The next two SOW events coming up are:

Plant Swap Stall

Saturday 9 May, 10am-12 and Sunday 10 May, 2-4pm

By 36 Coles Lane, Oakington

Bring & exchange, or take for a donation to the village Hardship Fund

Especially vegetable plants, but ornamentals and houseplants also welcome

Organised jointly with Oakington & Westwick Neighbours

Climate Change Gardening

Wednesday 13th May, 7:30pm in St Andrew’s Church Hall, Oakington

Gardeners! Don’t miss this talk!

Find out how to adapt your gardening to the changing weather patterns and seasons… and how to garden more sustainably

Tips and techniques from an expert

Pollinator Counting

Thank you to James for an excellent session on 15th April, reminding us how to do APollOW FIT counts. Several of us have already begun, using the app to record pollinators coming to patches of flowers on verges and in gardens. Last year Oakington & Westwick volunteers contributed 1% of the total national pollinator counts, and we hope to do even better this year! Watch FIT Counts in 2 minutes and read APollOW for more information.

James also told us about the BTO Birds in Green Spaces project. Oakington Rec+cemetery+orchard is a site and the whole project is open to anyone or any skill level. You can submit one off records (the parakeets, for instance) or a full survey of all the birds and your best guess of numbers. See https://www.bto.org/get-involved/volunteer/projects/greenspaces.

Dates for your Diary

• Wed 10 June, 7:30pm – an outdoor session clearing up the outgrown plastic tree guards from Centenary Wood. Meet at the bridge on the far side of Mansell Wood.
• Sat 20 June, at the Garden Centre – help with the SOW/EAG stall at the Pollination Festival
• Sat 27 June, Village Day – help also needed on the SOW stall