News and Events

Dec 2023 – things to do in your garden

Winter has certainly arrived in the past week with a cold snap taking us into the start of Advent. As we head towards the Festive Season we can enjoy lovely clear skies by day and look out onto beautiful frosty gardens in the mornings.

Hopefully, as Christmas approaches, you will also find some quiet time to sit somewhere warm and comfortable, to read some of the gardening magazines and books you never found time to read earlier in the year and conjure up some wonderful plans for your garden in 2024.

Some plants to enjoy in December

Winter-flowering heathers (Ericas), will flower in most garden soils for most of the Winter months and are very tolerant of both cold and exposure. Excellent for brightening up a few pots.

Mahonias are architectural shrubs with pinnate leaves and spiny tips, with beautiful bright yellow Winter flowers with a lovely lily-of-the-valley fragrance. Most Mahonias, such as Mahonia japonica, are large shrubs up to 3m tall, however there are also more compact varieties available.

Holly (Ilex) is a great shrub at any time of the year, but in Winter it provides vibrant green or variegated foliage with bright red berries which are loved by birds and festive decorators.

Stock photo of a robin on a wooden fence

Sweet box or Christmas box, (Sarcococca) is a compact, evergreen shrub that bears tassels of tiny creamy-white, strongly scented flowers in deepest winter. This plant does well in shady areas.

Skimmias are evergreen shrubs which bear tiny white scented flowers and bright red berries at this time of year.

General Garden Maintenance

• Clean, oil and sharpen your garden tools ready for Spring.
• Keep bird feeders well-stocked with a variety of treats for your garden visitors and ensure water is also available to them in freezing conditions.
• Although it makes sense to water plants sparingly at this time of year, make sure that container plants and pots in the greenhouse don’t dry out completely.
• Protect tender palms and tree ferns from frost. Pack a few handfuls of straw into the crown, tie up the leaves or fronds, and then wrap the whole plant in horticultural fleece or hessian tying it off securely at the bottom. Don’t use plastic sheeting or bubble wrap because on warm days, your plants will sweat and rot.
• Indoors, keep your houseplants happy by moving them away from warm radiators and into a sunny, cool place where they will fare much better.
• If very severe frosts are forecast, float a football on the water in concrete lined ponds. When the water freezes, the ball will absorb the ice pressure rather than cracking the concrete sides.

Fish may suffocate if ice persists for long, so melt a hole by standing a metal pan on the surface filled with boiling water. Try not break up thick ice as this could injure the fish or if the broken ice falls into the water, this will lower the water temperature further and negate the insulating effect of the frozen surface.

Fruit and Vegetables

• Crop parsnips, leeks and winter cabbages as needed.
• Pick Brussel sprouts when they are about 1inch across.
• Dig any potatoes you have planted, ready for Christmas.
• Lift and divide clumps of Rhubarb, replanting the separated sections with lots of well rotted manure.
• Plant and support bare-root fruit canes, bushes and trees, provided the ground isn’t frozen.
• Cover any kale, winter cabbages and other brassicas with netting to protect them from hungry pigeons.
• Prune apple and pear trees to control their size and shape.
• Prune blackcurrants, gooseberries, redcurrants and whitecurrants this month to remove a quarter of the old wood and create the open goblet shape to support next year’s fruit.

South Norfolk Council handyperson scheme for older and vulnerable residents

South Norfolk Council runs a handyperson scheme for older and more vulnerable residents. This scheme is free or low cost, see the information below from the Council:

South Norfolk Council recognise how important it is for our elderly residents to stay in their own homes for as long as possible and sometimes a small change can make a big difference.

The Council’s Handyperson+ scheme supports residents with a wide range of small household repairs and minor adaptation work.The experienced team can help with many tasks including fitting key safes, fall prevention adaptions, smoke alarms, grab rails and better lighting. They can also offer advice on staying warm during cold weather.

The experienced team can help with many tasks including fitting key safes, fall prevention adaptions, smoke alarms, grab rails and better lighting. They can also offer advice on staying warm during cold weather.

As well as small works, the handyperson will chat to residents during a visit to see if they would benefit from any additional help. They have an in-depth knowledge of grants, allowances and services a resident may be eligible for.

In addition, the team can direct residents to relevant community support, including social clubs or events in the local area to help combat loneliness.

 You may be eligible for the service free of charge if

  • You are over 65
  • Have a long-term condition or disability AND
  • Receive either Housing Benefit, Guaranteed Pension Credit or Universal Credit.

 You may be eligible for our handyperson service with an hourly charge of £10.32 if;

  • You are over 65 AND
  • Have a long-term condition or disability

 You may be eligible for our handyperson service with an hourly charge of £20.78 if;

  • You are under 65 you have no long-term condition or disability.

 This does not include the cost of any materials.

 To contact the Council to request the Handyperson+ service please call 01508 505284

or email: 

handyperson.snc@southnorfolkandbroadland.gov.uk

 

Speeding Reports up to October 2023

Did you know that the Parish Council collates information on drivers’ speed through the village, and the reports are available on the website for anyone interested? The October 2023 report has just been added.

The camera is moved around the village roughly every month, and the speed of the average speeder is calculated. You might be surprised how many cars go over the speed limit, and surprised at the maximum recorded speed each month.

All the reports going back to 2022, can be found here on our parish council page:

https://alpingtonwithyelverton.com/about/parish-council#speeding-reports

Another hyperfast full fibre broadband provider option for Alpington and Yelverton

Surprisingly, there now appear to be two companies drawing up plans to supply Alpington and Yelverton with full fibre hyperfast broadband, and this post gives some information and updates on the situation.

