We have chosen shrubs which can cope with the dry and shade, but they will need tlc for a while. Many of the plants are a golden colour to add light to a dark area,(euonymous, acuba) or have interesting foliage (castor oil plants and ferns) or have berries for the birds (pyracantha).

We will continue maintainance and clearing over the next few weeks; pruning, dead-heading, etc but won't make a start on the east slope until we hear about the replacement gabions and whether or not we have been successful in our application for a grant for planting from the town council.

Hurrah, water soon to be on tap!

2007-11-02T18:30:00.000Z

Thanks go to Chris White for his efforts at getting water for us at the Dell. Warwick District Council have apparently agreed to spend the necessary money to install a standpipe (or equivalent - your writer has little idea about engineering!) which makes us all very happy because our planting won't die and we can also expand to the east slope.

Thanks also to Bill Gifford for his continuous campaigning for the water as well.

On the gardening front. Well, the snowberries are STILL there but they are going. Bit by bit, hard digging is getting the roots out and there are only a few at the top back, on the right hand side. These wil, stay, because they provide a useful green backdrop to the planting and also stop small children careering down the newly planted slope.But we will be tackling the snowberries at the back on the far left hand side. There is a large clump which will come out in the next few weeks.

The money from 02 has now been spent and there is a little left from the Town Council's grant of £300 which will be kept for bedding plants for next year's In Bloom competitions.

Magazine article and WE WANT WATER...PLEASE!

2007-10-20T14:36:00.000+01:00

Apologies for not speaking to you for a fortnight. The GALS have been busy as usual at the slope, clearing snowberries and replanting as we go.

The ground is really really hard and dry under the trees - very compacted and full of roots - so it's been hard going but we are making good progress. Just to illustrate how tough it is, last week Gill broke a new fork in two on a snowberry root. We were glad to see the rain this week, not only for the plants sake but because it will make the ground softer (and save us a fortune in replacement forks!)

Above is the article that appeared in "In Bloom," the RHS magazine for Britain in Bloom. As you can see the GALS have had a question published. We asked about planting acers on the slope at the Dell, and also for advice on getting rid on bindweed without using weedkillers. It's not clear enough to read but if you double click it it might enlarge enough for you to get the gist and see the picture of the newly planted slope.

Also this week, we are continuing our campaign to try and get a standpipe at the Dell so that we can water our plants. This is essential if we are going to extend our planting and clearing to the East Slope. Talking of which GALS have applied for £1,000 from the Royal Leamington Spa Town Council to buy plants for the east slope. If successful we hope to make a start shortly after the WDC have finished rebuilding the stone wall with gabions.

We are doing our best - even to the extent of grabbing people mid sandwich at meetings and events, and making a thorough nuisance of ourselves by asking again and again! But, imagine how great the Dell could look if we can get over this water supply hurdle and plant anything we like.

Geraniums, Colchicums, and Enid!

2007-10-06T14:35:00.000+01:00

These colchicums were planted with the money from 02. They are absolutely gorgeous! - definitely much better in the flesh and worth seeing. Pop in and have a look if you're around. The variety is Waterlilly. Had we known they would be so lovely we would have bought more!

Below are the geraniums that the school children of Leamington grew for the Heart of England in Bloom. They donated them to the Dell in June and they have provided a wonderfully colourful display all summer. We thought we would try and overwinter them in Annabel's new potting shed, but have no idea if we will succeed or not. We tried it whilst we were working at the station and it saved a lot of money in bedding plants the following year.

Our thanks go to Enid this week for a very generous donation of plants from her garden.If you're dividing your herbaceous perennials about now, we would really appreciate any you may have spare!! We love to recycle and all plants will be well looked after.

Please email using the links on the side of the page or by clicking on the "Profile page". and then clicking "Email." If you live locally we could arrange to collect them from you, or of course, we can be found on the slope at the Dell on Friday afternoons- just bring plants along. Thank you.

Bulb planting day photos!

2007-09-26T10:31:00.000+01:00

THE FIRM!

You probably wouldn't want us lot turning up to mend your roof, but we're brilliant at planting bulbs.

And here's a lovely young gentleman helping a GAL pull some money out the ground - where it grows obviously!

A shot from on high of one little corner of our patch.

A collage of images including Jack up a tree fixing a birdbox, and GALS in various flattering poses.

More clearing and planting

2007-09-23T12:38:00.000+01:00

GALS are continuing to clear the remainder of the north slope of it's snow berries and weeds. It's a very steep part of the slope and because it's next to the path, we are being cautious about leaving the soil uncovered - it's too much of a temptation for children to go sliding down! So we're working gradually and trying to plant up as we go.

We have put in a lot of smaller shrubs including a wide variety of berberis, cordylines, acubas, skimmias, and euonymus, all underplanted with various bulbs. If you go down to the slope at the moment you will see colchicums (autumn flowering crocus) that have only just been planted. They are very pretty!

Above is a photo of £100's worth of plants just bought from our favourite nursery in Barford. They're reasonably priced and very healthy. There are also a few from Hidcote gardens in Glos (a mild-mannered virginia creeper, sedum and a red cordyline)

Coming soon! Photos of "the firm" from the Conservation Foundation/02/GALS bulb planting day.

A certificate and some daffs

2007-09-17T09:29:00.000+01:00

For those who didn't see this at the Dell on Friday afternoon, here is a photo of the Britain in Bloom Neighbourhood Award.

