Work at THS

 

  1. Glasshouse work (production of plants for sale, production of glasshouse vegetables).
    1. Plant production (seed sowing, propagation – cuttings, etc., pricking out, potting up, moving plants, labelling)
    2. Glasshouse maintenance (watering, cleaning, shading, pest control)
    3. Hanging basket production
    4. Production of tomatoes, courgettes, sweetcorn, cucumbers (preparation of beds, planting, weeding, tying up, pinching out, etc., harvesting)
  2. Grounds work
    1. Grass cutting, using petrol rotary and cylinder mowers (we are responsible for cutting only a small percentage of the total area of grass)
    2. Strimming
    3. Preparation, planting and maintenance of flower beds containing herbaceous perennials, shrubs and half-hardy annuals
  3. Construction and maintenance
    1. Woodworking – involved in various construction projects, including building the pavilion, the Millennium trail, raised beds, henhouse, etc. We are about to construct a garage for our chipper.
    2. Path building – often using a membrane and whinstone as a base, we have built the access road to our glasshouses, the Millennium trail, paths in polytunnels, etc.
    3. Fencing – including the rabbit fence constructed around the main garden to exclude rabbits
  4. Woodland work

A lot of this, including felling of self-seeded sycamores, has been done in association with the construction of the Millennium trail, but we have begun to look towards a more systematic woodland management programme. Logging of fallen timber in the woods and the splitting of the logs provides fuel for our fires at the Lodge in the winter. Some tree planting has been carried out across the 27 acre site. Thin branches are put through our chipper, and this is noisy but popular work. The wood chippings provide a surface for the Millennium trail, and a mulch for the azalea bed.

  1. Contract work

Some work is occasionally carried out away from the Ridley Hall site. We had a contract to plant flower beds in Haltwhistle for several years, and have also carried out grass cutting and maintenance work in gardens in Hexham.

 

Tools and equipment

 

We use a wide range of horticultural hand tools – spades, forks, hoes, rakes, saws, etc – but also use some machinery. We have a Stihl chainsaw (currently we only have 2 qualified operators for this), a strimmer, one cylinder and two rotary petrol driven mowers, and a Kawasaki Mule garden vehicle. We provide instruction for service users in the use of all the equipment except the chainsaw, and currently have one service user who is an experienced (5 years) Mule driver.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kawasaki Mule at the top of the Millennium trail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Page last updated: 24/09/03