Dereks Diary Part 2

Showery this afternoon. While it was fine I was carrying on putting up the wooden frames. I had to make a new side for one of them.
When it was raining I went in the greenhouse. Planted 50 odd onion sets into drinking cups and pricked out 50 odd dwarf delphiniums ,also into drinking cups.
This evening I have been pricking out penstemons, calendulas and petunias.

I told you 2 weeks ago about our visit from Blackleach to Manchester museum and that we will be collecting specimens of insects etc. for the museum .Well, that is what we will be doing tomorrow morning. This evening at 7.00 a few of us met at Blackleach to fix traps up . There is a white tent designed to attract insects to fly in and then get trapped in a bottle. There is a moth trap which is lit up to attract them and 4 pit fall traps buried to their necks in the ground.
Apart for this I have had a full days gardening. This morning I fixed up the rest of my aluminium frames . These are all dismantled when not in use and stored behind the greenhouse. I have 6 of these,2 six foots and 4 four foots. One has a piece of glass missing so I will have to go and get one.
This afternoon I have been on the allotment carrying on with weeding one of the herbaceous borders. It is very difficult because it is full of couch grass and buttercups.
when I went to Blackleach this evening I left Rosemary pricking out French marigolds. When I got home I did some African marigolds, cosmos, statice, and rudbeckias.

Spent most of the day carrying on potting chrysanths into 5 inch pots and putting them into the frames, as I was doing yesterday. All the disbud varieties are done and I started doing the sprays. Also put the sweet peas into the frame.
Rosemary has been pricking out French marigolds again. I have finished the alyssum and I am just going to do some more African marigolds, then annual chrysanths and lavatera if I have time..

Went on the allotment this afternoon and carried on weeding the back herbaceous border.
This evening I have been pricking out Nicotiana sylvestris, helichrysum and stocks.

Went on the allotment this afternoon carrying on with the weeding.
Three grafted aubergine plants arrived from Dobies and I planted them in 3 inch pots. I didn't sow any Kelsae onions in January when I should have done so I ordered some plants from Fothergills. These also came today and I potted them into drinking cups. Not much time for pricking out this evening because I wanted to watch the new allotment programme on telly but I have done a few stocks.

I was interviewed by a lady at Blackleach country park last week about volunteering for an article which is going in the Salford Advertiser either this week or next and I thought you may be interested to read it.
"Lifelong chemistry between Derek and Blackleach country park
Ask gardener Derek Brooks and he will tell you that there is a lifetime of chemistry between him and Blackleach country park.
The park where he now volunteers every week used to be Dennis's chemical works -and that is where Derek,78,spent most of his working life.
On the site of the former laboratories where he used to test bleach and dyes Derek now grows herbs and wild flowersand spends hours passing on his lifelong love of plants and wildlife to hundreds of visitors
He is one of a dedicated team of volunteers who help Salford Council to run Blackleach Country Park.
Derek, of Oakwood Drive, Walkden said "I was attracted to volunteering because I am interested in wildlife and because I worked in the very spot Blackleach Country Park was created on. I went straight from Farnworth Grammar School to Dennis's and worked there for 24 years. The company wrote to the school asking for a suitable boy and my chemistry teacher thought I would do ,so that was that."
The works closed down in 1976 and the land with its two reservoirs and a rail line running through it lay derelict for 15 years until Salford City Council turned it into Blackleach country park.. Nine years later when he retired Derek returned to the site as a volunteer.
Now he spends one and a half days a week at the site manning the visitor centre and gardening and also leads fortnightly health walks as well as carrying out regular bird and plant surveys around the park.. He also helped to design an orchard on the site.
"The rangers are often out on site and I keep the visitor centre open for people to pick up information or use the facilities. I meet and greet people and answer the phone" said Derek who also donated his own photos of the chemical works for display in the centre.
"I am a very keen gardener and I grow wild flowers in three nursery beds to plant around the site. I plant up flower beds and our herb wheel and bring in plants from my own garden if needs be. My wife, Rosemary ,and I walk round the site every two weeks recording all the birds and plants we see and log them on charts in the visitor centre. "
In addition to running his own allotment and garden ,Derek has been a committee member and show secretary of Worsley horticultural society for many years. He helps serve at their supply hut on Saturday mornings which ofte involves giving advise to members about their gardens. and also volunteers one afternoon a week at St.Pauls primary school ,Walkden, where he's helping children to grow vegetables. And every Christmas he organises the annual city wide Salford garden bird survey where hundreds of people record the birds they see in their gardens to keep track of how different species are faring "