And the daffs!

Here's what the judges had to say:

The judges met with two enthusiastic residents groups "Friends of the Dell" and GALS (Gardening around Leamington Spa), who joined forces in October 2006, their objective, the renovation of the inclined planting areas of The Dell, indeed a challenge! With great gusto, the "north bank" area has been cleared of debris and weeds, the newly planted shrubs, perennials and annuals, chosen specifically to attract wildlife, together with installed bird boxes, will improve the biodiversity of this tranquil green space. To the GALS and Friends through your tenacity and sheer determination YOU certainly have "made a difference" Well Done!

Heart of England in Bloom Results - but the work goes on!

2007-09-07T18:27:00.000+01:00

Congratulations to Royal Leamington Spa for getting a GOLD in the Heart of England in Bloom awards. The Dell helped a little bit with this, by showing that we care about our town and environment and are trying to do something to make it beautiful and an asset to the community.

Warmest congratulations to everyone in Gals, The Friends of the Dell, and the many local people who have donated plants or time to the slope.

BUT, as well as the Town's award, the Dell got an award all on it's own. It was a MERIT and means we will get a certificate and a free bag of daffodil bulbs. Hopefully we will be able to build on this award, and next year, who knows - maybe a silver?

Fun filled photo shoot!

2007-09-01T08:46:00.000+01:00

First of all, apologies for the blurry photos - your blog photographer failed to notice her camera was set to close-up!

Here's everyone taking a break in what turned out to be a marathon but fun photo shoot. As well as the 5 GALS, various Friends of the Dell turned up to give their support to the Bulb Planting afternoon.

We managed to plant a drift of bluebells - thanks entirely to Bill - some snowdrops, colchicums, iris, and crocus.

Then at about 3.30 the first of the 3 photographers from the various local papers turned up to snatch a photo or two, and I think they will be in next week's Observer, Courier, and Leamington Times. I will of course post them on the blog if I can.

We were delighted to welcome Kyle from 02 who spent the afternoon being photographed with us in a variety of amusing action poses by a photographer for 02/Conservation Foundation. We didn't finish until nearly 5.30pm when the light began to fade, but we had fun doing such amusing things as a conga with a ladder, pulling the huge presentation cheque out of the ground, Jack up a ladder with a hammer nailing down a bird box, and playing around on the swings, - as well as the more usual bulb planting shots (including one shot taken from the top of a very tall ladder propped against a tree!)

A huge thank you to everyone for their good humour, patience and time.

Come and join our Bulb Planting Day!

2007-08-29T11:36:00.000+01:00

A delivery of Alliums (giganteum and globemaster) Daffodils and Narcissi, Colchicums, Crocus and Iris, Snowdrops, Foxtail Lily, Muscari, Cyclamineus Narcissi -various.

There will be a special Bulb Planting Day at the Dell on Friday, 31st August. Everyone is most warmly welcome to join us for either a spot of planting, or just to have your photo taken for the papers, with a representative from 02 who is presenting a cheque for £1000 to GALS.

GALS will be at the Dell all afternoon from about 2.15 onwards, and the photographer will be there at about 4pm.

New Shrubs, Bulb planting day, and RHS news

2007-08-21T15:35:00.000+01:00

Although we haven't posted to the blog for a couple of weeks, GALS have been keeping busy at the Dell with watering, weeding, wall building and some new planting.

The above picture is of a few of the new shrubs we have bought for the top of the north slope. The area is in heavy shade and we have sought the advice of the RHS (free if your enter the Neighbourhood Awards scheme) for suitable planting. One of the judges for the Heart of England in Bloom suggested acers for the site, and as they are so expensive, we needed to check with the experts to see if the conditions were suitable. As well as a comprehensive reply, we were given 2 leaflets with lists of other suitable plants which we have gone through, and added our own suggestions to, before seeking final approval from Warwick District Council. Removing the snowberries and putting in the new plants began last week and will continue for a while yet - probably until the spring.

The RHS are going to publish the question and answer in their bi-annual publication "In Bloom" which is both national and international - very exciting. Hopefully we will be able to show the article on this blog.

On 31st August (Friday) we are holding a Bulb Planting day. We have used some of the money provided by 02 and the Conservation Foundation for buying a large stock of bulbs from a Dutch wholesaler. Amongst the many to go in will be hundreds English Bluebells, snowdrops, several varieties of daffodil and narcissus (including tete a tete,) iris and foxtail lillies. O2 will be making their presentation to the GALS at the Dell on the 31st at about 3pm. There will be photographers from the local press there if you wish to come along and join the fun.

Other news: The bird boxes are being built and erected as we speak. We have purchased 10 including 2 bat boxes, from the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust at a cost of £176.25.

Gill and Honor are now recycling all the glass bottles and cans they find at the Dell.

August sunshine

2007-08-04T19:44:00.000+01:00

The sun was shining this Friday and here's a couple of photos of the slope with some of it's new flowers.

The rain had an effect on lots of bedding plants this year but they will catch up and hopefully fill the holes in the bare earth in the next few weeks.

We have been drawing up a list of plants for the very top of the slope which is in deep shade. As well as being very dark it is also very dry, not only because the roots from the trees take so much but also the tree canopy prevents the prevailing winds/rains from reaching underneath. We need to fill a space at the top in front of the railings and have several ideas, but they need to be approved by WDC and the Friends before we start to buy anything.

