Category: nature-blog

Why we celebrate New Year on January 1st has always puzzled me.  The solstice is on (usually) the 21st of  December (and winter does not start till the 21 December anyway) after which the days get longer.  That is all plants are concerned with, longer days and warmth means get ready to grow.  So, why […]

All hands to the deck, or should we say all hands to the dig??  One thing is for sure, many hands make light work and fun for all! Even if it is raining cats and dogs… The community garden project has come on leaps and bounds this week. The before and after photos prove it. […]

Just a short one this month! As I write, there are still dahlias and alstroemerias flowering, a cucumber plant with a ridiculous appendage, several tomato plants with ripe tomatoes on, and ripe figs on an outdoor tree – what is going on?? – it’s November. I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised – climate change isn’t […]

Interesting timing of this press release!! The day of our Community meeting to address these issues! Good News!!   Press Release River Chess Association Established 2009 Affinity Announces turning off the Pumps Affinity Water have ended abstraction from their two pumping stations above Chesham. We warmly congratulate Affinity Water for taking the truly momentous decision […]

The Queen’s Green Canopy – a fabulous nationwide tree planting initiative In 2022, it will be our Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, and it is being celebrated in what I would consider to be the best of ways: by planting trees across the nation. Trees are the green anchors of our environment, giving shade, beauty, habitat and […]

New year, new day, new restrictions, except we can still get out into the garden, well, when the weather allows!! So, continue to stock up on seeds and plants, or at least put them on order.  Early potatoes are in garden centres now, so do not delay. At the end of the month, you can […]

Ash die back in Mount Wood and elsewhere. The permitted path in Mount Wood over the river towards Chenies has a lot of small trees and a few big ones which have died. These are all ash and infected with ash die back. Ash dieback (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus) is a fungus which originated in Asia. After […]

Thank you to Daisy C for the lovely shot at the end of the day.      

MILLION PEOPLE HAVE ACCESS TO A GARDEN That’s a lot of land for wildlife and nature All gardening is about human intervention. Traditionally, it’s been about imposing our will on nature and controlling what grows there. Gardening for wildlife has become popular in recent years with a focus on garden features that benefit wildlife such as […]

Natural sculpture! Photo shared by Will Hobhouse. If you have any interesting photos taken in lockdown do please share them with us. Send your images to [email protected]

Sarratt Wildlife Volunteers Sunday 12th was a perfect June morning, not too hot, sunny with fluffy white clouds above. The Foxgloves and Red Campion were blooming, birds were singing and it was a pleasure to be out. We were at Commonwood on a search and destroy mission. The little alien plant, the Small Balsam threatens […]

The River Chess is again very polluted and may have a real detrimental effect effect on human and animal health. Such a disaster and outrage that this keeps happening.  

Sarratt Wildlife Volunteers I may be tempting fate but we have been so lucky with the weather for our tasks this year.On Sunday May 9th we were again at Penmans Green, having another go at rooting out the scrubby brambles, and we worked mainly in warm sunshine. There were quite a lot of beautiful bluebells, […]

Community Garden August Update  The summer of 2021 will not be fondly remembered as a time of long lazy days and warm balmy evenings. Instead, we have had seemingly ceaseless rain and cloud, and very little of the sunshine we all look forward to. The community garden has weathered it fairly well, with the exception […]

2020 continues to throw surprises at us, almost unknown to have cherries, pea’s, broad beans, redcurrants and more all in fine form and taste at the end of June.  Lovely, but the freezer is already getting full. So what to do in July?   Keep picking and eating and enjoy because there are always jobs to […]

Community Garden April Update   It has been an unusual April – glorious sunshine on one hand, but desperate dryness and frost on the other – difficult conditions for growers! The Community garden has largely shrugged off these challenges and is showing an exciting glimpse of future bounty – peonies are showing good growth and […]

The Benefits of Houseplants  May 2020 / Garden Anyone who has ever paid us a visit at The Grove will know just how verdant our 300 acres are. From the moment you turn onto the sweeping driveway, you’re met with a breath-taking view of lush greens. Head Gardener, Natasha Geldenhuys, is also a big fan […]

Ahh,   November,  nothing more to do in the garden, just pull up the chair and read all the gardening books you bought during lockdown but never read. Far from it, there is still time to plant Tulips, even Daffodils ,clear out the pond, one can go on and on. With the poor weather already here, […]

Sunday the 16th of May, a call came from Chesham to Flo and Sue in Sarratt that a swarm of Bees could hopefully be moved into the new Sarratt Community garden behind the Sarratt store, where a recently fabulous new residence has been put in place ready for some new bees to move into. Great […]

I have recently received an email from Sarah Bentley who is the new CEO at Thames Water. She has recently visited the River Chess at various places and appreciates why the health of  the river is so important to everyone. She has accepted our request for a few local councillors to visit the Chesham plant […]

Chess River Water Quality – Meeting with Thames Water There was a meeting in the  Sarratt village hall on Friday 25 September with  Thames Water, to discuss sewage discharges into the River Chess. Richard Aylard, Sustainability Director Thames Water, made an interesting presentation and took questions from the floor. There were some encouraging news on two […]

June has arrived in fine style, hot and dry, great for the tan, not so good for plants.  They will need good watering every week or so, more often for shallow rooting plants like salad veg, tomatoes.  Also this year the soft fruit is suffering from lack of rain, so water them often to swell […]

 Chenies Manor House update. We are hard at work with preparations at Chenies Manor House and aim to open our Gardens in mid-July. The exact date is yet to be confirmed, so please keep your eyes open for details on our website https://cheniesmanorhouse.co.uk/  and social media pages (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter). If in doubt, please call 01494 762888 to […]

Hello! Now September is with us keep picking and preserving (freeze, bottle, jam, etc.) all the delicious products you grew during the year. As the plants go over, dig up and burn any infected ones, the rest go into the compost bin. Keep making layers of grass and vegetable/fruit matter, a nice sandwich with, if […]