While the world may feel rather dull at the moment, lockdown has at least enabled some people to go green and inject colour into their gardens.

With more time spent at home and a prolonged spell of sunny weather, many people across the district have taken to gardening. With the green light from the government for garden centres to reopen, people can now get their hands on all sorts of horticultural goods.

Megan Peel, co-owner of Kit Peel Gardens in Harrogate, has given some professional advice on things you can buy and grow now to give you lots of pleasure in the garden all summer long:

“If you are new to gardening its tempting to buy the things that look most enticing in the garden centre today rather than those plants which will go on providing you colour and interest all summer long and on into Autumn.”

Grow your own

 If you are planning on growing some of your own fruit and veg this year, don’t be tempted to plant out young veg seedlings too early or they could be killed off by the late frosts we have up here in Yorkshire. Either wait a few weeks to buy or keep on a sunny window .. and gradually harden off outside in the daytime, bringing in at night until planting out when the risk of frost has well and truly passed.

Our top tip is to start by growing what you love to eat, and focus on growing those things which taste better straight from the ground, or which are hard to come by in supermarkets. We grow a lot of courgettes, above all for the flowers – which we love to eat tempura style in a light beer batter, stuffed with ricotta and herbs; peas which the children pick and eat straight from the pod – and we also like to add the shoots to salads; beetroots and salads – which you can sew successionally every two weeks throughout the summer. Peas can also be sewn into June, as can carrots. Aim to have a few trays of young lettuce seedlings waiting in the wings, and you can fill in any gaps of bare earth with a quick ‘catch crop’ while plants around them are maturing – alternate neat lines of red and green lettuces, for an old fashioned potager look, adding rows of winter brassicas, onions and leeks that will mature in the autumn after the leeks after harvested. Growing beans in the same bed will help fix nitrogen in the soil and benefit the brassicas .

If you don’t have the space to set aside for a dedicated veg patch then ornamental brassicas like Kale Lacinato and Red Drumhead cabbages can look eye catching planted in borders amongst your flowers. Edible flowers like nasturtiums; viola heartsease and marigold and cornflower petals can transform a simple summer salad into something special. “

A charity has already raised £10,000 but needs another £3,000 to give the staff at Harrogate District Hospital a place to stay after a busy shift.

The money Friends of Harrogate Hospital has already raised will be able to pay for the basic refitting work of five rooms but it is aiming to take the rooms up to a hotel standard.

Staff may not be able to get home after a long shift so they need to occasionally stay overnight at the hospital but they are not said to be in good shape currently.

Ian Elliot, the treasurer at Friends of Harrogate Hospital, told the Stray Ferret:

“The hospital has some rooms now but they are not in a decent state of repair. We have already raised a substantial amount but this extra money will bring the rooms up to hotel standard. It’s just something we can do to make their lives that bit easier.”

The charity has set up a fundraising page with a £3,000 target. At the time of publication, people have donated just over £50.

Hotels close to the hospital have been providing staff with a place to stay but some others need to be onsite at all times.

Some garden centres across the borough will be opening their doors to the public from tomorrow, after being closed for seven weeks due to the coronavirus lockdown.

It comes after the government announced on Sunday, that garden centres in England will reopen on Wednesday 13 May as long as they ensure social-distancing measures are in place.

RHS will be opening all four of its plant centres including the one at Harlow Carr.

Sue Biggs, RHS Director General, has said :

“We are pleased to reopen our RHS Plant Centres to bring joy, food and beauty into the lives of thousands of gardeners, and it is hugely encouraging that the Government recognises the vital role gardening and gardens play in supporting positive mental and physical health… We are ever mindful of the world we now live in and will, therefore, be operating with strict safety measures at all our sites to ensure we protect our visitors and staff who we thank for being patient with us at this time.”

Crimple Hall Garden Centre in Harrogate has been offering contactless deliveries to customers during the lockdown, but now as restrictions are lifted they are preparing to open.