Vandalism and judging

2007-07-30T13:45:00.000+01:00

The second judging of the north slope by The Heart of England in Bloom judges went well considering the torrential downpour we had at the same time. The grassed area was slightly flooded, but the judges gamely hopped over the puddles; they didn't need to roll up their trouser legs as suggested by GALS. We gave them a copy of the Neighbourhood Awards booklet and explained briefly who the Gals were, and Margaret from the Friends explained the history/Friends side of things. The flowers would have looked so much better for a bit of sunshine. Never mind, everybody did their best.

The following day GALS went to do some clearing on the east side, but were dismayed to find that vandals had uprooted about 20/30 plants (herbacious, shrubs and bedding) from the north slope and thrown them onto the grassed area. They had been out of the ground for a while and were looking a little dry and floppy. We gave them a jolly good soak (we have a great way of doing this! We empty the bits of rubbish in the waste bins and as the liners are plastic, we can soak the root balls in the water which has accumulated in the bottom. See, the excessive rain has had it's uses. In case you were wondering, we always return the rubbish!)

They were all replanted and so far, look ok, and have survived.

More flooding, Heart of England in Bloom, and BBC Radio York

2007-07-23T13:28:00.000+01:00

Heart of England in Bloom for Royal Leamington Spa Town takes place on Thursday 26th July. The judges are due at the Dell at approximately 3.50pm and all are welcome.

The floods have taken their toll on the slope again but nowhere near as badly as the rest of the town. A lot of people will be clearing up in the next few days.

BBC Radio York are meeting the GALS at the Dell on Friday 27th July, to do a little gardening with us and have a chat about what we do. They are making a programme for Allotments Week which starts on the 13th August and want to talk to people who do community gardening. You are welcome to come along, but it will be hands-on so bring a fork!

EEK - here comes the judge (s)!

2007-07-19T17:06:00.000+01:00

Yesterday (18th) was a wonderfully sunny day and a few flowers were persuaded to come out to greet the judges from The Heart of England In Bloom. They were having a look at the Dell for the Neighbourhood Awards section. Lots of community groups in Leamington had entered the Neighbourhood Awards, so we thought we'd give it a go too. It's not competitive and you are awarded marks for all sorts of things such as community involvement as well as the planting displays.

The judges were extremely nice and helpful and we hope we made a suitable impression. Everyone has tried really hard; the GALS with their gardening and the Friends with their support and care of the whole Dell. Ilona organized some drinks and as it turned out to be a hot afternoon they were very welcome. Jack bought along one of his bat boxes to show the judges and talk about what he'd done. History was covered by Gill and Margaret. I think we covered everything we needed and wanted to say, but just in case, we had made a booklet to give the judges which was designed to answer any questions and explain what we'd been up to. (A copy of the booklet can be sent electronically to anyone interested. Please leave your email address by using the comments box or clicking on the email link on the profile page.)

Also today was news that O2 would like us to arrange a presentation celebration for the £1000 cheque they're giving us for the slope. We think this will be a bulb planting session around the end of August, and everyone is invited. More later.

Bird Boxes

2007-07-13T19:43:00.000+01:00

One of the first things Gals have been able to do with the money from the Conservation Foundation is buy some bird boxes. We hope to be able to commission 10 boxes suitable for various types of birds and Jack will erect them for us.

Three boxes went up today and they will be followed by others over the next few months as they are made. The first photo shows Jack with a box suitable for robins.

This box is for blue tits and great tits.

We have asked for bat boxes and sparrow boxes as well. Sparrow boxes are a bit like a block of flats! They like to nest in groups so the box will be multi-storey with lots of entrances.

They have to be positioned on the north side of trees to keep the temperature down during the summer months. We hope to have some residents next spring, although Jack tells us that as the boxes are empty it is possible that birds will roost in them over the winter.

Other news today....Glendale were giving the park a bit of a clear up today, but sadly it was in a worse state than they expected and will need more than one visit. The supervisor came and had a chat with us to ask what we were doing, and pass on useful information about plants etc. She said she would try and save the daffodil and tulip bulbs for us next spring when the bedding is cleared from the Jephson Gardens in May.

Oh, and it's still raining. We've lost nearly every petunia; presumably to slugs.

Conservation Foundation/O2

2007-07-09T13:10:00.000+01:00

Exciting news! The GALS have just heard that the Conservation Foundation/02 have awarded the Dell £1000!! This will enable the north slope to be finished and allow the GALS to move around to the east side. (please see photos by clicking here) Everyone is warmly invited to the cheque presentation (date to be advised) at the Dell.

You are also welcome to join us for the Heart of England in Bloom judging on Tuesday 18th July at 2.30 pm in the Dell. A member of Warwick District Council will be there and will be able to talk to us about planting for the east slope, so come along and have your say.

Judging for Royal Leamington Spa (the town's award) will be on 26th July, and the judges will hopefully be at the Dell at around 3.50pm.

A little colour peeps through

2007-06-28T17:58:00.000+01:00

This is a photo of the slope taken from the one of the paths leading to the grassed area below the slope. The area we are trying to impove goes right around to just beyond the 2nd seat. Despite the rain, wind, and cold, a few blooms and a little colour are beginning to poke through.

We are all crossing our fingers in the hope that the slope will be accepted for a grant by the Conservation Foundation. We applied a few weeks ago and have just heard that we've been shortlisted, and hope to hear this week if we've been successful. The grant could be for any amount from £5 to £1000.

