News

Work to be undertaken

Extra Thursday Meetings

Ad Hoc Evening Meetings – WhatsApp Fernery Gardening Group

NEXT WORKING PARTY MEETING – THURSDAY 17th MAY 2018

Visitors

We are expecting to welcome the Borough Council’s Deputy Mayor Cllr. Barbara Fitzsimon

Outline Work Plan – Immediate Priority – Garden Restoration

As we stated two months ago, to prepare for the Open Day on Sunday 17th June, Garden Restoration now takes priority over excavation work except, of course, mechanical excavation work carried out by Maydencroft to an agreed plan.

MECHANICAL EXCAVATION – AN UPDATE

After several postponements, and with the arrival of better weather, the Borough Council granted us two weeks access to Maydencroft’s skilled team of mechanical digger operatives, starting last Wednesday. Mark was in the chair assisted by Richard.

Benefitting from constructive thought and planning, Maydencroft’s intervention has in just three days led to an amazing amount of new excavations and discoveries.

• On Wednesday we discovered a huge soak-away in front of the grotto, to take water away from the basin at the foot of the dropping well.
• And on Wednesday a third tier was discovered beneath the two-tiered planting bed on the East side of the dell.
• On Thursday an electrical trace attached to the lead water pipe in the dropping well revealed that underground lead piping is feeding from the direction of the House all around the dell.
• On Thursday the large central bed was cleared of rocks, and re-profiled.
• On Friday the rocks were placed around the edges of the newly profiled central bed and made to look ‘original’ through meticulous soil packing by Maydencroft’s James and Immogen.
• Also on Friday the bed by the retaining wall  was cleared and re-profiled. The good news here was that we proved that this is yet another of Anthony Parson’s special ‘tanked’ beds with a concrete base and a drainage hole. The disappointment was to discover that the red-brick wall at the front edge has, over the years, been robbed and is likely to be 3-4 courses too low.
• On Friday all the grass beds had a second spray of selective weed killers.

WORKING PARTY TASKS – THURSDAY 17TH MAY 2018

TASK 1 – Continue nettle weeding in the prepared planting beds.

TASK 2 – Continue rabbit protection of planted trees

TASK 3 – General watering as required

TASK 4 – Clearing, scrubbing and cleaning the Rock edging on the sloping North East path past the Pulhamite outcrop.

TASK 5 – General site clearance

GARDENING GROUP TASKS*

Friday May 18th 2018

TASK 1 – Plants will be selected and purchased from Rochfords by Sarah and Ann, supported by Andrew.

Saturday May 19th 2018

TASK 1 – Plants to be unloaded in two tranches from a trailer parked in the road and carried to the site

2 x strong volunteers needed

TASK 2 – Sarah will place the plants – after placement assistance will be required

TASK 3 – Planting out

4 x GARDENING VOLUNTEERS NEEDED – 3 x to plant and 1 x to water in

Monday 21st May 2018

TASK 1 – Sarah to collect a second tranche of purchased plants from Rochfords

TASK 2 – Plants to be unloaded from a trailer parked in the road and carried to the site

2 x strong volunteers needed

TASK 3 – Sarah will place the plants – after placement assistance will be required.

TASK 2 – Planting out

4 x GARDENING VOLUNTEERS NEEDED – 3 x to plant and 1 x to water in

• Times to be confirmed

GARDENING GROUP COMMUNICATIONS – PLEASE SIGN UP

Will all volunteers who would agree to attend ad hoc gardening meetings (for example, see above meetings on 19th and 21st May) please send a WhatsApp message to John Roper so that you can opt-in to the WhatsApp  FERNERY GARDENING GROUP which was recently established.

The purpose of this Group is solely to facilitate short term communications to arrange such meetings.

MEETING PLACE

We will meet at 10 am at The Fernery on Thursday 17th May 2018. The leaders will expect to be on site from 9.30 onwards to get the tools ready, so if you are an ‘early bird’ and can help, please do so.

All team members should have good quality garden gloves and wear strong boots, and bring a hot drink for elevenses. We will provide small hand tools for general use.

For newcomers, the Fernery can be found at the top end of North Ride on the Danesbury Estate, AL6 9RD. For more details please go to ‘Where We Are‘ tab at the top of the page.

Weeding and Nettle Control

On a warm and sunny day the team continued weeding the planting beds.

We still hope to get the Borough Council to undertake some nettle spraying in non planting-bed areas, but in In antithe planting beds nettles have to be hand weeded.