Sally Dugdale who is the plant manager at Crimple Hall, told the Stray Ferret that lockdown came at a bad time for garden centres:

“The height of the season is between March and June, so it’s not been good at all for garden centres. We are now hoping that the season is extended with people spending more time in the garden and not going abroad.”

But not all garden centres in the borough are opening tomorrow, with some saying they don’t feel it would be safe for customers or staff.

Heoplants Nursery in South Stainley is remaining closed despite the go-ahead from the government. Deborah Withington, who owns the nursery told the Stray Ferret:

“We have been operating a contactless service since we closed… It has worked really well so we have decided to continue that way for now as we feel that casual visitors and passing trade would pose social distancing issues.”

Harrogate District Hospital has not reported any coronavirus deaths but the number of deaths in care homes across the district is still rising.

The last confirmed death in the hospital was on May 4, meaning there has been a week with zero deaths reported at the hospital. However, it can take several days for deaths to be confirmed so that data could still change.

Each week on a Tuesday the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveals how many people have died outside of hospitals. That number has been rising higher in recent weeks and is close to overtaking Harrogate hospital’s deaths.

Two weeks ago, the ONS data which included deaths up to April 17 revealed that there had been 22 deaths outside of hospitals. Last week, the data went up to April 24 and showed that there had been 39 deaths outside of hospitals.

This data now goes up to May 1 and shows that there have been 48 deaths outside of hospitals. 43 of those deaths have been in Harrogate’s care homes with the others in private homes or “other communal establishments.”

North Yorkshire County Council has said it is stepping up its support for the 235 care homes in its area. From last week, new care teams will call each care home with a welfare checklist.

Pop up Coronavirus test centre at the Hydro, Harrogate.

The council will support struggling care homes with staffing, PPE, infection control, safe hospital discharge and more.

North Yorkshire is providing this new service in close partnership with the Independent Care Group, NHS colleagues, as well as Public Health England and the Care Quality Commission.

Richard Webb, North Yorkshire’s Corporate Director for Health and Adult Services said:

“While the number of Covid-19 deaths in hospitals is reducing, in care homes they are rising and so we have to do everything we can to save lives and prevent further outbreaks because this is about protecting loved ones, mums and dads, grandmas and grandads. Our teams are here to offer a supportive role to the care sector. Our daily calls are being used to escalate any concerns to get the right interventions and help.”

Union bosses fear jobs could be under threat at leisure centres across the Harrogate district as the council plans to create a new company to run the services.

Harrogate Borough Council has proposed to create a new company, which it would own, to run leisure and community centres in the district.

The authority said the plan would help to save around £400,000 a year by bringing in more income and making savings.

It comes as the council has estimated a £15 million shortfall as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

If given the go-ahead, it would mean facilities such as Harrogate Hydro, the Turkish Baths and Ripon Leisure Centre would be run by the new company.

The Turkish Baths, Harrogate.

Known as a Local Authority Controlled Company (LACC), staff who currently work in leisure and sport would be transferred over from the council to the new company.

Some 200 workers would fall under the LACC, but Unison said it feared those staff would not necessarily be on the originally agreed terms and conditions as with the council.

It added that a number of staff have already been redeployed to support other services during the coronavirus pandemic, such as waste and recycling, and now have concern over their original roles because of the council’s plan.

A spokesperson for Unison Harrogate Local Government Branch said:

“Unison are aware that Harrogate Council is currently consulting with residents about its proposal to convert its sport and leisure service into a Local Authority Controlled Company (LACC), which it will own.

“Whilst the council says that by doing so it could do more with sport and leisure and innovate the way it works, there should be no doubt that the aim will be to reduce costs and save money.

“Staff who move over to the new company would not necessarily be on the nationally agreed terms and conditions as those in the council they leave behind and our experience of other LACC’s tells us that cuts to terms and conditions but also to real term pay, often occurs soon after.

“Currently, there are a number of sport and leisure staff who, due to the coronavirus lockdown, have been redeployed in to other services, such as refuse and recycling, who are continuing to give their all for the community.  