Floods of water, floods of plants!

2007-06-22T21:27:00.000+01:00

It's still raining!

As explained in our last posting, the drain on the road above our slope is blocked and cascades of water flow down one side of our slope taking soil and the odd plant with them.....well......they did until today, when our intrepid, very strong, dry stone-waller (aka Gill) got to work with a fork and unblocked the drain. We shall now add Sewerage Cleansing Operative (1st class) to her CV.

This is a photo of where the water and bits of our slope end up (taken by Ederyn)

Slightly more cheery news. If you recall, it's Love Parks Week until Sunday, and we invited anyone with a plant to come down to the Dell this afternoon to meet GALS and donate a plant for the slope.

We were very pleased indeed when John and Marjorie Carrier turned up with 50 or so geraniums that had been donated by children from local schools; they had grown them from tiny cuttings as part of the town's entry for The Heart of England in Bloom. A big, big, thank you to all the children.

We also had an enormous selection of plants from Janet Alty (they just kept coming didn't they Janet?!) A big thank you, and we hope you left something in your own garden.

Flooding in The Dell

2007-06-15T15:48:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, Leamington had torrential rain that went on for 3 or 4 hours. Much of the town suffered from flooding; buses didn't run the following morning, roads were blocked, the businesses on the High Street were closed, and many houses had flooded basements. The thunder storms continued today, and you would think that any normal person (s) would not venture out to do a spot of community gardening. Well, you'd be a bit wrong!

(Annabel returns home to a DH with a camera. She was hoping for tea and sympathy).

Sadly The Dell slopes have suffered on the north and east sides, with soil and mulch being washed down onto the grass below. The worst affected part is the west side of the north slope. Initially we thought this was because we had removed the snow berries and this was impairing the drainage, but when we investigated we found that the road at the top of the slope has a natural dip and the drain was blocked. All the water from the road had run down the slope taking soil, mulch and plants with it.

Despite the thunder storms, Gill and Annabel spent some time trying to repair the damage by moving the soil back onto the slope, and also taking preventative action by burying stones in the slope to dissipate future flooding. Sad, but hopefully it won't get any worse.

Oh, and just in case you thought we were alone in the park, you'd be wrong. When we arrived there was a courting couple on one of the benches. They stayed all through the thunder storms, getting absolutely drenched, and were still there when we left. Must be love.

Love Parks Week

2007-06-15T13:57:00.000+01:00

The forthcoming week from 16th June to the 24th June is Love Parks Week. It's about celebrating Britains open spaces and parks. More information can be viewed on http://www.loveparks.org.uk/ (click to go straight there)

YOU ARE WARMLY INVITED TO COME AND MEET THE GALS ON FRIDAY 22nd JUNE (BETWEEN 2.30 AND 4.30) TO FIND OUT WHAT WE ARE DOING. BRING ALONG A PLANT AND WE'LL POP IT ONTO THE SLOPE FOR YOU.

Did you know...

39% of women felt either ‘a little’ or ‘very’ unsafe in their local park.
Women in London, GLA (2004)

There are over 4,000 community groups working to improve parks and green spaces across the UK. This equates to a total membership approaching 500,000 individuals.
Community Networking Final Report, GreenSpace (2003)

The annual economic value of the work of park based community groups across the UK ranges somewhere between £17m and £35m.
Community Networking Final Report, GreenSpace (2003)

Heart of England in Bloom dates

2007-06-09T14:00:00.000+01:00

The Dell will be visited by the judges from Heart of England in Bloom supported by Tourist Board, on Thursday 26th July at about 4pm. The Dell will be a stopping off point on their tour of the town and we hope it may help towards getting our town a gold award.

Before that though, the judges will be visiting on Wednesday 18th July 2007 at 2.30pm to look at The Dell for the Neighbourhood Award category of The Heart of England in Bloom. This will just be about the Dell to see the progress we've made and to offer guidance for the future.

Please get in touch if you would like to take part in either of these days.

Help needed please - Bird Boxes, Insect houses etc

2007-06-04T15:52:00.000+01:00

I wonder if anyone out there could help us please. We want to put up some bird boxes and insect houses but they are a little expensive. If you have any old birdhouses, bee boxes, lacewing or ladybird houses - or indeed anything else that might offer shelter etc to wildlife, and are willing to let us have them- I wonder if you could get in touch please?

To email, click on the "View My Complete Profile" at the side of the page. You will see a dialogue box with "email" in it. Click on it and your computer should do the rest)

Thank you!

Archological dig - photos

2007-06-01T18:24:00.000+01:00

Here are our excavations; no bodies but plenty of interesting stones. If you look carefully at the stone on the furthest edge that's facing the camera, you can just see some well worn carving. Gill has been to the library trying to find documents and old maps of the area to see if she can find any new information about the Dell. There is some interesting information about Leamington and more about it all on a future post.

This photo shows the planting next to the excavations, which I thought I'd post just to that you can see how the slope is beginning to fill out.

Lyn - sitting down on the job! This afternoon was very hot, and this little bit of ground is at the end of our slope and in full sun. We are still clearing out the masses of bindweed from the soil, but have done enough to put in a few shrubs. We think it looks a lot better and seems to lift the whole of the north end of the Dell.

