Another hot week last week. Tuesday saw us at Blackford Pond; finishing securing the benches round the pond – with the help of the shiny generator – and removing and replacing old sleepers on the steps.
When the first of the sleepers was lifted out a small frog appeared! Maybe this is the key to getting the steps well fitted – insert one small frog along all the joins…. Anyhow there is clearly a knack replacing the sleepers as Neil and Pawan managed to get 4/5 steps fully replaced by lunchtime! After being harrased by dogs – excited by all the sticks and holes being dug – two side sleepers were finally cut, pushed, nudged and knocked into place.
On Wednesday we returned to Polkemmet and the invasive species removal (and midges). As well as removing the beech and sycamore saplings, we also took the liberty to pull up swayths of salmonberry.
How can I put this? There were midges. Lots. And lots. And lots and lots. And lots and lots and lots. They seemed to actually hang around at the bottom of beech and sycamore trees, so when you bend down to cut the trunk, they come in for the kill….. They defeated us in the end. (apparently there is actually midge repellent in the minibus – being told on return to the office – *sigh*)
On Thursday we were at Inverleith Allotments for the final time working on the hard-standing area and compost bins!
There were (a few) problems with cutting the planks to whatever the ‘correct size’ was (it was something like 46.2 and a half inches – difficult to measure)…getting the planks for the left bin muddled up with the right…cutting too many planks…and then having nearly all the drills die. The hard-standing area was filled in and randomly ‘decorated’ with red gravel.
And voila!
“THANKS for the excellent job on the composting area, we need to get it filled up now. Looks great and well worth all the effort you all put in.”
Stuart McKenzie, Inverleith Park Allotments Association.
To view photos of past and present project and our volunteers in action please click here