What would we do without Luiz? He comes every morning and tidies up the churchyard. And Jenny? She comes and feeds the birds and keeps the weeds at bay. And Jonny and Chris – they are like the cavalry, swinging into view when the big stuff needs doing, like pruning the walnut trees or carving up and removing the fallen crab apple tree after the storm.
These are just a few of our wonderful garden volunteers, who have continued to toil selflessly in the churchyard in the first cold and stormy months of 2022. Because of the church renovations there has been nowhere to shelter or make refreshments, so I cancelled all volunteering until after Easter – but some people just won’t be told! Mondays have become our unofficial day of work.
Winter is the time to reflect on where we’re at, and what needs to change. Just as the church is refitting for a new world of climate extremes and energy reduction, so the churchyard is planning for a future of change. We are starting by converting the parterre garden, which has been ravaged over the years by Box Moth Caterpillar, to a woodland garden. We will remove the box hedging and tired seating, replant with shade tolerant ferns and flowers and create new paths and glades surfaced with mulched Plane Tree leaves. As these fibrous leaves naturally break down into compost we will move them onto the beds, and replace the paths’ surface every autumn with new leaves. There will be new wooden bench seating in this area and we will be enhancing the setting of the setting of the large mosaic bench at the back of church which was created as a memorial to homeless people who have died on the streets.
Despite our careful choice of drought tolerant planting throughout the churchyard, no plant can survive without water. We plan to harvest rainwater from the church roof into large water butts placed at either side of the church, where downpipes come off the flat roof extensions, and will be seeking funding for this project.
And finally, we will soon be grassing over the tiled area near the front gate and replacing the seating with a wooden bench seat. The seating area was created some 15 years ago in a low-lying dip and after heavy rain it always flooded with muddy water from the beds above. Although these mosaics have been a cheerful and colourful part of the churchyard for many years, they are difficult to keep clean and have come to the end of their useful life. We have invested in new shrubs behind and in front of this area and it will become a lovely shady spot to have lunch.
The churchyard survived storm Eunice with only one major loss, an old crab apple tree near the front gate. We knew it was diseased and planned to cut it down and use the stump as a trellis for a flowering climber, but Nature got there first. The empty space where the tree used to be is letting in more light, and already spring bulbs are loving it. Nature always finds a way!
St John’s Senior Community Gardener
