August 2023

18 Buckden Roundabout August 2023 Village News Our July Garden Party turned into an “ Indoor Garden Party ” thanks to untimely rain, but 15 ladies braved the weather to find a warm welcome at the home of Ruth and Ken Nicholas. The table groaned with delightful and varied offerings of food brought by the members and we all en- joyed two fun quizzes provided by our president Emma Spen- cer. Jessica Blagborough brought along the Buckden W. I. ar- chive and long - standing members helped to put names to some of the older photographs, whilst all of us were interested to see pictures and information about the activities of the insti- tute in days gone by and up to more recent times. Over the Summer we hope to hold an afternoon garden meeting as weather allows, again kindly hosted by Ruth Nicho- las. Our next full meeting will be on 7 th September at 7.30p.m. in the Millard Suite, when the subject will be “ It shouldn ’ t happen to a home economics teacher! ” New members and visitors will be most welcome. For more information please contact Emma Spencer: 07960 018412 or Judith Armitage: 01480 811717 Knot Garden News This summer many of the herb and dye plants are in flower and responding well to the sun and showers, some of them a bit too well. In the Dye Bed there are two plants not used for dyeing wool. Before spun wool is dyed it needs to be scoured - or washed. The Soapwort plant (Saponaria officinalis) can still be used for this as it was in Tudor times. The leaves and roots should be soaked in water for 24 hours, then strained, producing a gentle soap which can be used to clean delicate fabrics, especially woollens. If fat or grease needs to be removed a stronger soap is needed and the whole plant should be chopped up and boiled before being allowed to cool and then strained. The Soapwort plants are easy to recognise, they have stems about 70cm long which sprawl across the bed. They have pink/ white flowers from May to September with a stronger scent at night. This is one of the plants that pops up in other Knot Gar- den beds as it is a very enthusiastic self seeder and rooter. Another plant used in the production of woollen fabrics is the native teasel (Dipsacus fullonum). The spiky heads were used to brush or tease woven woollen fabrics to produce a soft sur- face, they could also be used for carding wool before it was spun. The teasels are hard to miss in the Dye Bed as they are now about 9 feet tall, usual height is around 6 feet. In summer, the teasels have green spiky heads with rings of small purple flow- ers in July and August. The bees love the flowers and goldfinch- es enjoy the seeds in the au- tumn as the seed heads turn brown. We ’ ll be saving the seed heads in the late autumn after the birds have finished the seeds. After drying we ’ ll put them out for any dried flower arrangers to collect, hoping they will re- member to leave a donation. Other plants are also growing fast. The hops and vines are ob- structing the walkways so we are regularly cutting them back or tying them to the wires. We have started pruning the box hedges. It ’ s a long job and if anyone can help, please drop into the Knot Garden on a Tuesday morning ready to start cutting.