The GreenSpace volunteers have continued to upgrade our area at a tremendous pace since November, despite the winter, making the most of the relatively mild and dry weather until the recent deluges.
The completion of the Fire Pit was described in detail in the last report here, but it was officially “opened” on 26th November 2021 by former Milford School head Cathy Kinsella in the presence of the GreenSpace committee and during a Forest School session with the primary school children. Official photos were taken and it was featured in an article in the Derby Evening Telegraph here.
Children having a Forest School class in the fire pit, with head teacher Cathy Kinsella and the GreenSpace committee
We then made the most of our new Fire Pit with our Winter Gathering on 19th December which was a great success with over 30 attendees. For more details on how the day went, see the article here.
The main project since the creation of the fire pit has been the clearance of our newly acquired adjacent allotment to the GreenSpace. In the November report we described how we had already cleared half of it, transforming it from its original completely overgrown state in September, shown in the picture below.
The Arthur’s Plot before clearance, September 2021
We then converted the cleared and dug over half into a sensory maze. 100 beech and 20 hazel hedging whips to make hedges to form the maze walls were bought from Hudson’s, plus a large Amelanchier tree, donated by Blooming Milford. These were all planted in a joint GreenSpace/Blooming Milford volunteer effort on 12th December. We also spread much chipped bark donated by Mark Hudson to make up the paths. Since then, limestone chippings with a stone edging have been added round the Amelanchier, making it look like a proper centrepiece, some large, donated, heather plants added, and a honeysuckle planted by the trellis in the top corner. Already planted were many bulbs found during digging and primulas and lavenders donated by the Earthed Up co-op. Two months later it can be seen the area has already been transformed, from the pictures below.
GreenSpace Maze just before planting
GreenSpace maze two months after planting
Amelanchier tree centrepiece
Honeysuckle
Primulas, heathers, bulbs and bluebells
Since then we have turned our attention to clearing and digging over the remaining piece of the additional allotment. So far the top third has been completely dug over, weeded and rubbish (there was a great deal buried in there) removed. It is planned for this are to be planted up as a wildflower garden in the spring.
Volunteers hard at work digging over the proposed wildflower garden
We have also spent the winter preparing our raised vegetable beds for next year. First we used the sleepers left over after the sides of the fire pit were completed to shore up the land between all three of the raised beds, allowing level paths to be made thus improving access. We then dressed the upper and middle beds with chicken pellets and GreenSpace composted chicken manure and compost from David Moreton’s garden. The raspberry bed was also weeded and horse manure donated by Becky Wilkinson added.
The raised vegetable beds being shored up with sleepers
Finally, after some delay, trees from The Woodland Trust have arrived. These are to form a hedge along the post and wire fence along the bottom of the GreenSpace, this has been in our plans for some time. We will be digging the ground along the fence and planting the trees on Saturday 26th February at 2pm, and all volunteers are welcome!
Trees received from The Woodland Trust 24th February 2022
