After the party

Inspirational videos abound about how to plant a wildflower meadow, and how wonderful it will look when it’s in full bloom.  There are not so many about what happens towards the end of summer, after the lovely flowers have blown.

Cutting and raking are not very glamorous tasks.  From a habitat-conservation PoV, however, clearing up after the summer party is a vital job.  Cuttings have to be removed from the site, so that the (poor) nutritional value of the soil remains about the same. 

Enter Green Gym:

Warden goes ahead with a cutter – preferably, as with today’s session, a few days ahead, so the volunteers’ ears are not distressed by the sound of the motor, and the cuttings have time to dry.  Green-Gymmers and other volunteers come after, doing the raking and loading into wheelbarrows:

This generates a third job, that of the pitchfork-wielding lord of the compost heap:

“I do enjoy this job: a few seconds’ maximum effort, and then I can stand and enjoy the sun.”

Raking!  I can’t say it is a favourite occupation of Green-Gymmers.  It’s simple, repetitive, and surprisingly hard work:

A Green-Gymmer takes a well-earned 'five'

This isn’t raking the yard or even just a lawn that we’re talking about: it’s systematically raking a small field.

One good point about raking after a meadow cut is that it allows for plenty of conversation between the workers.  Which at Green Gym means a lively mix of:

• the serious (“Did you know Red Kites look for worms?”  Answer is YES)
• the fun (hearing of someone’s holiday home in Bergerac, “When I hear the word Bergerac, I think of the Jersey detective”; “I think of Cyrano de ...”; “I think of wine”; “Where is it?”  Answer is south-west France, in the Dordogne)
• and the frankly bizarre (“Was Hiawatha a woman?”  Answer: NO!)

Being Green Gym, faced with a large task which not even the warden seemed confident we would complete (though I was sure we would), the trick was to break down the job into a series of smaller patches to clear.  This in turn led to an interesting discussion of the definition of a scalene triangle (not equilateral or isosceles, so did not feature much in school ‘trig’) and the proof that angles inside a triangle always add up to 180° (well, they do in Euclidean geometry).  Why?  Because that was the shape of that particular patch which could be cleared by tea-break. 

Humble Pie Time

My apologies to fellow-Green-Gymmers: was so busy at the time thinking of the right-angles used in one proof that I think I said “360” when I meant “180 degrees”.  360° is the sum of the angles inside a quadrilateral.

Tea-break is, of course, an important component of Green Gym.  Time to ‘replen’ on hydration and high-GI carbohydrates.  Time to chat – or to chill out:

There is also often the fruit of our labours on previous visits to be seen.  This morning we could gauge the health of trees we have planted in previous years.  This young spindle is doing particularly well:

As more of the seeds ‘pop’, there will be a striking display of bright orange:

There were also ‘finds’ to look at.  Here, a mallard egg uncovered by raking:

It was only when examined a little more closely that one could get a sense of how large the egg was:

Left back on the ground where it had been found, it will make a good meal for some predator.

This is comfrey (Symphytum officinale), long used as animal fodder and for herbal remedies – also good as a compost activator:

Use of this plant internally or on open wounds has been questioned in recent years.  As far as I can see, one would have to ingest industrial quantities to be at risk; but it may be not such a good idea to pour a cup of traditional comfrey tea.

Finally, at the end of the session came what one volunteer describes as “the best bit: when you look back at what you’ve achieved – it’s very satisfying.”  For some Green-Gymmers this morning the finish also meant a visit to the stream to pick a little watercress …

plus an invitation from a villager, who lives nearby, to call and collect surplus apples from the tree in her garden.