Starting the Project
The Hamlet has been closed during the pandemic lockdown and during this time they have had a new entrance constructed on the lake side of the building. This entrance has a ramp to allow easy access for wheelchair users and people with prams. At each side of the ramp there are now areas of land which have been covered with weeds for many years. The Grow Green Projects is a plan to make this land into colourful gardens.
We have been inspired by a recent quote from the RHS:-
We want to help you get out and grow; to grow happiness, grow our communities and grow a brighter future.
We know that gardening is good for us all and that plants are vital for the future of our planet. So let’s get gardening, get planting, get growing and get stuck in.
The Friends applied for some funding from the councils ‘ Community Recovery Fund’ and we were awarded some money to do this project. The project is to increase the wildflowers around the lake and thus encourage bees, butterflies and other insects. We also will offer gardening as an activity to the Trainees at the Hamlet and to any other people, young or old.
The land at each side of the ramp is covered in weeds. We identified these as ground elder and their roots are like spaghetti just under the surface of the soil. As we started to dig we also found roots of brambles which are difficult to dig out.
OCTOBER 2021 – Now the hard work starts. We know we will have to remove as much of the weed as we can before we start to plant new flowers.
2022 – March- Work starts again after the winter break.
We managed to clear most of the weeds out of this bed before the weather was too cold and wet to continue.
Now we need to put in a new retaining edge made of sleepers.
The Hamlet was having some work done at the back of the house which required a digger. Gemma kindly got the footings for the sleeper edge dug for us by the digger. This certainly saved us a lot of hard work. Thank you Gemma for doing this.
The Trainees from the Hamlet and two of their Dads worked very hard to put in a new sleeper edge to the garden. We also had some top soil delivered so soon we will be ready to start filling the bed with plants.
Once the new edging is finished we level out the soil and then add bags of compost. We hope this will give anything we plant a good start and that they will grow well.
Now all we need are some plants. We find some primulas in the Wildlife Garden which need splitting and put these along the front edge, cross our fingers and hope they grow.
