Bumper crop of volunteers for the Treebilee!
Whether spurred on by Prince Charles’ rallying cry or not, Upton came out in
force to plant up the nature garden on the 22 and 23 January.
There was a brilliant atmosphere as everyone got stuck into digging, shifting
mulch and carefully planting our healthy-looking trees, shrubs and hedges. It
takes a little imagination to picture it, but the work we’ve done should
result in:
the restoration of the hedgerow along the bank by the road
a new edible hedge crammed with nuts and berries to separate the
meadow from the glade
a miniature orchard with apple, pear, mulberry, cherry, crab apple and
wild service
shrubs and more edibles throughout the woodland
a new native hedge between the nature garden and the rec
Volunteers, take a bough
Thanks to our 30+ volunteers (including plenty of doughties who gave up
time on both Saturday and Sunday) we exceeded expectations – about 500
plants are now settling into their new home.
This follows the previous volunteer events where we planted bulbs, erected
fencing and prepared the site. Thanks to all those who got involved.
We also had two exciting donations to make sure the nature garden gets a
reputation as a des-res for wildlife as soon as possible:
a deluxe hedgehog house from William Lott
a birdbox from Frances Telling
Your next planting opportunity
We’re hoping to order perennials for the nature garden soon. Maybe you’d
like to plant a few dozen foxgloves, some graceful ferns, trailing
honeysuckle or heavenly hellebores.
Keep an eye on www.nature-garden.co.uk for updates.
Kieron Humphrey