October started with an onslaught in the park. Our volunteers were keen to get going, and so were the weeds. With the drought over the summer and very dry conditions, we were unable to plant or dig.
It did enable us to clear much vegetation which had grown in the wrong place.
Growing Wild kindly donated 12 trays of wildflower plants and some yellow rattle. We looked after them until conditions softened and we were able to plant them in our wild flower meadow on Haven Bridge.
However our perennial planters in Narrow Bargate and at the Memorial Gardens were growing better than ever, thanks to the watering by the Parks and Grounds team.
This perennial planting has been a success, thanks to the funding of BBL. Although annual plants are cheaper, in the long run they are more expensive as they have to be replaced every year.
November and onto the Buoy garden and the Skate Park- we were faced by weeds that had grown in the paths, often obscuring the edges of the beds.
We were delighted that the Home Nursery joined us after a long absence due to covid, and the pre schoolers were able to plant hundreds of bulbs in the raised beds and then plant violas over the top of them.
They loved it and were able to take bulbs back to school to plant them there. We hope that interest in nature will flourish
That’s looking a lot better. We were joined during one of our sessions by two young men from The Church of the Latter Day Saints who were intrigued by what we were doing and joined us for half an hour.
We are often asked by passers’ by what we doing and why. They wonder if we are paid and ‘shouldn’t the Borough be doing this’?’
Railway Station
We have been supporting the Railway Adopters who, since the East Midlands Railway lost their local Community Rail Office Poacher Line, have had no support.
They have worked hard on the planters and the front beds, and with bulbs and wallflowers got the station ready for winter. When the promised funding comes in for the station next year things should change.
Heritage Skills Day
We were able to go to a Saturday at the Stump for a Heritage Skills Day. We had seeds, bulbs and plants to give away, and there were over 400 visitors who took and interest in all the stalls.
It was a good opportunity to show what we do and we may have two more vonunteers starting in the New Year.
It has been a difficult year for the volunteers and on some mornings there are fewer of us. It is important for us to continue to recruit, as we say, much more enjoyable than going to the gym.
Our next big job after wrestling with the brambles and trees which had planted themselves in the park was to plan our replanting of Custom House Quay We were particularly wanting plants that were not soft to the touch. Often the softer the plant the easier it is to steal or throw at a friend. So we bought small hollies and others with serrated edges, all perennials and planted yet more bulbs. The Boots’ planters got a refresh. They have done well this year. Then we had the very cold weather before Christmas. In the few days between Christmas and New Year, some of us got out and looked at the planters that had got scorched by the cold and tidied them up too. We lost two cordylines and will have to replace them when the nurseries are open again
It has been a good year if we ignore the vagaries of the weather. We have made contact again with the nursery school, The Princes’ Trust Volunteers, the Co-op volunteers, NACRO, supported the station adopters and won another gold for Boston at the East Midlands in Bloom finals. Still much to do but a wholehearted thank you to the residents and team at Boston Big Local, we wouldn’t have got this far without you!