“They now see their real jobs under threat and this is a big concern for them.

Harrogate Borough Council declined to comment.

The authority is currently consulting with residents on the new leisure company. You can fill out the survey here.

Residents in Harrogate have expressed concern about the confusing advice in the government’s changes to lockdown rules, after reports of rising numbers of people and cars on the streets.

Harrogate resident Paul Dutton said he worried that people who were already feeling more relaxed about restrictions would be encouraged to go even further in disregarding social distancing.

“I could see in the last week the roads were getting busier, there were more people out and about. We’ve been told not to go out unless we needed to. This will open the gates even further.

“I think people will push the boundaries, go to the coast, visit the sites of Yorkshire, take picnics and barbecues, walking through the fields. We just need to stay how we are.”

With his wife working as a GP in Leeds and his youngest son home from university, Mr Dutton said the family has been living as separately as possible within the house in order to reduce the risk of contamination. If people begin mixing again, he fears the family’s hard work to stay safe will be undone by another spike in cases which could bring it into their home through his wife’s work, no matter how careful they are.

Need for childcare

As a former Harrogate Grammar School teacher, he said he feels sorry for schools trying to find ways to meet the need for childcare if parents are pressured into returning to work. Suggestions of smaller class sizes would help with social distancing, but would be impractical for schools to implement, he said.

“If you are going to invite six or seven students back, which are they going to be? Are you going to rotate it? Are schools able to staff it in that way? It’s a huge conundrum. how do you resolve that? I really wouldn’t want to be in that situation now. I just feel if we waited another couple of weeks to see how the situation panned out, we could phase it in a different way.”

Social distancing will be almost impossible in schools, according to former teacher Paul Dutton

His concerns were echoed by Andy Johnson, a health and safety advisor mainly working on film and television projects, who said he has only had one job since the lockdown began. Not expecting his work to re-start properly until at least September, he is now offering his services to businesses which are looking at ways to re-open safely. However, as a widowed father with a teenage son at home in Harrogate, he is nervous about the risks of going into workplaces:

“It would depend on each individual case. If I was asked to go into a closed factory and do a risk assessment prior to it re-opening, as long as I could maintain social distancing, wear barriers, do my job and get out, I would be reasonably happy to do that. But not while people are working there.”

Mr Johnson said the “viral load” was a critical factor. People who come into contact with several people who have the virus on more than one occasion seem to become more seriously ill, he said, which meant opening workplaces and encouraging more travel could lead to a rise in the number of severe cases and deaths.

Lack of PPE

As a community first responder, he works alongside some paramedics and emergency medical technicians who also volunteer in their spare time. He said two of them are now suffering with coronavirus symptoms, including one admitted to hospital:

“They had what they thought was adequate protection. They think they’re safe, but they haven’t been safe. How can you ensure in a workplace that it’s safe? Chances are, you can’t. All you can do is what’s reasonable in the circumstances.”

However, with PPE in high demand, he questioned whether people going out to work would be able to find adequate protection for themselves, and whether workplaces could provide it for employees.

Cycling campaigners and environmental groups in the district have called for “pop up”  temporary cycle lanes and lower speed limits to encourage people to continue cycling and help walkers with social distancing.

Jemima Parker of Zero Carbon Harrogate said the group has written to Andrew Jones MP and David Bowe, the county council Corporate Director Business and Environmental Services, asking for temporary changes.

Zero carbon Harrogate would like to see a 20mph speed limit in urban areas, more street space allocated for “active travel” (pedestrians, mobility scooters and cyclists) and encouragement for cars to be parked on the road rather than the pavement.

Harrogate District Cycle Action has published a list of “post-lockdown travel improvements” that, amongst others, include:

• Closing streets to cars at school drop off and pick up times
• Add temporary cycle lanes by putting up barriers and making streets one-way
• Close off town centre roads to cars
• 20mph limits in built up areas and “car free weekends”

In Knaresborough, town councillor Hannah Gostlow has urged the County Council which is in charge of highways to reduce the speed limit to 20mph between King James School and High Bridge in Knaresborough and around the towns schools, as well as increasing cycle lanes in the town.

