Digging for victory

ASSISTANT gardener Rosie Wheeler has fully settled into her role on the outdoor team.

She and head gardener Brett Moore have been hard at work on winter projects in preparation for next year's Britain in Bloom competition.

The main toil so far has been done in the chapel garden. All the ivy has been pulled off the old walls and archway and the entire garden is being redesigned. It tends to get overgrown very quickly and the new design will make it easier to maintain through the busy months.

Flower gardens have become extremely popular within the green-fingered world in recent years. It is fashionable to have a specifically designed garden in keeping with your environment. So, Rosie has been given the task of designing a wild flower garden to enhance Herm's natural beauty.

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Islanders got together over the weekend for a mass acorn planting.

A little while ago, a huge oak tree behind the White House Hotel was being pollarded – the top and branches being cut off to encourage new growth. While this was being done, a huge number of acorns were dislodged. The gardening team duly collected these for future use.

Planting each and every one of the 467 acorns would have been a time-consuming job for gardeners Brett and Rosie, so they called in reinforcements.

Twenty-three islanders turned out on a drizzly Sunday morning to meet at the potting shed and individually pot each acorn. With all hands on deck, it took little more than an hour.

'This island has amazing spirit and that's why I love it,' said Brett.

It's always nice to know that the community is willing to get involved in things like this. This is why we do so well in competitions like Floral Guernsey and why we have such high hopes for next year's Britain in Bloom.

The children are always happy to help (or, in some cases, to menace the adults with hosepipes and clots of earth), making these things nice family activities for a weekend morning. The fact that they are afterwards rewarded with refreshments doesn't hurt and the free cakes are always a welcome incentive.