Update: This business has now closed.
Today (in year 2021) I visited the newly opened Suki Asian Shop on Winchester Road. I’m quite impressed.
I asked the young lady Annabelle what ‘Suki’ meant. She told me it meant ‘customers’ in the Philippines. She told me her mum Jemelle ran the shop. [Read more…] about Suki Asian Shop Open – Winchester Road, Chandler’s Ford
Cut lawns once a week, apply a lawn weed, feed and moss killer if not applied last month. Check that herbaceous perennials that need staking have some support otherwise they can flop over and the stems can then be damaged trying to bring them upright again.
[Read more…] about Wellie’s Gardening Tips – June 2021
When I wrote this column last year I talked about how we were all at home, keeping social distances and struggling to get any seeds to sow, compost or plants for our gardens. A year on, we have a little more freedom, and garden centres have been open, but even they are struggling to source stock due to covid and Brexit.
Did you remember or celebrate St. George’s Day on the 23rd of April?
This is a video with some footage in 2017 showing the St. George’s Day parade, by the magnificent 14th Eastleigh Scout and Guide Band “The Spitfires” Band.
This video features the band’s second and third parades of the day in Winchester and Chandler’s Ford.
[Read more…] about Previous St. George’s Day Parades in Chandler’s Ford – Video and Photos
Lawns – now is the time to start looking after your lawn.
Every gardener knows, trimmed edges can make all the difference! Apply a spring lawn feed now. Any bumps and hollows on lawns can be repaired by peeling back the turf and either adding or removing soil. Sowing new lawns, or reseeding patches, can be started this month, depending on the weather.
From Churches Together In Chandler’s Ford
For Christians, Easter is a time to celebrate New Life and God’s love and hope for the world. This feels especially timely this year. As churches around Chandler’s Ford are cautiously returning to worshiping in their buildings, Churches Together locally have also combined to create an opportunity for the community to celebrate these with us in the open air by taking part in our Easter Trail. You will be guided around 10 locations in Chandler’s Ford, finding clues and discovering the unfolding Easter Story.
All are welcome to join in any time from the 31 March 2021. There will be simple activities to take part in and small gifts to pick up along the way. Simply join the start of the trail at St Martin in the Wood, Randal Roadd, or look out for the egg signs. The route is about 3 miles so families with younger children may want to spread it out over more than one walk. We hope people of all ages can enjoy this and celebrate with us.
Happy Easter!
It is time to get busy preparing seed beds, sowing seeds, cutting back winter shrubs and generally tidying up around the garden. Hoe and mulch weeds to keep them under control. Pruning of wisterias will need to be completed this month.
Summer flowering clematis, late flowering shrubs (eg Buddleia and Perovskia) and winter flowering shrubs can be pruned now. Apply a general purpose fertiliser and mulch to beds and borders. [Read more…] about Wellie’s Gardening Tips – March 2021
Complete pruning of climbing and bush roses before new growth becomes too strong. Once winter flowering heathers have finished, trim them back with shears to the base of flower stalks. Cut back ornamental grasses and other perennials left for winter interest. Prune shrubs hard such as Cornus and Salix grown for winter coloured stems.
Winter flowering jasmine can be pruned after it has finished flowering. Take out any dead or damaged wood, then tie in any stems needed to extend the framework, then shorten side shoots to 5cm from main framework. Topdress beds and borders with a balanced fertiliser. [Read more…] about Wellie’s Gardening Tips – February 2021
If you have been doing your socially distanced walk locally, you might have discovered some new things. Today we have 3 questions for you:
[Read more…] about A Quiz from Local Walks in Chandler’s Ford
This is a great time to plan what you would like to do in the garden for the rest of the year. Take a note book and walk around the garden. Look at seed catalogues for ideas of what to sow.
Usually at this time of year musicians and singers from the Churches of Chandler’s Ford join forces to serenade Christmas shoppers in our local ASDA with a selection of carols. This year COVID restrictions and regulations have meant it is not possible but instead we were invited to provide a carol for the store radio in December.
This very familiar carol , with a modern twist is an invitation to gather joyfully to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Gathering and Joy may feel in short supply this year but Christians everywhere believe that when God came in Jesus to share the sufferings of humanity he showed his love for us and that is a cause for celebration.
Whoever you are with this Christmas, God is with us. We invite you to share in the comfort of this. We wish you a joyful Christmas.
[Read more…] about ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’ – Churches Together in Chandler’s Ford
Chalvington Road in Chandler’s Ford has some fantastic Christmas lights and decorations. The neighbourhood has come together and illuminated the road.
Our friend Jill Mayes has shared these photos with us that she has taken on her walks. She particularly loves the lit up village which had falling snow in the window.
Take a walk along Chalvington Road and see if you can spot the 12 Days of Christmas.
The 12 Days of Christmas are all different – it could be a picture in a window, or something in a front garden. It could be big or small. The trail went live at 6pm on Saturday December 5th, and will run until Christmas Day.
Take your time and enjoy the lights on Chalvington Road.