Daffodil Rescue

In anticipation of the Digger lifting the top off the large Tufa bed in the centre of the dell, we dug out as many of the daffodils as possible and re-planted them on the South border of the Entrance where they should now remain undisturbed.

Whips and Shrub – Perimeter management

We continued clearing around all the whips and shrubs planted in February, to allow them to grow unimpeded by weeds.

Tufa Removal

Removal of dumped tufa rock had been scheduled as a task for the Maydencroft Digger, but following careful sorting we decided that all the stones would remain on site, the majority of which will be used to drop in at the edges of planting beds around the site.

Visitors- Puddingstone Group  – 20th July 2018

Arising directly from last week’s visit from the Hertfordshire Gardens Trust we had four visitors from a Puddingstone group. (Their report is published separately as The Puddingstone Club.).

With the Group’s help we discovered that we have a larger ratio of puddingstones to Tufa and conglomerates than we had previously thought.

Fencing

We successfully extracted three very complete original fence panels from close to the badger set, for installing in more prominent positions later.

Mains Water Supply

An effort to turn on the water supply failed once again, and renewed efforts will now be made to get Maydencroft to reveal their stop cock location and help us resolve the problem.

(Ed: This was resolved on Wednesday 25th April 2018. The hose reel is installed and a Watering Roster needs to be drawn up)

Fernery Gardening Group

Over Elevenses of coffee and flapjacks, several volunteers expressed a willingness to attend on a more frequent basis. Plans will therefore be drawn up for a Gardening Group to be established that will allow volunteers to make discreet arrangements to meet up for gardening work. For Insurance purposes it will be necessary to let the Borough Council know in advance when each such activity is planned.

If you would like to be included in the Fernery Gardening Group and will agree to share your contact details with like minded members, then please confirm to

Dates of Next Working Party Meetings

Please go to the Calendar for details

The Best Laid Plans..

Plans for our next Working Party have been seriously impacted by the recent spell of very wet weather. The site is still very wet.

The scheduled Monday 7th April arrival of the Maydencroft digger had to be postponed, and it is not likely to be brought on site for at least two more weeks to allow the site to thoroughly dry out. We will not therefore be able to complete some tasks scheduled to be completed this month, and we might have to put in extra hours if we are to prepare in good time for our big plant-up  in May.

We will give you  a further update next Thursday.

Site Clean up since our last meeting

You will undoubtedly notice that the site is considerably cleaner since the last Working Party due to:

• 26th March – a small group cleared leaves from the paths and burned off loads of twigs,
• 1st April Sue and Andrew cleared leaves and rubbish from the dropping well,
• Tuesday 8th April Harry cleared all the rocks and the stagnant standing water out of the basin, and with Andrew’s help cleaned the site in advance of last Wednesday’s visit by Kate Harwood and students of the Hertfordshire Gardens Trust.

The HGT visit was very successful. Kate Harwood showed her thanks by presenting the FOD with a fern Polypodium vulgare which she planted to a full fanfare of shouts and encouragement from all those present.

Tasks for Thursday 19th April 2018 

Weeding and Nettle Control

If we have time to organise this with the Borough Council, we might undertake some nettle spraying in non planting-bed areas.

We should continue to hand weed nettles from the planting beds

Daffodil Rescue

We will dig out as many of the daffodils as possible on the Tufa Bed which are now past their best, and store them for later re-planting.

Whips and Shrub management

Clear around all the whips and shrubs planted in February, to allow them to grow unimpeded by weeds.

Puddingstone Removal

Removal of dumped tufa rock is scheduled as a task for the Maydencroft Digger, but because many of the dumped stones are unusable it will help if we can separate the more valuable pieces that we want to keep, including the puddingstones and some pulhamite fragments. The purpose is to maximise the use of the digger by presenting an uncomplicated pile of redundant stone ready to be removed from the site completely in one go.

The puddingstones are to be removed to a safe place to await further investigation.

Rabbit Scrapes

Fill some of the rabbit scrapes where they have dug holes in the banks so that more grass seed can be sown.

Other Tasks

These can be determined on the day, and will be dependent on available resources and ground conditions.

Visitors

On Friday 20th April, we are expecting two or three members of the Hertfordshire Gardens Trust who visited us last week, and have asked to return to study our Puddingstone samples more closely.

Dates of Future Meetings

Saturday 5th May 2018 – Fernery Garden Group

Thursday 17th May – Fernery Working Party

Saturday 2nd June – Fernery Garden Group

SUNDAY 17TH JUNE – WELWYN FESTIVAL OPEN DAY – 2pm to 5pm

Thursday 21st June – Fernery Working Party

Danesbury’s Park Field – Scrub Bashing and Path Clearance

July/August/September – we will continue gardening activities, but we will plan some overdue scrub-bashing work on the Park Field.

