Gardener's World
It's all down to them. They didn't need Phil or Kirsty to find them a suitable on trend residence in Walthamstow, they found it themselves. I suspect it was the queen who'd do the search, no doubt using "Purple Bricks", Stow Bros, Coppermill Estates to narrow down the possible sites. And she chose my compost heap!
My compost heap is a disgrace. It is the result of a total lack of composting science on my part. Frankly I piled anything on it. As a result, while some stuff has rotted down into crumbly, sweet compost, much is half digested and doesn't deserve the name "compost".
Year after year it has taunted me. It seemed to say "Look at me, call yourself a allotmenteer!" and every year I promised to do something about it. Well this year I decided enough was enough, I was going to take it in hand and shake it up. No more Mr "Mrs May"!
I had a plan. I'd literally go thorough it and all the stuff that hadn't rotted down I'd bag up and take to the Council recycling centre. They love to compost anything be it grass or a cut down Sequoias - although we don't get too many of them here in Walthamstow.
Last week I attacked the pile. Bags were filled, compost sifted and I thought it was going great until my fork dug deep into the pile. It had penetrated into at least 3 years of green stuff. Well rotted grasses, cabbage stems that had hardly begun to decay and sprouting potatoes and onions. Joyfully I piled all the indigestible into bags to be carried off to the Low Hall council composting site.
And then as I energetically pushed my fork into the half decayed mess, I found myself surrounded by bumble bees. Quite a few, I didn't count but I reckoned there were at least 20. I'd struck a load of borage stalks - borage grows in profusion on my plot and bees love it. I thought they'd been attracted by the smell of decayed stuff, except the crowd of bees grew bigger and bigger. And they weren't buzzing off - no, they were buzzing around my head and going in and out of my heap.
They looked like they were in residence. In the back of my mind I recalled that bumble bees set up home in loads of places, including compost heaps - so I stopped digging, and went back to watering my peas...
Greg is our resident scientist and all round botanist. Name a plant and he'll give you its Latin name, it nearest relative and why you shouldn't dig it up. I called him over. Frankly I thought he was going to have a fit. He was so delighted. "Yep, that's a bumble bee nest. They'll be there 'til the end of summer."
So that's the end of my compost heap improvement scheme - until the Autumn. Which is fine by me. I've already set up three scientifically designed composters and my bumble bees can enjoy their des res in Walthamstow.
A new plot holder texted me today: they have a nest of bumble bees under the door of their hut. I sent them this link https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/bumblebee-nests/ They may have to give up their hut for the season!
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