Volunteer gardening

The volunteer gardening group have been very active recently – and we have big plans for the next few months. The group takes on a wide variety of tasks, after discussion with the gardening team at the Council. More volunteers are always welcome.

We started off the new year by planting eight trees in the avenue that leads to the rose pergola; these replace trees that were planted during the Lottery-funded renovations, but which did not survive repeated floodings. We hope that the new ones (which include silver birch trees) will flourish.

This week, the volunteers worked on the long borders, and on the area around the maze and rose pergola. Also, a cherry tree was planted and a new bird box fixed in place (in the woods). Dozens of tiny plants are now the room under the cafe, which has been temporarily adopted for gardening purposes (it’s normally used by the tennis club).

The Urban Buzz project paid for large numbers of bulbs which we planted up on ‘the bank’ (near Cameron Grove entrance) with the help of lots of young helpers, during the October half-term. These are now coming up, and we’re delighted to have a bit more colour in this area. We have been allocated yet more money from this project to buy dozens more plants which are suitable for the bugs and bees. And yes, all of these plants will need to be planted by volunteers!

Currently, the gardening sessions take place on Tuesdays, with the next planned date being April 25 (further dates in the Newsletter). Meet at 9.30 below the cafe, bringing gardening gloves if you have them. A technical knowledge of gardening is not essential, just a willingness to dig and improve our lovely park. A cup of tea is provided at the end of the session, as a reward for your effort. Contact us here, or by Facebook.