This week we were visited by Janet Alty, who came to give us some cheer and support. 2 or 3 other people were also kind enough to stop and admire the work that's been done. It's lovely to know that people have noticed and that all that effort is appreciated.

Party in The Dell

2007-05-27T09:02:00.000+01:00

The Friends of The Dell held their annual Party in The Dell on Sunday 20th May. This is an annual event started a few years ago by Pearl Braddock and is done to raise awareness of the Park, to help the campaign for funds, and for residents to have a good time and enjoy what the park has to offer.

It was a very successful day, (with no rain!) and here are a few images courtesy of Nic Sproul, a local resident and supporter of The Dell.

Also this week, lots of thanks to give out!

A cheque for £300 has arrived from Royal Leamington Spa Town Council to help towards the planting.

About 3 weeks ago, Graham Redfern from Warwick District Council kindly arranged for our growing pile of rubbish to be removed from the top of the slope by Glendale, and also arranged for a replacement bit of fencing to be put into the gap at the top of the slope. We hope this will help prevent the new planting from being squashed by enthusiastic cyclists, who like the idea of using the slope as a short cut to the grass below. It was done within a few days of us asking, and we really appreciate such speedy help!

Also, Janet Storrey has kindly given the GALS some hollyhock seeds which we hope to plant at the top and back of the slope. We were given a bag of the same seeds for the Station Terraces so know they will do well.

Archeological dig!

2007-05-19T09:47:00.000+01:00

The rain continues and so do we; clearing snowberries and bindweed, planting and weeding.

Gill and Honor set to work this week to dig a small patch of ground where the snowberries were growing up until last week, prior to planting. However, as they dug, they began to uncover some interesting looking stones. What started off as a little light weeding ended up as an archeological dig! I'll post a photo of it next week when they've uncovered a little more.

We think they're a legacy from a summer house built in the north west corner of the Dell (when it was a privately owned garden) and used stone from the demolition of the Milverton Episcopal Chapel that stood on the corner of Milverton Terrace and Warwick New Road. In 1948 it was rebuilt as a shed for tools and machinery by the Parks Department. It was referred to as the Mosque. Certainly the stones we have uncovered have lots of interesting - if well worn - carvings on them, similar to what you might expect to find on a church.

The retaining walls in the park all seem to be built out of the same stone, and many of them also have carved surfaces.

We thought we'd leave them in situ. and design some planting around them...we're thinking sempivirons and rock plants.

Hurrah, it's rained on us!

2007-05-06T13:26:00.000+01:00

(NB Could the person who emailed me yesterday via this blog, please get in touch again. I'm afraid you went into my "spam" box and were deleted by mistake. Thank you.)

It doesn't seem 5 minutes ago that we were moaning about the rain and getting trench foot from the mud, but in fact, it was the middle of March. Since then, the sun has shone and we have had one of the warmest Aprils since the 1700's with no rain for nearly 6 weeks. This has made it difficult for us as the plants all need regular watering if they are to establish. However, the dry spell is now over, and the Gals are pleased to see some rain - for the plants sake, only, of course!

Plant Sale

Plant Sale. Leamington has a plant sale in The Pump Room Gardens every 1st Sunday in May. It is a really good opportunity to get some unusual herbaceous perennials as well as some bargains. There are all sorts of nurseries and horticultural organizations such as Hill Close and The Hardy Plant Society, as well as charities such as Save The Children. Above is a photo of £70 worth of plants - 53 in total - including many of our favourite varieties such as cranesbills and penstemmons. They will all be going onto the slope in the next 2/3 weeks.

One for the Gals!

2007-05-05T10:36:00.000+01:00

Lest we forget GALS, this is where we started in October! This is one of our "before" photos, and this post is about reflecting on how far we've come.

Yes, we know we have a long way to go, but it's important to re-cap from time to time.

"After" photo. Well as "after" as we've managed to get by 4th May!

Some more photos of the Dell on 4th May, showing the progress made. Poached egg plants.

Box rescued from a skip. Gladioli bulbs, lavender, clematis, iris, and various herbaceous perennials. They've just had a water, which, incidentally, is quite a task as there is no water on site and it has to be carried from nearby houses.

This is a photo of the same slope that is pictured at the top of this posting. The bench is immediately to the right.

The view to the left of the slope. Gill is in the distance battling with snowberries. We all really love snowberries!

Just a gentle spot of tree surgery by Honor and Gill.

This week we managed to plant, honeysuckle, sisyrinchium, wild strawberries, crocosmia lucifer, nasturtiums and daisies (various colours). We dug up more snowberries, weeded, watered, and pruned.

The BBC visit the Dell

2007-05-05T10:16:00.000+01:00

Yesterday the Dell had a visit from the BBC who were filming a trailer for the Springwatch programme. They needed an urban community space, and were filming from the flats you can see in the background. When we arrived in the afternoon, there were some gardeners - from Glendale I think - and a pile of plants at the bottom of the east slope. It looked as if a little bit of planting had been done. Someone told me they had also filmed someone digging a pond on the slope, but all evidence was gone by the time we got there!

The Gals carried on working on the north slope undisturbed, but picked up some wonderful conversations from the other side of the hedge! (2 young ladies were being filmed walking down the street and peeping over the hedge. It took an awful lot of work to film 10 seconds of action, including 5 rehearsals and 3 takes) They will be back on Tuesday apparently.

Lots of visitors and sunny weather.

