POST #10 PATHWAYS TO A MORE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
I know that in just a few weeks a big area of my garden will be knee deep in wildflowers, and I can see them growing, but I’m impatient. Most days, when its not raining, I walk over to the field and have a look to see how my wildflower patch is progressing. It’s a bit patchy, some parts of the ground were I sowed seed are densely packed with new shoots of all shapes and sizes. Other parts, especially at the southern end of the strip, are more sparsely populated with quite a lot of bare soil. This is partly due to the later sowing of this area – nearly three weeks after the northern end, and partly due to the fact that I used a different seed mix in this area – for heavy clay soil.
I went to look at the established wildflower strip on the village green. Here the wildflowers are already about 60cm tall compared to most of mine which are between about 1 and 10cm. But again I should know that I am comparing seeds sowed between 5-8 weeks ago with established plants with well developed root systems. I also visited two gardens high in the Coombe. They had been seeded 3 to 4 weeks ago but there was barely anthing to show other than weeds. It made me feel better as much of my seed has germinated.
The wet weather we have had has meant that I haven't had to water the new plants but this week I spent about 5 hours weeding - mainly thistles which had taken over parts of the wildflower strip and some nettles and small brambles.
I’m going on holiday next week so I had to make sure that a number of things were set up for the end of the month and early June. I convened a planning meeting for our RE-B B-Line team to discuss the surveys we are going to undertake, how we might record the results of our project, the zoom meeting we are planning for early June and the celebratory wildflower wander we are planning for National Meadows Day – June 1st. I prepared a document to support discussion. I contacted the Garden Centre to confirm the arrangements for sponsoring the wildflower wander.
I know that in just a few weeks a big area of my garden will be knee deep in wildflowers, and I can see them growing, but I’m impatient. Most days, when its not raining, I walk over to the field and have a look to see how my wildflower patch is progressing. It’s a bit patchy, some parts of the ground were I sowed seed are densely packed with new shoots of all shapes and sizes. Other parts, especially at the southern end of the strip, are more sparsely populated with quite a lot of bare soil. This is partly due to the later sowing of this area – nearly three weeks after the northern end, and partly due to the fact that I used a different seed mix in this area – for heavy clay soil.
I went to look at the established wildflower strip on the village green. Here the wildflowers are already about 60cm tall compared to most of mine which are between about 1 and 10cm. But again I should know that I am comparing seeds sowed between 5-8 weeks ago with established plants with well developed root systems. I also visited two gardens high in the Coombe. They had been seeded 3 to 4 weeks ago but there was barely anthing to show other than weeds. It made me feel better as much of my seed has germinated.
The wet weather we have had has meant that I haven't had to water the new plants but this week I spent about 5 hours weeding - mainly thistles which had taken over parts of the wildflower strip and some nettles and small brambles.
I’m going on holiday next week so I had to make sure that a number of things were set up for the end of the month and early June. I convened a planning meeting for our RE-B B-Line team to discuss the surveys we are going to undertake, how we might record the results of our project, the zoom meeting we are planning for early June and the celebratory wildflower wander we are planning for National Meadows Day – June 1st. I prepared a document to support discussion. I contacted the Garden Centre to confirm the arrangements for sponsoring the wildflower wander.
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