“Our High Street is usually a fast and busy road that discourages cyclists, narrows our footpaths for pedestrians, and disconnects shops from the town centre, this scheme aims to let our town recover and breathe again. As well as a 20mph scheme I would also like to see cycle lanes where possible, and local businesses encouraged to take a lead on green transport initiatives”

The calls for parking bays to be made into cycle lanes in Harrogate are at odds with Independent Harrogate, the body which represents the town’s independent retailers. It’s called for free parking to be kept indefinitely to encourage more people to come into Harrogate by car when the shops finally open.

The Stray Ferret has asked North Yorkshire County Council for a comment. It said it was working to give a response as soon as possible.

No further deaths have been reported by Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust in the data released by NHS England today. 32 deaths were reported across the North East and Yorkshire region.

The total number of deaths at the hospital stands at 51, with 82 patients discharged after treatment for Covid-19.

The last death confirmed by the trust was on Monday, May 4th. However, it can take several days for deaths to be confirmed and added to official figures, particularly over weekends.

Today’s figures show a further 178 deaths confirmed across England, bringing the total of 23,149

Statistics released by NHS England only cover patients who were treated and died in hospitals. A further 39 people had died in the community across the Harrogate district until April 24, according to information released by the Office for National Statistics this week.

This column is written for The Stray Ferret by Jemima Parker, Chair of Zero Carbon Harrogate*

When we started to go into lock-down I knew that Covid-19 would bring significant carbon emissions reductions for the District. Cutting our greenhouse gases and playing our part in the global response to climate breakdown is something I have been advocating for years. But not like this. Not with the shutdown of our amazing local businesses and heartache of lives lost to the virus.

Sure I, like many, have been enjoying waking up to a quieter world each morning without the roar of traffic out of the window; being able to hear the birds in the Valley Gardens; breathe clean air on Skipton Road and soak up those clear blue skies across the Stray without contaminating contrails.

It feels like a little window into a low carbon world, but it’s missing the vibrant economy that can go with it.

Strangely, I have found the pandemic crisis a levelling experience, with my own world of living in a continual state of climate emergency (10 years left to radically reduce our carbon emissions or millions more die), now shared in some ways with my friends and family.

Working from home has been normalised. Having food deliveries – as my family have done for years (from the lovely local Organic Pantry) – is all the rage and even creatively eating up all the bits and bobs at the back of the fridge is now obligatory.

In these difficult days, pockets of hope have surprised me. I was cheered by how quickly we got it, we acted, the science of the virus was understood, the risks evaluated and the radical changes required in our behaviour adopted. Next stop climate science, risk assessment and adaptation?

It has been a joy to see a resurgence of localism, neighbours walking to the local shops and others out exploring previously neglected footpaths – why wouldn’t you, we live in God’s own county?

I have been overwhelmed by the plethora of community groups that sprung up from nowhere to provide support, from Pannal to Pateley, Bilton to Boroughbridge. This community resilience, this coming together to support each other, will help as we adapt to the changes required to prevent the worst extremes of climate change.

How many of these positives can we capture and take forward as we begin the long and difficult task of rebuilding the local economy? We can’t go back. Can we go forward investing in more resilient local, low carbon businesses, creating green jobs, valuing all our key workers and giving a true value to the natural world that sustains our very existence?

*Zero Carbon Harrogate is an organisation dedicated to making Harrogate District a net zero carbon community by 2030 in order to secure a sustainable future- for more information click here.

Harrogate Neighbours overcame the problem of social distancing to put on a special day of VE Day celebrations for the residents of The Cuttings in Starbeck and Heath Lodge in Harrogate. Drake’s Fish and Chips in Knaresborough arrived with an appropriately-dressed team to deliver lunch.