2007-04-28T09:00:00.000+01:00

The sunny weather continues and the park is very busy.

We have continued to plant over the last couple of weeks adding geraniums, escallonia, heuchera, sweet williams, and nasturtiums. (We had help planting the latter from a couple of youngsters who were having a picnic in the park, and desperately wanted to dig with us.) We also continued our battle with the bindweed and celandine.

The ground is very dry and hard, but we have managed to keep watering every week and so far we haven't lost any plants to drought - or to vandalism. One clematis has had an attack of clematis wilt, but we continue to water it in the hope that it will spring forth from beneath soil level at some point.

Last week, Jim from The Friends spent the afternoon with us trying to make a plan of the planting so far - a difficult job really especially as we keep adding to the slope in an adhoc way.

This week we had a delightful visit from Graham Redfern from Warwick District Council; they have kindly agreed to take away our growing pile of rubbish at the top of the slope and also see if they can find some fencing to plug the holes in the railings. Hopefully this will stop the slope being used as a shortcut to the grass below and will help protect the planting. The Council were enormously supportive and encouraging, and we truly appreciated their feed back.

Also visiting us this week was the Chairman of Leamington's Britain in Bloom campaign and his wife, who both work tirelessly and voluntarily to make our town a prettier place. They were equally supportive of our efforts and the progress made.

Our thanks also to a kind resident in Woodbine Street who has donated £50 towards planting on the slope. It's very timely as there is a plant sale in the Pump Room Gardens next weekend and we will be able to shop for bargains.

Finally, this week we will be sending our application forms off to the RHS for the Neighbourhood Awards. Fingers crossed please everyone!

Gill tackles Dry Stone Walling + the dreaded bindweed

2007-04-14T12:53:00.000+01:00

There is a poem by, I believe, Pam Ayres and it goes something like this.....

DRY STONE WALLING

Dry stone walling
is an
Appalling
Calling.

This photo is of Gill's - and we think absolutely brilliant - attempt to do a bit of dry stone walling. We hope it's now less dangerous and looks a bit better too. Can you see the join?

The bindweed.

As you can see, this bit of the slope is absolutely covered with it and is a bit of a problem. but is being tackled.

We had a busy afternoon planting 10 medium sized box plants which had been rescued from a skip by Maurice, a Friend of The Dell. He had also kindly borrowed a wheelbarrow so we could transport them from his house to the slope. They are in need of tlc, and we will do our best to help them survive. He also donated a few smaller bits and pieces from his garden, and has invited us back next week for some geraniums (cranesbills) - they look like Johnsons Blue which will be wonderful.

6th April 2007

2007-04-08T19:20:00.000+01:00

It was a very warm and sunny afternoon - unusual for April. Gill, Annabel, and Lyn planted about 20-25 shrubs and perennials, and began to clear the bindweed and celandine. Some of the planting for this week included, gladioli, purple sage, ordinary sage, sedum herbstfreude, dianthus (Mrs Sinkins), crocosmia (licifer), Iris (Jane Phillips) more citisus, and mahonia.

The plants we have put on the slope have been carefully nurtured and watered every week but are still looking quite dry. We have lost 1 or 2 smaller plants at the bottom of the slope nearest to the wall, to vandalism, but we think we have managed to get to them in time and we hope they will survive with a little tlc.

This week's water came courtesy of a gentleman in Albany Terrace who kindly filled our watering cans and trugs up from his kitchen tap. As Gill and I struggled along the road, covered in mud and dust, with grubby shoes and dirty gardening gloves, a watering can each in one hand and sharing the load of a trug full of water in the other, Gill turned to me, looked us both up and down, and said...."I'm so glad we haven't lost our feminity!" Much giggling ensued.

Also new for this week, was a tentative request on behalf of the Scouts. It is their 100th anniversary this year, and they are looking for a site to make a fleur-de-lys out of flowers for the summer. Warwick DC have been unable to help and we all wondered if our slope could accommodate them.

Stop Press

2007-03-26T13:57:00.000+01:00

Hurrah for the Royal Leamington Spa Town Council!

We have just heard that we have been fortunate enough to secure a grant of £300 for our work at The Dell, from the Cultural and Community Committee. This will provide the extra needed to help plant the slope which is extremely large and apart from a few trees and straggly snowberry bushes is almost completly empty. Hopefully it will enable us to provide some summer colour and help with the Town's entry into Britain in Bloom. It will also mean that we can plant for winter colour and buy some bulbs etc for the spring.

We have been asked to provide feedback to the Town Council, which we will of course be delighted to do. If any of our readers have photographs etc that they would like to add to ours to make up a small portfolio, please get in contact by leaving a comment or sending an email.

Also in The Courier this week was the following article about Leamington's efforts for The Britain in Bloom competition this year. The town really hopes to be able to push for a gold award this year, and it's hoped that The Dell could contribute towards this.

The photograph shows members of Gals with the team from Barclays Bank who came on 10th March and worked so hard clearing the East side of the bank. If you would like to read the article, please double click the photograph and it will pop up in a new window in a larger format.

Also, Annabel and Jim hope to collaborate to put forward an entry for a Neighbourhood Award for The Dell in it's own right. More about this later.

Gardening in the rain, again.

2007-03-23T16:35:00.000Z

Another wet Friday afternoon! It might be good for the plants to garden in the rain, but one or two members of GALS are in danger of getting trench foot.

(Gill debates whether to slide down the slope in her trug!)