[Read more…] about Chalvington Road, Chandler’s Ford – 12 Days of Christmas Trail
Clear paths of moss and lichen so that they are not a slip hazard (elf ‘n’ safety!) Check that there isn’t any fuel left in your garden machinery before storing over winter, as stale fuel is often the reason why a mower will not start at the beginning of the following season.
Keep raking up those leaves from the lawn and borders.
From now until the end of March is the time to plant any bare rooted trees, shrubs and roses. Check stored fruit, throw out any that are rotten. Reduce watering on houseplants.
To keep your indoor hyacinths blooming longer, make sure they are kept in a cool, bright place. If they are kept too warm the leaves will elongate and the flowers will fade quickly.
Put bark chips around your hellebores to protect emerging blooms from rain splashes. Cut off any leaves with black spots on them to try and prevent the fungal disease spreading. [Read more…] about Wellie’s Gardening Tips for December 2020 + Vegetable Sowing Chart for the Year
Keep raking up leaves from lawns and paths, and off the beds if they are laying thickly, if not they can be left for the worms to break them up and incorporate them into the soil.
Tie-in long whippy shoots of climbers and wall shrubs. Prune roses to prevent wind-rock and this is also the time to prune most deciduous trees, but a lot of deciduous ornamental grasses can be left until the spring. [Read more…] about Wellie’s Gardening Tips for November 2020
There is a story of a pompous man pushing into the front of and airport check-in queue. The check-in girl tells him to go to the back of the queue. ‘Do you know who I am?’ asks the man. The check-in girl asks the queue, ’can anyone help? This man does not know who he is.’
I sympathise with this man, not because of pushing into a queue, but because I am not known by my name any longer. The days when I heard people say, ‘Hello, Mike, nice to see you,’ have gone because, in COVID protection mode, no one sees me.
I am known to my computer but only as a string of digits. The screen wants to know my ID number, password, authentication code, admin password, username, wireless key, PIN, account number or registration key. Then there are numbers and codes sent to my phone which last only an hour or so. If I go to a bar or restaurant, my phone communicates with a QR code. I can text my order and someone brings drinks. [Read more…] about Life in a Pandemic: Who am I?
Bulbs glorious bulbs. Now is the time to buy and plant bulbs for spring displays. Life might not be back to normal but at least we can add some colour and enjoyment to our gardens. Why not think about adding some pots of winter colour, such as heathers, pansies, violas and cyclamen.
Overgrown clumps of herbaceous perennials can be divided now. This will invigorate them and improve flowering and overall shape. Lift the clump and split the outer area of the clump, discarding the centre which will be the oldest part of the clump.
Don’t worry if you are not able to do this now, some can wait until next Spring, just make a note of which ones need attention.
Continue to deadhead plants to prolong the display. Why not treat yourself to some Spring bulbs that you can scatter around the garden or put into pots to give some brightness at the beginning of next year.
[Read more…] about Wellie’s Gardening Tips for September 2020
It’s an afternoon in August and, after the morning’s continuous rain, my wife and I have been out for a brisk walk around the wooded roads of Brownhill, Merdon, Lake and Lakewood. It’s warm and the overpowering sweet smell of Scots pine and Douglas fir pervades the landscape. There are still large numbers of conifers among the mature oak trees where they were once a dominant species.
I first moved into Lakewood Road in 1955 when the woodlands prevailed; the area to the west of the Lake was a pine forest through which I regularly went horse-riding. It is now, tragically, an inaccessible tangle of overgrown species – but that’s another story!
At that time, in the rectangle of land formed by Hiltingbury, Hocombe, Lakewood and Hursley Roads, there was little development, the oldest house being our neighbours’ house,The White House, the land for which had been acquired in 1908. The area was woodland and heathland. I galloped across this land frequently and, like many other boys, rode my bike aerobatically over ‘the bumps’ behind the present Ashdown Road.
As a young boy, I had that wonderful sense of freedom, space and adventure. The land was ripe to be plundered and developed and, from the 1890s, the land from Ford to Brownhill, and Hiltingbury to Hocombe was destined to fall under the woodman’s axe to make way, initially, for exclusive houses.
In 1963 I met Mandy Fry, a girl who lived with her parents and sisters in their family farm in Bramdean. Mandy was lodging during the week with my Aunt while she was attending Eastleigh College and that’s how we met when visiting one day.
In October 1966 Mandy and I bought a plot of land in Malcolm Road. We had plans for a house drawn up. Although passed by the local authority, we still had to take the drawings to Scammel & Smith, the local estate agents, to have the drawings approved by them for the Hiltingbury Estates before we could start building. [Read more…] about Peter Hammerton: My Family, My Life Living in Chandler’s Ford – Part 3
In October 1960 in Chandler’s Ford, the Monks Brook river that ran behind our house burst its banks and many of the houses in Mead Road were flooded, some up to 18” of water inside, but I remember our house staying dry inside because the ground floor was built higher than those around it and stayed just below the floorboards.
In the 1950’s during my teens I had a paper round working for the newsagents on the corner of Mead Road and Park Road. On Saturdays I used to take a tea chest full of old newspapers to the waste land opposite the newsagents and burn them on a bonfire. [Read more…] about Peter Hammerton: My Family, My Life Living in Chandler’s Ford – Part 2
