A very quiet morning for November’s working party – just a couple of us in a blanket of mist.

We worked on clearing spent willowherb stems from the overgrown extra half plot that is being adopted into the community growing area. The willowherb has long and regular stems which, woven in, help emphasise the curved shape of the meandering dead hedge that separates the growing area from the wilder parts. This dead hedge extension will need stakes (those will come from the hazel tree when it is coppiced next month) but the long nettle and willowherb stalks will hold it all together pretty well until then.

A surprise discovery was a mammoth wasps nest, with a few sluggish wasps sitting on its outer papery scales, venturing out into the mist every now and then. We carefully marked the spot and partly encircled it with a curve of dead hedge, to keep people from coming across it unexpectedly and disturbing the wasps.

Once we’d pulled the willowherb, we could see the space. This will need levelling, and the raised beds need moving into a better layout. There might even be room for some more rainwater collection, hopefully. But today was a start.

Thanks to Janet & Mr Thompson for today.