The People’s Garden – Repair and Maintenance

Since the New Year, volunteers have been tirelessly working on various tasks to maintain and enhance the People’s Garden. Their efforts have significantly improved the park’s aesthetics, making it an inviting space for all visitors.

The gates to the Upper Park on Ashville Road near Cavendish Road have been thoroughly cleaned to remove moss, lichen, and slime growth that had accumulated over the seasons. This meticulous cleaning has restored the gates to their Victorian colour scheme of yellows, reds, and greens, thereby improving the first impressions of visitors.

Additionally, brambles, shrubs, and a dead tree have been removed from the Upper Park to open views to the island. The cleared materials were transported to the depot for shredding and repurposing elsewhere in the park. This clearing has opened new vistas, enhancing the natural beauty of the area.

Lower parts of the Ashville Road gates cleaned.

A shortcut between two pathways has been fenced off with chestnut paling into a laager, and hawthorn whips have been planted to form a long-term shrub barrier. Despite the dry spring making the ground difficult to turn over, volunteers persevered, and watering will be necessary to help establish the plants into the summer.

To support Forest Schools, areas at the back of the Visitor Centre have been planted with whips to establish future privacy. Volunteers also removed copious amounts of ground ivy from the back of the plinth and railings to Park Road North before planting this new greenery.

Watering the laager between the pathways.

Near the Grand Entrance Way, heritage gardeners have created a kidney-shaped bed by cutting out grass and turning over the soil. Although this project was planned a year ago, wet winter conditions had previously made the ground too sodden. This spring’s dry conditions present a different challenge, but schoolchildren, under the direction of a park ranger, have assisted by mixing wildflower seeds with sand to ensure even planting. This bed is prone to drying out, necessitating volunteers to carry watering cans from taps with low water pressure at the ticket office—a 50-metre trek across rough-cut grass. Despite being a laborious task, it will contribute to the park’s colour and biodiversity in the coming months.

G R Arnold

5th April 2025