We managed to plant about 20 more shrubs today, including olearia, cytisus, hebes, phormiums, vinca, and potentillas. We only have a few more left to plant and after that, will need to buy some more as and when they become available. The slope is looking very large now that it is cleared and will take quite a lot of filling.

We are still waiting to hear from The Town Council about whether we have been successful with our application for a grant towards planting from the Community Open Spaces Fund. The letter says they were meeting on 12th March and would contact us with the outcome as soon as possible after that date.

Some History, some planting, and some newspaper articles

2007-03-19T15:31:00.000Z

We continued to do some more planting on Friday. Jim, from Friends of The Dell, is very keen to try and keep pace with our planting so that he can draw a detailed plan. We don't normally do this ouselves, because GALS plant in an ad hoc style, intuitively placing plants where they can be seen at their best. We also recycle as many plants as we can from residents and from other gardens, and it's impossible to plan for this as you never know what will turn up.

But just for Jim, this week we planted 5 roses (pink and white) forget-me-nots, 3 hebe albicans, 8 lavenders, 3 curry plants, poached egg plants, hellebores, and sweet violets. Gill will be along tomorrow with some more "leftovers" from Hill Close gardens, and we shall be back next Friday with many more.

As there is no water available at The Dell, we made sure we gave everything a jolly good soak for a couple of hours before we planted out. Gill, Annabel, and Lyn don't have cars so have to carry the plants from Annabel's house each week in carrier bags. What we didn't realize was how heavy our plants would be after they were soaked! What a site we looked, staggering along Milverton Terrace, with overstretched arms and drooping heads, and with a steady trickle of muddy water leaking out of the holes in the carrier bags and all over our shoes!

Penny bought along a piece she'd copied out of a book about the history of The Dell written by Robin Stott (who used to work for Warwick District Council). It had some photographs of the gardens showing them in 1948 planted out with spring bedding and newly planted trees and shrubs. You can just see a building in the background which was against the slope we're working on. It explains why there are so many old stones lying around on the slope and on the grass - some quite ornately carved. I shall look into this and let you know more about this a bit later on. In the meantime, I've suggested that Penny might like to take on the task of recreating this edifice from our leftover stones...... but, strangely, she doesn't seem keen.

Although the press came and took some photographs while the Barclays team were helping us out last week, they haven't appeared in the papers yet. However, Lyn found a small article in The Courier dated 9th March 2007, which said....

Bank helpers. Workers from Barlcays Bank will be helping Leamington "guerrilla gardening" group GALS renovate public gardens in the town tomorrow. The bank has donated £500 for gardening equipment and plants and staff will be joining the all woman group to clear and replant part of The Dell in Warwick Place.

Barclays and Gals - Photos of The Big Day!

2007-03-10T16:52:00.000Z

Before we begin.....a HUGE thank you to everyone who took part and worked so hard to clear the slope. Your help and good cheer were really appreciated and the "before" and "after" photos show an amazing difference.

Photo 1. The first members of the Barclays Bank crew begin to arrive. Gill and Lyn from Gals are at the back. Val arrived with vast supplies food and drink including hot water for tea and coffee, bacon sandwiches, home made quiche, a huge custard tart, and an equally huge bakewell tart. She is obviously a seasoned campaigner and knows to secure her supply lines!

Happily, the sun shone down on us all morning, everyone was in good spirits and worked tremendously hard. Glendale arrived punctually at 9.30 with 6 spades and 2 wheelbarrows - the latter proved particularly useful.

Photo 2. This is a "before" photo of the side of the slope which we asked Barclays to try and help us clear.
(Scroll down now to see the "after" photos if you would like to compare and see how hard everyone worked - Photos 9 and 10)

Photo 3. Work begins.

Photo 4. Still more happy Barclays Bank staff arrive. Jim (from The Friends of The Dell) also arrived to give us his support, as did Bill Gifford, Margaret Beg, and Jack Watkins (who bought us loppers, rake and shears - thanks Jack)

Photo 5. The lads get stuck in. The press (Courier) turned up at about this time for a team photo. Sadly Lyn and Val had gone off to the train station to collect another volunteer so missed the excitment.

Photo 6. Here's a photo of some of the supplies that kept everyone going.

Photos 7 and 8. We managed to sneak in some thymes! Our thanks go to Richard and Kate for their wonderful help supplying water for our planting, and also allowing everyone to use their facilities. This made our life so much easier!
The trail to the loo made everyone smile! It was an adventure liberally punctuated with helpful signs such as "toilets this way" and "mind your head"

Photo 9. An "after" photo of the right hand side of the slope, to the front of the pathway. All the brambles, overgrown shrubs, weeds, litter, and stones, etc have been removed. The ground isn't quite ready for planting yet as it is completely caked with bindweed and will need a bit more attention.

Photo 10. An "after" photo of the middle of the slope. The walls look so much better without the carpet of weeds.

Photo 11. After Barclays had left the site, Lyn and Annabel stayed behind to do some planting on the other parts of the slope. Towards the middle back of this photo, in front of the large tree, you can just see a new honeysuckle which we hope will clamber down the slope and over some of the tree stumps.

Photo 12. Everyone was shattered and finally the last ones go home.

A glorious start to March

2007-03-05T11:38:00.000Z

Friday was a gloriously sunny afternoon, and we managed to do an enormous amount of clearing both on the slope and on the walls at the front of the slope. The rubbish still hasn't been taken away from the top by Glendale but we think this is because they are waiting until after Saturday.

