LIFE, DEATH AND SEX AT 'DIG IN'
What a lovely, lovely, morning at DIG IN today (Friday 6th May). Unfortunately the young people from Summer Care, who normally come along on a Friday morning, didn't turn up because Anna who brings them was on leave. So, there was just the three of us - myself, Sue and Geoff. We noticed that the plot is looking really good. Lots of hard work done by Pauline and her diggers.
Sue did lots of watering – she studied the list of what needed watering which Pauline had put up on the shed and carefully recorded the water we had put on Sharon's research bed – while Geoff struggled to get to grips with our newly-serviced lawn mower. He said the mower was fine but that we really need a strimmer to get the grass under control. Once the grass is shorter our new mower will keep on top of it. (The strimmer which Anna gave us is still being mended).
After a cuppa and piece of iced bun under the shade of our wonderful huge oak tree I turned my attention to the raised bed of salad leaves bed which is a joy. All those lovely leaves of various colours and tastes. Over breakfast that morning I had been reading 'Salad Leaves for All Seasons' by Charles Dowding and I resolved to do better by our raised salad bed! If only I can make sure we harvest the leaves as they are ready and sow new seeds as replacements, the theory is that we can have those lovely leaves all year round (as long as we make sure the slugs and pesky pigeons don't get them first).
** By the way – I have recently been reading another wonderful book called 'The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari' which I picked up from our latest swishing table (not sure who put it there) and it was suggested there that your health can be massively improved if you accompany every meal with a plate of salad so I'm going to give that a try!)
I digress … just as I was finishing fussing around the salad bed, along came John (Longhurst) who knows a bit about ponds and has agreed to come over now and then to monitor just what is happening in our pond … what creatures take up residence and how we should manage the life of the pond. It seems to boil down to minimal interference, although John did suggest we can speed up the diversity of life in the pond by introducing daphnia (which looks like a water flea but John tells me isn't a flea at all). Sue is hoping to get some for next week.
We also have the problem of plastic lining still showing round the edges. The pond plants are slowly spreading round but the 'beach' area (left shallow for creatures to venture in for a drink) still looks very plasticky. John suggested we get a couple of grass turves and put them along the 'beach' upside down. We can then get some wild flower seed specially chosen for damp places and sprinkle them along. The turves will sort of act like wicks and keep wet and, hopefully, we will be rewarded by a fine display of water edge plant-life.
We spent a very very pleasant half hour pond watching. It's amazing what John knows about ponds. He immediately spotted several damselflies who were mating – the male on top of the female and forcing her down into the water so she would lay her eggs under the duck weed. (So, from now on we'll have to stop using our little fishing net to keep the duckweed under control).
Pond skaters whizzing about on the surface. Snail trails in the mud at the bottom of the pond.
John also suggested we could introduce some more water snails but said that if I bring some from home I will have to put my snails in a 'quarantine' jar for a week or so to make sure they aren't infested with parasite worms which would be transferred to our DIG IN pond. By watching the snails in the quarantine jar for a few days we will be able to observe whether any parasitical worms emerge from the snail to come out to feed. If, after a few days, no worms emerge, we can assume the snails are clean and so introduce them to DIG IN for a long and happy life unless, of course, some other predator takes a fancy to them. In fact, as John described it, life at the pond is not only an orgy of sex among the damselflies but a battle for life between predators and victims!
John donated a magnifying glass to DIG IN and suggested that when we have a few people around he would come along with a white inspection tray and we can all do some pond dipping just to see who has taken up residence. He's also planning to do some line drawings for us to display on the shed.
The DIG IN plot was turned into a fairyland of twinkling lights for our annual bonfire party on Saturday when we were blessed with ... 
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For some weeks now we have been digging away to make a wildlife pond in our 'quiet corner' of the plot. We are making a willow arbour and have plans to make a seat from reuseable materials - pallets and the like. Anyone who can help with making the seat please get in touch!2.jpg)
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Carrots (some were a bit small)
Just imagine the scene: The bonfire is blazing, the soup and beannie stew are bubbling away, the fireworks are whizzing and the moon shines brightly down on the happy folk who turned out for WEN’s bonfire party at our community food-growing project ‘DIG IN’ on Saturday 7th November. Now aren’t you sorry you didn’t come along!!?
Just three months after taking over a bramble covered plot on the Manchester Drive allotments in Leigh for their food growing project, S E Essex Women's Environment were able to hold an Open Day at the plot on Saturday. 
The Open Day was very well supported by neighbouring plot holders, representatives of the Manchester Drive Allotment Society and the Leigh Council and lots of potential new group members. A good explanation was given of how the scheme will operate - a sticker will be awarded for every hour worked and this will be exchanged for produce at harvest time - and some visitors joined in making plant holders from newspaper and planting seeds. 
We intend to use a permaculture/no dig/organic approach to food growing as far as possible. 
Recruitment - The intention is to contact local groups/contacts to recruit group members. 
