New Wiggly Catalogue

My new Wiggly Wigglers catalogue popped through the post this morning and it was good to see that Heather had chosen one of my pictures to appear of the front cover.

It always gives me a thrill to see one of my pictures appear in print and to such a wide audience.

Here is the original picture of Guelder Rose berries that was taken on the green space this January. Don't forget if you would like to order this plant or anything else from the Wiggly catalogue please consider clicking onto the pink button



as every purchase you make will help support the Green Space group . If you would like to order a catalogue you can either ring 01981 500391 or click on this link and fill out the form

Damson Gin From The Green

It has been a great year for damsons from the orchard so rather than just eating them we thought we would have a go at making Damson Gin.

As it turned out it is not a very difficult thing to do as the recipe is:-

1 lb/454 gms of washed wild damsons

6 oz/168 gms of white granulated sugar

75 cl bottle of medium quality gin

After collecting the damsons you wash them and discard any bad or damaged ones and then prick each damson with a fork

Add the damsons to a Kilner type jar together with the sugar

Finally add the gin and seal the jar.


You then shake the jar each day until all of the sugar has dissolved, once this has happened place the jar in a cool dark place for around 3 months minimum. You can drink it after this point but you can also leave it for up to a year (if you can resist) when you must then remove the damsons as they might spoil the gin.

We shall be doing the same sort of thing with some sloes from around the green once they are ready

Teddy Bears Picnic - take two

Finally we have had a spell of good weather and last Saturday we managed to have our Teddy Bears picnic. This was our second go at the picnic as the first one was washed out due to the rain.

The teddies got tucked into their picnics and enjoyed a whole day of sunshine. After the picnic most of them just lolled around and enjoyed the sun.

It was a different story for the humans, no lolling around, as the space hoppers were crying out to be bounced on, so to appease them we had some races.

We even had some full grown space hoppers and they were duly raced up and down the green.

Next up was the serious stuff, the welly wanging. To make it a bit more interesting we had a target to hit this time so more skill was required rather than just wanging it. As you can see the target looked a bit odd as I don't own a pair of yellow wellies.....

We are so lucky at the green space to have our own coach. Dave is one of only a hand full of professional welly wangers and is always pleased to show people his welly wanging skills. His other half didn't even know he possessed such skills and was quite bemused by his hidden talent.

The teddies were rounded up towards the end of the afternoon and were judged on their finery.

A great afternoon was had by humans, teddies and the space hoppers .... roll on next year and hopefully some better weather to go with it.

Help Support The Green Space By....

Purchasing all of your gardening, wildlife and Eco friendly products from

You can do this because Heather from Wiggly Wigglers has chosen us to become an affiliate member. This works to both our advantages, as we are introducing new customers to Wigglies and any purchase made through the link means that our group receives a percentage of any sales. For us to receive this you just have to log in and shop using the button below.




This button is also on the right hand side bar for future use. Wiggly Wigglers has been a big supporter of the Green Space from the very beginning, without their help we would have not achieved as much as we have and so by doing this it is a win win for both of us.

Lifting The 1st Earlies

It is becoming that time of the year when many vegetables are ready to harvest. The first early potatoes that we planted back in March being one of them.

The children that came down were fascinated to see the potatoes coming from the ground as this was a totally new experience for them.

With this being the first time that we have grown potatoes I was also a little apprehensive how they would turn out. As it was I needn't have worried as the potatoes were lovely and firm and in good numbers.

We only had to throw a couple onto the compost pile that were damaged from grubs


otherwise we had a good haul from the 8 plants that we lifted. The bounty of our harvest was then shared out amongst ourselves. Hopefully Mrs Greenspace will be using some this week so I will be able to report back how nice they where.

The space where the potatoes were, has been planted up with 3 courgettes, 2 rows of dwarf runner beans and some beetroot that was swopped for some potatoes.

What Great News...

At last nights 2009 Pride of Shropshire Awards ceremony,

Lawley Green Space Group

won the

"Shropshire Community Group Award"

This is a great achievement for our group, as the whole project has been carried out on a shoestring and with the good will of many people and organisations.

Here you can see our winners trophy, certificate and bottle of champagne.

And finally from me... I would like to thank everyone who has helped us get to this stage and hope that other communities have seen what we have achieved and are inspired.

Focus On....The Meadow

As most areas on the green are finished structurally I thought it would be a good idea to focus on one area in depth . So over the next couple of weeks you will be able to see more of each area.

The first area I shall take you through is The Meadow

The meadow has been under construction since Autumn of last year and it has involved building a dry stone wall, clearing out a small wooded area, making a fence around it , providing two benches, sowing some wildflower seed,creating two log pile/habitat things and finally marking out the area with 26 two meter logs. The view you are looking at it what you will see if you enter the meadow from the reindeer hut entrance.

As you can see the grass and wildflowers are starting to look quite meadowy and I think you will agree the logs marking out the area fit in very well. The paths will remain grass and will be strimmed every now and again to keep it short. I think leaving the paths grass adds to the feel rather than mulching them.

Several of the areas were sown with wildflowers around March time and they are just starting to fill out the beds and blend in with the grasses.

The log piles are also starting to blend in and the green roof will be in flower soon. You can also see our giant log pile in the middle of the picture, these logs where put there around 6 years ago and they are starting to break down quite nicely, creating habitats for insects.

I mentioned earlier that we had cleared out some of the lower branches from this wooded area, this has been planted with woodland plants and in the Autumn we shall be planting it with bluebells, so come next Spring it should look fantastic.


A bit of a closer look at the plants in the wood. The wooded area has a fence that goes around it which you can see at the top right of the picture. It is made from hazel and silver birch and works really well.

The view from the woods looking out onto the meadow. The two places blend quite nicely into each other by using the right plants in each area.

The dry stone wall is now complete with its grass bank. This has taken a while to establish due to the warm April, but with all of the rain we have had recently it has taken off.

And finally... this is the view from one of the benches and it one that I enjoy sitting on watching all of the insect. That in its self is important to me as I feel that we have created a useful habitat for many insects and other animals in what was just another bit of grass that was mowed once a month and was not a lot of use to anyone or anything.

So if you would like to have a closer look why not pop down and I'll fight you for the bench.