Meeting Place – Thursday 19th April 2018

We will meet at The Fernery at 10 am. The leaders will expect to be on site from 9.30 onwards to get the tools ready, so if you are an ‘early bird’ and can help, please do so.

All team members should have good quality garden gloves and wear strong boots, and bring a hot drink for elevenses. We will provide small hand tools for general use.

For newcomers, the Fernery can be found at the top end of North Ride on the Danesbury Estate, AL6 9RD. For more details please go to ‘Where We Are‘ tab at the top of the page.

The weather turned out much better than forecast. Still a cold wind blowing from the East, but the rain held off for the 14 volunteers to enjoy a good morning’s work, and to welcome our visitors..

Scheduled Tasks

Task 1    We started attending each and every staked whip and shrub that we had planted in February to ensure that a secure wire surround was fitted, and that protective tubes were well anchored.

Task 2  We began to seriously weed the planting bed to the left of the entrance path which we are confident is another of Anthony Parsons’ special ‘tanked’ beds. (See How to Grow the Best Ferns)

Task 3 

We tidied up the immediate surrounds of all new whips and young trees. This will be the start of a continual process to prevent Ragwort smothering the new trees before they are properly established.

Tasks 4 and 5 

The wet ground underfoot prevented us from tackling scheduled Tasks 4 and 5:

• Bonfire
• Leaf blowing

Task 6 Fencing

Stephen, with help from Andy, continued to expose wrought iron panels deeply buried on the East side of the site, which we plan to lift and use as infills to complete the run of fencing on the West side, adjacent to the site entrance.

Visitors – British Pteridological Society (BPS)

We welcomed Dr Peter Blake. Peter is the Area Representative of the British Fern Society, and he had travelled across from Norwich in poor weather to join us. Peter and Nick were given a guided tour around the site, which they were surprised to find is more extensive than they had imagined. They also saw that we do not have many ferns showing at this time, but nevertheless Peter gave us good advice on the types of ferns we should be aiming to plant, and he also recommended the areas on the site where they would do best.

Peter Blake declared that he looks forward to visiting us again, although unfortunately he will not be available to join us on our Open Day on Sunday 17th June 2018.

It is evident that Peter will spread the word about our Project within the BPS, and hopefully thereby attract their interest in our activities.  Through our membership of BPS we will hope to gain the benefit of members’ advice and perhaps their surplus stock too!

Following the visit, we were asked to provide The Pteridologist with a Report of our activities for publication in the next edition of their regular Journal, all of which attracts wider publicity to our benefit.

Dates of Next Meetings

Monday 26th March – Ad Hoc tidy up work party

Saturday 7th April  – Gardening Group

Wednesday 11th April  Visit by the Hertfordshire Gardens Trust

Thursday 19th April – Working Party

All the above dates and details can be found on our website under the Calendar Tab.

N.B. Maydencroft operatives and their heavy equipment will be on site from Monday 9th April to 20th April and extra precautions will need to be taken.

March 15th 2018 Work Party

Visitors – Area Representative of the British Pterodological Association.

Weather permitting Mr Peter Blake will be visiting from Norwich. We hope that he will be able to give us the benefit of his knowledge of the types of ferns we might aim to plant, and their best positions. He will also then be in a position to talk about our plans and ambitions to other members of the BPS .

Garden Development – some necessary re-scheduling

Publication of this Notice has been delayed due to unavoidable last minute adjustments to our Work Schedules, which will affect this coming Thursday 15th March 2018, and the following two months too.

There are a few reasons for this:

• Rabbits have been nibbling/destroying some of the plants/trees we have recently planted.
• We have to prevent that happening before we start planting tender plants.
• Sarah, our Garden Designer, will be absent until 21st April and we will not therefore be able to place the ‘Big April Order’ for the remainder of the plants on the Planting List, until she returns.
• Sarah needs to be present to direct planting operations.

A delay in the next round of planting from April to May 2018 offers perceived benefits. 

