You will have noticed that it's been a bit wet recently and this has made it hard for the Station Volunteers to get things in shape for Summer (if it arrives). Things were looking a bit desperate then came a massive stroke of good fortune in the shape of Myke Caulton, of Myke Caulton Floral Couture on Station Road, Chelford.
Myke kindly offered to help redesign the station gardens to ease the maintenance problems and then, he offered to source new plants at cost. That, and a brief period of drier weather, resulted in a big burst of action.
The beds were all weeded, existing planting was tidied up and the first of 3 tons of compost was worked into the gardens on the Crewe-bound side (Platform 2).
Myke's magical plant finding had worked brilliantly and last weekend, some of the best plants we've ever had were delivered.
The team set to work on Sunday and all was going well, then there was a bit of a thunderstorm and a small flash flood. The sun started to appear again as a train disappeared through the inch-thick rain and it was time for work again.
In this phase, we've planted geraniums, pinks, begonias and some coreopsis. The lavenders for the Crewe-side slope will roll up soon and then it's just a matter of deciding on when to plant the larger specimens that we hope will keep everything looking lovely for some years.
Thank you very much to Myke Caulton for his fantastic support and to Barbara, Dave, Heather and Kath for all their continued hard work.
Click on the pictures for a larger view.
If you would like to help out at the station and experience hard-core gardening in shocking weather, click here.
It's sometimes quite dry and then we have a whole new set of problems .....