Barclays Bank volunteers will be with us on Saturday from about 9.30 until 1pm. There will be 8 of them and 5 gals, so we should be able to clear most of the remaining slope and begin some planting. We've bought a few more plants (roses, thyme and lavenders) to bulk up those provided by Barclays. Please, please can everyone keep their fingers crossed for a nice day and no rain???

In case you were wondering....

2007-02-26T10:31:00.000Z

This is what £250 worth of plants looks like!

For those who would like to know exactly what was bought, here goes.....4 roses (white, yellow and apricot) 2 Jasmin,(yellow) 5 clematis (2 montana to give ground cover + purples) evergreen honeysuckle, olerea, 2 potentilla, (orange) 3 hebe albicans, 3 hebe super red, 3 hebe odora, 6 lavender, 3 curry plants, and 2 phormiums.

The garden centre didn't have some of the shrubs on our list and we had to substitute, but we intend to use smaller cheaper shops to stock up with the herbaceous perennials.

We have also been given some hellebores (and cranesbills - hooray!) from a local resident, (Thank you Maurice) and Janet Alty from the green party might be able to donate some plants from her garden in the next few weeks.

Thyme to buy some plants

2007-02-22T11:55:00.000Z

This week we won't be at the gardens.

Sadly, our plans to buy plants from Glendale using the grant money from Barclays Bank can't go ahead, because of problems with the method of payment. We also had trouble with places like Homebase and Focus DIY, because now that cards have gone chip and pin, there is no longer a facility to take payments without a pin. Anyway, we still have time to go to our local garden centre tomorrow, and hopefully we will be able to get what we need. Barclays would like us to choose plants that attract butterflies and insects and we have a long list of suitable ones that Warwick DC have approved.

Gill went to the library and did some research and thyme is apparently liked by bumblebees, and as one of our local greengrocers had some thymes for sale - £5 for 3, I plunged in and bought 6. It's probably not sensible to plant these until the clearing is done on March 10th, as they might get squashed with so many people gallumphing around. I think they will probably go on the front of the slope. If you sit on the wall, you will then get the benefit of their wonderful fragrance, and be able to watch the bees from a safe distance.

Snow and rain

2007-02-17T18:15:00.000Z

Friday 9th February saw the start of a couple of days of heavy snowfall, and The Dell was under a couple of inches of white, so nobody felt like trying to garden - even if we could see what we were doing.

Friday 16th February was wet with constant rain. However, because we didn't get to the slope last week, we thought we'd be valiant and give it a go. It's not the most pleasant sensation, but we survived and were happy to see that the little bits of planting we had done over the last couple of weeks had not been vandalised or flattened by small feet.

We had put in half a dozen small groups of snowdrops, 3 rosemary bushes and some bits and pieces recycled from Hill Close Gardens in Warwick. Hill Close are changing their planting from its existing happy mixture to varieties that would only be found during the Victorian period, and have said we might have the waste for our projects. It really feels good to rescue/recycle these plants.

Meetings.

2007-02-17T18:06:00.000Z

On 5th February, Lyn and I went to the pub. Of course we told ourselves that this was just to be friendly and meet the local residents who form The Friends of The Dell. How civilized to have a meeting in a pub!

We explained what we hoped to do and updated everybody with who we were and the Barclays grant etc. They then very kindly voted to give us £300 towards further planting.

One of the things the Warwick District Council mentioned, is that we should discourage children from using the slope as a play area (Health and Safety) This seems such a great shame as they obviously get great pleasure from tearing up and down the slopes, but of course, we understand the reasons why, and it means that now we have cleared such a lot, we will have to plant more densely and more defensively to discourage them.

On the 12th February, Lyn and I went to another meeting, this time with the Britain in Bloom Committee. We were introduced and told everyone what we had in mind for The Dell and were delighted at the encouragement and support we received.

It was also suggested that we apply for a grant of £300 from The Community Open Spaces Fund, from Leamington Town Council; which we did immediately!

Photos of the slope 2/3weeks into clearing

2007-02-17T17:30:00.000Z

Quite a lot of pruning has been done including the snowberries, and mounds of ivy and brambles have been moved to the top of the slope, where, hopefully, Glendale will be able to take it all away for us. The soil doesn't look too bad, although in places there are areas of concrete/sand which will make planting difficult, and in the summer it might suffer from dryness because of the overhanging trees. There is no water supply.

Barclays Bank

2007-02-17T17:20:00.000Z

A friend of Lyn's (Jack) put us in touch with Val from Barclays Bank in the hope that we would qualify for some voluntary help and a grant of £500 under the Barclays Bank community volunteer scheme.

Happily after telling Val all about ourselves, we found we did indeed qualify for their help and that they would be along in force to help us on the 10th March 2007.

We also spend the first half of the grant on equipment that they would need to use on the day. GALS are completely self funding, and have always used their own gardening equipment, which was sadly lacking. There certainly wasn't enough to provide all that a team of 8 volunteers might need. We bought gloves, string, pruning saws, loppers, secateurs, forks, trowels, claws and trugs.

Fortunately, Glendale, who work on behalf of Warwick District Council, volunteered to loan us some spades and wheelbarrows on the day. They also kindly agreed to use the remaining money to order our wish list of plants through their contacts, and at a reduced price.