• Sweet new grass will have started growing and (we are told on good authority) rabbits prefer grass to nursery grown plants.
• A delay of planting by one month (to May 2018) will enable the Maydencroft mechanical digger to undertake scheduled 2 x week tasks (from 9th – 20th April) without the earlier concerns we had of  interference with the parallel work of the volunteers on the planting programme.
• The mechanical digger is scheduled to reduce (i.e. lower) some planting beds; undertake further spoil removal from the rockwork; extend earlier excavation of paths and earthworks.
• The mechanical digger will also lift the tufa rocks from the central planting bed in the dell, to be stored for future use, and also remove rocks dropped by vandals in the dropping well basin.
• By synchronising Work Party activities with the work of the mechanical digger, volunteers will have more time to prepare new beds for planting before Sarah’s return, and before the purchase of the next tranche of plants.

Task 1 – Rabbit Protection

(Contractors are reducing the rabbit population for us).

We have to double-check that all the recently planted trees/shrubs are protected either by plastic tubes or by chicken wire.

Plastic tubes should be buried in the ground by approx. 1″- 2″ so that rabbits cannot push them aside.

Chicken wire should ideally be pegged in triangles with approx 4″ gap between the wire and the plant, to stop rabbits nibbling through the wire.

Task 2 – Weeding existing planting beds

This is a continuation of the work that Sarah and her gardening team have been  undertaking in recent months. If we have a bonfire nettles can be burnt.

Task 3 – Weeding newly planted trees and whips

As rabbit protection is checked/improved for each plant, (see Task 1 above) a start needs to be made to clearing grass and weeds (including ragwort) from an an area of approx. 12″ diameter around each plant, which cleared space should then be maintained on an ongoing basis.

Task 4 – Site Clearance – Bonfire

If the Weather is suitable we will have a bonfire. 

This will be the first step towards site clearance in preparation for the Open day on June 17th 2018.  There are fallen branches laying around the site, and nettles to be burned as they are dug up. Mulching Cage No. 1 also needs to be opened and sorted to remove material that should be burned.

Task 5 – Site Clearance – leaf collection and mulching cages

If the weather is suitable we will have another go at lifting more autumn leaves from the paths with the Leaf Blower and with rakes, and start to fill the new Mulching Cage No. 2

Task 6 – Excavation

Depending on resources available, we will continue to expose the brick walls at the North end of the site, in preparation for the April arrival of the Maydencroft digger.

We will also continue to trace the direction of the path at the top of the steps on the South side.

Other Future Planned Activities.

Metal Detector – Tony Rook

Our training day with Tony was postponed because of inclement weather.

Meeting Place

We will meet at 10 am at The Fernery on Thursday 15th March 2018. The leaders will expect to be on site from 9.30 am to get the tools ready, so if you are an ‘early bird’ and can help, please do so.

As mentioned above, we are expecting visitors from the British Pteridological Society.

All team members should have good quality garden gloves and wear strong boots, and bring a hot drink for elevenses. We will provide small hand tools for general use.

For newcomers, the Fernery can be found at the top end of North Ride on the Danesbury Estate, AL6 9RD. For more details please go to ‘Where We Are‘ tab at the top of the page.

STOP PRESS – Bad Weather Forecast

The long range weather forecast for Thursday is bad – very heavy rain is expected.

Common sense will come into play, as the site might get too dangerous and work will be abandoned.

Screening

The prime purpose of many of the bare-rooted trees planted on 23rd February is to restore the shelter which the more delicate ferns and other specimen plants would have enjoyed in the past. An equally important purpose is to screen the site from unwelcome Motorway views, (not a Victorian problem), whilst also presenting seasonal blocks of colour and interest which will frame the many other vistas to be enjoyed from within the Fernery.

The following extract is from Picturesque Ferneries and Rock Gardens by James Pulham 2nd c.1877 p.15

Kate Banister of the Hertfordshire Gardens Trust kindly sent me a copy of this extract on 10th February 2017, and it has sat in my files, waiting for an opportunity to develop the website so that we might present it in the wider context of the history of the development of Anthony Parson’s Fernery.

James Pulham writes:

“Mr Williams, the well-known fern and orchid cultivator says: ‘That he should advise fern lovers to visit Mr Parsons art (sic) Danesbury, and see this charming spot, and his favourite; and everyone having a taste for chaste and elegant foliage. The rock-work here was executed by Pulham.’

I may add, when I took the place (Ed. i.e. when James Pulham 2 agreed to do the job) I found it a rubbish hole (as I have other places before): this enabled an interesting cave and dropping well to be formed in Pulhamite rock; the former in the bank, for a shady seat, and though built up to close it, it is quite dry, great care being taken in construction to exclude all damp from passing into the wall, which generally makes such places damp and uninviting to sit in”

Kate Banister opined when she sent this extract  to me, that this report from ‘the man himself’ presents clear enough evidence that originally the grotto would have housed a seat. Kate also concludes that the quoted reference  to ‘chaste foliage‘ would indicate that the purpose of the grotto and seat, and its secluded position within a  ‘dingle and dell’ setting, overlooking rocky beds and ferns, would likely as not have been for courtship!

