Thursday 29th February 2024
Since March 1st will be with us tomorrow and we will be in the first day of Spring, we decided to spring clean our pond! All the rain means that we have not had to fill the pond or rain butt, but all the wind has left a lot of leaves and branches in the pond. We had 4 rules: shallow dipping only for dead leaves and branches, so as to not disturb creatures overwintering at the bottom; allow the excess water to drip into the pond first; return any creatures back to the pond and only use gloved hands to handle anything. With so many hands to the deck, they did a great job. A lot of snails were returned! We hope that this year we might see frogspawn as we say a pond in the area last year. We also noticed a lot of animal holes in the raised bed and the outside classroom. They might not have been from the same creature, but the size suggested, squirrel, rat or rabbit, as they were too small for a fox or badger. We checked in on our wormery and the worms are thriving-there are more of them-and they are bigger. A little bit of compost has been made in the bottom tray. Next week, we will turn our attentions to flora (plants) and will be mulching the fruit trees.