Since we published our previous posts on County Broadband’s plan to bring hyperfast full fibre broadband to the village, you might have seen a flyer in the post from GigaClear, another company seeming to offer a similar product. Which was a surprise to the Parish Council, to me, and presumably anyone else in the village who has been following the project.

The Parish Council have been making enquiries to clarify the situation, and have made contact with the GigaClear manager responsible for the area. We wanted to pass on the information so that you are kept up to date.

  1. County Broadband does not have the monopoly on providing fibre for our parish, hence Gigaclear’s intention to investigate and offer a fibre service too.
  2. Gigaclear does not require a minimum number of customers to subscribe before they proceed, unlike County Broadband indicated they would.
  3. Gigaclear will have a proposed design for our parish by the end of the year and this will then be reviewed internally for approval. After this, they could put the scheme into their construction schedule. There is no indication of when this might be, yet. 
  4. Gigaclear is keen to provide a service to us, they are currently working in Poringland and other local villages.
  5. The Manager will keep in touch and provide updates. And we will pass those on to residents with subsequent posts.

Both providers are companies with a track record of bringing fibre broadband to rural and urban locations and both are drawing up plans and gauging interest in our area.

GigaClear’s website offers a facility to register your interest, which is what the flyer mentioned. This can be done here, it’s just a form with your address, no payment or commitment. It would probably make them more likely to speed things up if loads of us expressed an interest.

https://gigaclear.com/home-broadband

As we said in previous posts, the Parish Council expressed their support for the County Broadband plan, because it would of course be good for the village to have more reliable broadband. Now it looks like there’s a second provider who is serious about providing a service and has a similar plan.

So it seems appropriate to give GigaClear the same level of exposure on this website, to let you know there are two options, either of which may be taken forward if there is deemed to be enough interest.

We’ll keep you updated on any further developments.

Christmases past – talk by local speaker – 8th Nov 2023 – Bergh Apton & District Society

On Wednesday 8th November 2023, A talk hosted by the Bergh Apton & District Society, Christmases past, 7.30pm Bergh Apton Village Hall, Cooke’s Road, NR15 1AA

Depending upon when you read this message, there are 52 days to Christmas!

However whilst pondering whether to give socks, shortbread or a helicopter ride to Uncle Albert this year, why not come along to the last Bergh Apton speaker meeting to learn what happened at CHRISTMASES PAST.

Mary Fewster, WEA lecturer will be our speaker.
We start at 7.30 pm. Raffle. Refreshments.

£4.00 pp.

November 2023 – things to do in your Garden

With all the rain we have had recently and the winds forecast for the next week or so, there is no doubt that Autumn is upon us but there are still some lovely sunny days to enjoy. Even with the arrival of the darker afternoons, hopefully we can all find time to take a walk and appreciate the incredible beauty of the Autumnal colours.

Some shrubs to enjoy in November

Acers – Japanese Maples have superb autumn colour and there are many to choose from. As a general rule the green-leaved Acers produce the best autumn colour compared with the red leaved varieties.

Holly – variegated and single coloured leaf varieties are now full of red berries, ready for the Winter months.

Cotinus – the smoke bush, is a wonderful shrub for Autumn colour with red or orange leaves, it will add fiery hues to your garden.

Euonymus – these tough and hardy evergreen shrubs are generally maintenance free and add colour to your borders, especially Euonymous fortunei ‘Emerald ‘n Gold’ which has bold, variegated leaves which will brighten any garden on gloomy Winter days.

Viburnum x bodnantense will start flowering this month – the flowers are richly scented, so plant near a path or entrance.

General Garden Maintenance

• Continue to rake up leaves as they fall on your lawn to keep the grass clear.

• Tidy borders as perennials die back or if your prefer, leave the clearing up until the Spring.

• Clear fallen leaves out of ponds.

• Keep bird feeders well-stocked as the colder weather arrives.

Wildlife tips

• Windfall apples and other fallen fruit can feed migrant birds such as redwings and fieldfares so try to leave some fruit on the ground if possible. Late-flying butterflies and other insects may also feed from them when sources of nectar have dried up.

• Try not to cut back any mature Ivy in your garden – the small flowers provide a fantastic source of nectar and pollen for insects and the berries will provide food for birds, while the leaves offer roosting and hibernation shelter for many small garden birds and the Brimstone butterfly.

A nuthatch on a branch looking up

• Plant up a pot with nectar-rich Crocuses and place it in a sunny position. Queen bumblebees hibernate for 7 months so when they emerge in the early Spring they are very hungry and will really welcome this food source while you enjoy the splash of colour in your garden.

Flowerbeds and Pots

• Continue planting spring bulbs such as Snowdrops, Crocus, Hyacinth, Daffodils, Anemones, Grape hyacinths and Winter Aconites. You can also plant your Tulips now as later planting prevents them from becoming infected with Tulip fire.

• Plant up pots or flowerbed edges with winter Pansies or Wallflowers for early Spring colour.

Fruit and Vegetables

• Harvest any remaining crops such as maincrop carrots, cabbages, Brussels sprouts, celery and cauliflower.

• Blackcurrants, redcurrants, whitecurrants and gooseberries can all be pruned any time between now and March. Prune out any dead, dying or diseased wood and aim for an open, goblet shape.

• Garlic, onions and shallots are all easy to grow. Shallots and onions are grown from tiny bulbs, known as sets, and garlic is grown from cloves. Cover with fleece to protect them from the worst of the weather.

• Autumn-fruiting raspberries bear fruit on new wood, so cut down all old canes to the ground once they have finished fruiting, between now and March.

Blackberries and Raspberries

• Brassica crops need protection from hungry pigeons at this time of year. Use netting and make sure that it lifts clear of the brassicas, otherwise birds will be able to peck through it.

• Stake or support your Brussels sprouts, as they can get top heavy and topple in heavy winds.