"The gardening season officially begins on January 1st, and ends on December 31." - Marie Huston
Yes, we have had a full year of gardening, despite distancing, lockdown, banana loaf, Zoom meet ups and masks. But we are giving volunteers Xmas day off. Unless of course they fancy a walk to work off their dinner. And if they have had a turkey, perhaps they followed the tradition of pulling the wishbone with their little fingers. The person who ends up with the biggest piece gets their wish granted. This is thought to be the origin of the term ‘lucky break’, apparently. I’m not sure what the vegan/ vegetarian equivalent is, perhaps you pull a weirdly shaped vegetable? Suggestions please.
December is an important month in the sky, we have had the winter solstice with it’s shortest amount of daylight. The Geminids meteor shower last week and everyone was looking at the sky on the 21st to see the brightness of Saturn and Jupiter. There’s a full ‘cold moon’ on the 30th, which is the highest and brightest of the year, so lots of things to look up for.
Looking down though, volunteers have been decorating the garden for Xmas. Always a popular activity, it was good to see so many helping and making plans and the Moodie's made a great Xmas tree where the table was, near the front of the garden. It’s amazing what they have done with a pallet and plastic bottle tops.
The garden has it’s ‘Draw on Halton’ art exhibition on display against the back fence. This shows the entries for the Hazlehurst project run during the summer. People sent in artworks for a Halton related topic each week and these have been put together for visitors to the garden to look at. It shows different levels of ability and media and is well worth a visit.
As for the plants in the garden, we still have some colourful berries, our fungi and bulbs have started to appear. Something has been digging up the kale and cabbage, so not many are left. The rhubarb has a hat on to ‘force’ it. Stones for the rockery are gradually being delivered. We are keeping plants and the garden tidy. And of course the beds at the station are being maintained, despite plants looking flat from being sat on.
We have so many plans for next year. Particularly making the garden low maintenance and sustainable. And more art, garden and local history related activity sessions. And more people volunteering too. A busy year to come. So keep visiting the garden and looking at our website and Facebook page for updates.