The People’s Garden – repair and maintenance by volunteers

The dry spell has continued with a vengeance and expectations of hosepipe bans this summer have been raised. The volunteers will need to be conscious of watering the various beds around the Park which have been planted under the Wild Isles scheme, and which are protected by chestnut paling fencing. The wildflower garden, so assiduously watered, is now showing growth and the first blush of colour.

A mature Yucca at the west end of the Boothby Ground had attended a course in camouflage. Intrepid volunteers cut back enveloping bramble for it to be magically revealed. What other discoveries are to be made elsewhere in the Park within tangled bramble masses?

Dead trees within the woodland have been cut down with help from a group of volunteers from Vitaflow clearing the area of impenetrable brambles underneath. They were propped up by living ones. Cutting down angled trunks was challenging. Saws were impeded and once trunks were cut through the dead branches could not be disentangled from those of the supporting trees. This necessitated a further cut of the less steeply angled trunk to release the tree.

Meanwhile others forged through the woodland removing brambles to re-establish wide pathways where people can walk the dog and appreciate the dappled sunshine under the tree canopy.

Beds infested with weeds were cleared to expose the main shrubs. Winter heath heathers at the Holt Garden were rescued from the smothering effects of couch grass. Nearby pathways were edged to sharpen their appearance and widen their surface.

Elsewhere, graffiti in the interior of the Roman Boathouse was rapidly painted over to maintain its role as pleasant place to stare over the parapets watching the fish, ducks and geese in and on the still waters below.

Keeping the Park in condition is a continuing and busy challenge!

Graham Arnold