Bishop Burton News March 2011
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BISHOP BURTON NEWS MARCH 2011 Two Hundred And Thirty Eighth Edition Last autumn we used a drawing of a harvest mouse, which was done by Matthew Arnold when he was a school boy and living in the village. He now works at the college where the Front Cover was brought to his notice. He still likes to sketch and kindly brought me this delightful study of a partridge – which we are using this month. The partridge is a medium sized brown, ground nesting game bird. When disturbed it rises suddenly with a whirring and gliding flight. It inhabits arable farmland and open country; it will doubtless have had a difficult time surviving this last winter. The coming of spring is being anticipated by the annual arrival of the grey-lag geese and I have noticed a coot (just one at the moment!) on the Mere. The birds are starting to sing whilst the snowdrops and aconites look lovely in the hedgerows and on Little Green. Spring will soon be here. Can we please have your articles for the May Edition before the 20th April. Please note the earlier date. We decided it would be best for everybody to produce the Newsletter before Easter and the Royal Wedding etc. (Hope we were right!) Editor [2] A MESSAGE OF EXPLANATION As Joan has written in her editorial „spring is on its way‟ and so the Newsletter has been having a bit of updating and spring cleaning! Whilst the articles stay the same I hope you will agree that the layout is much improved. This is not down to me but Bryn Jones, without his expertise and knowledge this would never have happened. Bryn has changed my computer programme to Word 2010 which is much more user friendly and comprehensive - when I have worked my way round it! The full Newsletter is now available on the web site. If anyone would like it by email for themselves or to forward to friends or relations then that is possible so please contact us. Contacts: Co-editor – Joan Pillmoor – 550270 “ Susan Leeding - 551277 – [email protected] Susan Leeding Co-editor BISHOP BURTON EVENTS GROUP Dates for your diary We are planning a Celebration of the Royal Wedding on Saturday 30th April 2011, details to be confirmed. Also the Hog Roast will take place on Saturday 9th July 2011 We look forward to seeing you all there! Ann Cherry [3] IAN LEAD’S GARDENING NOTES Hostas are extremely popular ground cover plants that originally come from Japan, China and Korea. They are particularly useful in the garden as shade tolerant plants and they can thrive in spots where other plants would not do well. They are primarily grown for their attractive foliage and produce a display from early spring until October, when they will die back naturally for the winter. The flowers are usually lavender-blue or purple, however some people prefer to cut the flowers off when they appear, in order to keep the foliage looking good for longer. Their leaves come in a wide range of shapes, colours, sizes and textures, and may be solid in colour or variegated in different combinations of blue, green, white and gold. Most variegated hostas look at their best with some sun, preferably early in the day. Blue Hostas need early-season sun to be their bluest but too much sun later in the year will melt the wax on their leaves. Another reason that Hostas are such popular plants is that they are generally easy and long-lived plants, relatively disease free, requiring little care other than watering and some fertiliser to enhance growth. They will benefit from a light mulching of well-rotted manure or leaf mould in early spring, but be careful not to cover the crowns as this can cause them to rot. Now is a good time to mulch them as their new shoots are showing and you can be sure to avoid covering the crown. It is important to use well-rotted mulch or you may be providing the perfect home for their most common pest - slugs. Hostas are notoriously a favourite food for slugs and snails which cause extensive damage to many Hosta collections. There are many methods of controlling slugs and snails. If you use slug pellets, put them down early before your Hostas are in leaf. This is when they begin their reproductive cycle and if you can exterminate one slug before it has hundreds of babies, you may be able to prevent the problem. The pellets can be placed under a piece of slate near to the base of the Hosta and this will protect them from the rain and [4] prevents them being picked up by pets. Slugs and snails are nocturnal foragers and if you go out at night with rubber gloves, a torch and a bucket you may be able to catch them on your plants and destroy them. They also love to hide in crevices, under plant pots and behind stones. So make sure that there is as little garden rubbish around as possible. Take their hiding places away. If your Hostas are in pots, you can protect the pots with vaseline or maintenance spray which will make them greasy, preventing the slugs and snails from climbing up. Other methods include beer traps, copper strips and gritty materials such as sharp grit or crushed oyster shells. You could trap them by laying wet newspaper on the ground overnight. They will be easily found the next day when you check beneath these. If you have tried these methods and are still having problems you may wish to try a garlic wash. To make a garlic wash, boil two crushed bulbs of garlic in a pan of water for 3 or 4 minutes. Strain the mixture and then mix one tablespoon of garlic wash to a gallon of water and sprinkle onto the leaves in dry conditions. This method will need to be repeated every two weeks. The mixture will apparently dry on the leaves making them rather unappealing to slugs and snails. Some popular cultivars include "Sum and Substance" which has yellow-green leaves and thrives in sun or partial shade, it grows to a height of 30 inches and a spread of 4ft. "Francee" has olive-green leaves with white margins and reaches a height of 55 inches with a spread of 3ft. "Gold Standard" has green-yellow leaves fading through yellow to cream with dark green margins. It will grow to a height of 26 inches with a spread of 3ft. Although most Hostas are grown for their foliage, some of the newer varieties are being bred with fragrant flowers. "Guacamole" produces 3ft tall flower stalks, bearing fragrant white flowers. It has avocado- green foliage with a bluish-green edge that reaches 18 inches tall with a 26 inch spread. It will thrive in partial shade where the sun can brighten the leaf centres. [5] MY OTHER LIFE It was warm by the Aga, warm piled up with Old Gruff and Angus, the moon casting a peaceful eye through the thin gingham. Old Gruff yelped in his sleep, twitched through his rabbit-chasing dreams, his claws raking my neck. The pain took me back, back to that child with her pinching fingers and biting teeth. "Naughty puppy!" she'd admonished "There now, I've bitten you back." Then she'd sat on the steps and cuddled me. I'd licked her pink face; got slapped for that. Out she'd flounced, slamming the gate. Hunched in the kennel, I shivered. Rain dribbled through the roof, wind stabbed in. I longed for my brothers and sisters. Where were they? Had they been chosen by children, just as I'd been chosen by Little Miss Pink? The kitchen door opened. He was coming. Scampering to the gate I wagged and wagged, paws scrabbling at the wire. He'd brought me here in his posh, warm Range Rover. He'd love me. His fat hand pushed me back, threw a handful of biscuits into the yard. Without a word he hurried in, collar high against the wind. That night it snowed. As grey streaks brushed the sky, he came again, tossed in a turkey bone, and left. Later, Little Miss Pink brought a boy to see me. He brought a ball, threw it for me, kicked it for me. Kicked me. Little Miss Pink giggled. They left - left me with a turkey bone and bruises. I heard the Range Rover start up. Wagged and wagged at the gate. Were they taking me home? Was I going home? No. Off they drove - him, Little Miss Pink, the kicking boy and a lady with long, yellow hair and red nails. I hadn't seen her before. [6] It was ages before I saw her again. That was when the man came. He knocked at the kitchen door. I wagged and wagged at the yard gate, scrabbling my paws on the wire. He spoke kindly; spoke sternly to her when she came. "Your dog," he said, "could I take a look at her?" He showed her a card. "I can't open that gate," she replied. "My nails aren't dry. What's it about?" He came into my yard: rubbed my ears, felt my ribs, spoke gently. Then he looked around, retched at the filth, picked his way through the piles to the old tank from which I drank, stroked away the slime from the surface, huffed and grunted as he made notes. I followed him to my kennel.