Full green ahead for the nature garden!
The verdict on progress in the nature garden is in! Alex Little, the
horticulturalist who kindly provided the original designs, declared it the
eighth wonder of the world, or at least I think that’s what he said. There
was a helicopter flying over at the time.
One thing Alex was unequivocally complimentary about was the volunteer
posse who came to plant up the perennials a few weeks back. He was
impressed to see so many taking part – encouraged by some glorious
sunshine!
If you’re taking a stroll in the garden, you’ll see the individual plants are
quite small, but (Alex noted) this gives them an advantage over larger potgrown specimens which may have become over-accustomed to their pot and
fail to flourish when released into the wild. Ours should develop fairly fast
as we go from spring to summer, and adapt well to their new surroundings.
Inevitably there’ll be a few failures – the gooseberries in particular seem a
bit reluctant – but in the long run we’ll have more robust stock.
Preparing the wildflower meadow
It was hard to miss the display of wildflowers outside Autumn Leaves (at the
bottom of the High Street) last year. We’re hoping to replicate that in the
nature garden. The secret? Really thorough preparation. Wildflower
seedlings can’t compete with a thick thatch of grass, so it’s important to
remove as much of the green stuff as possible. Not forgetting to bury a dung
-filled cow horn under a new moon …
To this end if you’re using a mini-digger at any point in the next few weeks
could we borrow it for an hour to level off the ground? Then we’ll be ready
to rotovate.
On 23 April we’d like your help raking the bare soil to create a very fine
tilth. If conditions are right (i.e. not too windy) we’ll be able to sow and
tread in. Come along from 10am if you can – there’ll be cake!
Signing off
The last stage of establishing the garden will involve putting in a sign, a
wooden bench, and a new gate near the bus stop. There’s also a dead hedge
under construction in the woodland section – dry sticks piled between stakes
to create extra habitat – and more mulch-spreading to do.
If you want to get involved, or have ideas for events or new features, please
email us: support@nature.garden.co.uk Otherwise, go ahead and enjoy the
space as the fancy takes you. Hopefully there’ll be lots to see and enjoy.
Kieron
On behalf of the Nature Garden Volunteers
kieronhumph@gmail.com