Wansteadium

 

 

Wansteadium’s gardening blogger, Ron, 91, gets ready for another season in the sun.

This is the third summer now, I think, that we’ve done these gardening articles. I’m sincerely hoping that this is going to be a good year – especially after last year – but it hasn’t started all that well to be honest.

I haven’t been to Wanstead Park this year, but I hear the bluebells are out now. I’ve got two or three clumps just flowering in my garden now – it’s late this year, but that’s not surprising when you remember how cold it’s been.

After last year’s miserable time, I did have high hopes for this year, but I don’t know what’s going on with the fruit trees. The apple blossom is doing well, but plum and other trees like my almonds really don’t seem to be doing very well. I haven’t seen really any bees about this year – I know someone was talking on Wansteadium a couple of weeks ago about their hives dying out from starvation because the winter went on so long, and I wonder if that might have something to do with it.

Anyone who’s been given a hyacinth in a pot, now’s a good time to plant them out in the garden so that they can come up next year. Don’t just throw them away, for goodness sake.

I’m just getting ready to plant out some of the vegetables I’ve grown from seeds in my lean-to, where it’s nice and warm.

This year I’ve done some shallots – and they’re doing pretty well so far. You’ll need to half set them into the ground – that means planting them with the bulb not completely covered with soil. But you will have to be careful that the birds don’t take a fancy to the twiggy stalk sticking up, because they may well come along and pull the whole lot up. Plant them about nine or 10 inches apart, and in two or three months you should have a number of shallots growing round each plant.

I’m also trying with some dwarf beans and Brussels sprouts. It’s good to try different growing different things.

In all the years I’ve been here in Wanstead, and with all the places I’ve been to, somehow I’ve never made it to the Columbia Road flower market on a Sunday morning in Hackney. My friends tell me it’s a great thing to go to, if you can get there early enough before the crowds arrive. I’ll maybe try and go this year. These photos my friends took look interesting.

 

Wansteadium reader Amir Gadwah writes:

On Monday 29th April 9:30pm we stopped suddenly as a little creature came running across from Northumberland Ave to the forest. I realised that it was a hedgehog, young and small.

This is welcome news indeed. Longtime readers will know that where hedgehogs are concerned, Wansteadium’s much admired impartiality takes a hike. Any more sightings are welcome, and if you can manage it, photos or videos too. Somehow we see the hedgehog as a barometer of natural Wanstead, carrying on despite whatever we throw at it.

Reports can be emailed to hedgehogs@wansteadium.com

After months of discussion, Costa seems finally to be moving on its Wanstead plans.

The firm yesterday advertised for the post of Wanstead store manager for a salary of £18,000 – £21,000, but does offer a 60% bonus scheme. In April the firm applied for permission for illuminated signs for a cafe at the former Enigma hairdressers at Clockhouse Parade. The application has not yet been decided, but the Wanstead Society is opposing the application, as they do with all plans for illuminated signs.

Last week a branch of the cafe chain opened in George Lane in South Woodford.

Earlier this year it was revealed that 1,700 people applied for just eight positions created when Costa opened a new cafe in Nottingham.

Renovated under-bridge pavement lights at Snaresbrook station plus creative late-night use of traffic cones almost made for an art installation. As spotted by Wansteadium reader Dave Burpitt.

Here’s a new thing. Wanstead now has its own range of greetings cards. They’re being produced by Geoff Wilkinson, the photographer behind Wanstead Daily Photo and Wansteadium’s own Wanstead Weekend Photo feature.

Geoff writes:

We are now selling both greetings cards and prints of the Wanstead Daily Photo blog.

The cards are A5 size, printed on textured photographic paper and come complete with envelope and wrapped in a cellophane bag. The inside of the card, on the reverse of the photograph is printed as a postcard so it can be detached and posted to friends etc. Alternatively the card can be mounted and framed as a keepsake. They make great reasonably priced gifts. We are pricing them at £3.25 and they are available from either the gallery or my website www.geoffwilkinsonphotography.com via the sales page.

The prints, which we are selling in two sizes framed, are either a 15 x 12 inch print, in a black 20 x 16 frame or an A4 sized print in a 15 x 12 inch frame. The prints are embossed with my name and signed on the mount. The 20 x 16 size is £49 and the 15 x 12 size is £39. At the moment the framed prints are only available from the gallery.

We can supply almost any of the Wanstead Daily Photo pictures as either a card or print. Plus everything is printed and produced at the Gallery in Wanstead !