At short notice the Borough Council delivered  500 x Snowdrops and 500 x Aconites – all ‘on the green’ (i.e. well rooted with full stems and leaves). We had to get them planted in a hurry, and volunteers stepped forwards to help on 25th February 2018.

But because of fears of frozen ground a last-minute postponement was circulated. As happens, a few volunteers who hadn’t received the ‘postponement notice’ did nevertheless turn up and perversely we found that the ground underneath the large oaks was in fact in perfect condition. So, although bitterly cold, the five of us got busy! Apologies go out to all those volunteers who, but for the ‘postponement’, would have joined us.

Sarah directed the planting and we have created a ‘Spring Bed’ which will in time show well.

.

Task 1 – Planting

The 16 volunteers had to be watchful as we moved around the site, as the pathways were dangerously slippery from the recent heavy rain. But, despite days of cold and rain, we had a beautifully clear and bright day to start the process of bedding in bare-rooted trees, and a few specimen potted plants too. These needed to be planted in advance of the Big Plant-up scheduled for April 2018.

Planting Record

Please go to Danesbury Fernery Planting Record to see a list of the 100x  trees and shrubs, and a few perennials, which the volunteers planted on 15th February 2018 under the direction of Sarah Marsh, our Garden Designer.

Screening

The prime purpose of many of the bare-rooted trees planted is to restore the shelter which the more delicate ferns and other specimen plants would have enjoyed in the past. An equally important purpose is to screen the site from unwelcome Motorway views, (not a Victorian problem), whilst also presenting seasonal blocks of colour and interest which will frame the many other vistas to be enjoyed from within the Fernery.

A great deal of planning is underway to ensure that the mechanical digger will be able to operate on site in the two  weeks commencing 9th April without impeding the designated Big April plant-up.

Task 2 – Mulching Cage

Mike was able to cut his way through the brambles and with Andrew was able to build a second mulching cage which will gradually be brought into commission.

Task 3 – Excavation – North side

Mike also managed to excavate more brick ‘foundations’ at the North end of the dell, which throw up even more unanswered questions.  

Are they in fact foundations of some sort, or perhaps elaborately shaped planting beds? In April when we have the mechanical digger on site, we will carefully remove some of the spoil above that area to see if we can come up with the answers.

Task 3 – Fencing

Stephen continued the very hard and slow task of digging out old wrought-iron fencing panels from the lower side of the site, where they have lain unseen for many years, under several feet of chalk and spoil.

We are gradually moving these original panels to fill gaps in the fencing on the top side of the site where they are in full view of visitors. In the fullness of time, we will plan to replace the fencing on the lower side with replicas.

Task 4 – Excavation South side – The Steps

Ann and Becca continued their exploration of the steps on the South side of the dell.

As with the discoveries at the North end of the site, every piece of excavation throws up more questions about the direction these steps are taking.

Task 5 – Watering

Last but by no means least, Harry got a temporary watering hose into action for the first time from our new mains supply in the shed. He and Tony watered many of the new plants, and next week it is hoped that our new self winding reel and 40 m hose will be installed, ready to be tested over the entire site. We will report on that separately, as we will need to organise a watering roster of volunteers.

Team News and Announcements

New Members

We were very pleased to welcome four new team members: Jane Thom, Mike Smith, Sylvia Cook, and Richard Tucker – not forgetting Sara who joined us last month.

Welwyn Festival  – Open Gardens Programme 2018

We have been accepted as one of the Open Gardens within the 2018 Welwyn Festival Open Gardens Programme. We have made impressive excavation progress on the site since our Open Gardens introduction in 2017, and we can now add considerably to the overall interest value by proudly talking about, and showing, the emerging Victorian Garden.

We will be ‘Open’ on the afternoon of the SUNDAY 17TH JUNE 2018

This is the 1st Sunday of the Welwyn Festival – i.e. the day after the ‘Street Market’,traditionally the Festival  opening event.

We will have more news, and plans to publish over the next two months, and must expect that June will come around very quickly!

Dates of Next Meetings

(Please go to our Calendar for details of all meetings).

Fernery Gardening Group

Saturday 3rd March 10 a.m.

Work Parties

Thursday 15th March  10 a.m. The Fernery