New spring garden created for Hopping Mill Meadow

A new spring garden has been created in Hopping Mill Meadow by Blooming Milford.

The garden is at the bottom end of Hopping Mill Meadow close to where the riverside path comes off the A6 and near two other Blooming Milford projects, the herb planters and the wildflower corner. Its creation was a collaboration between Amber Valley Borough Council (AVBC) and Blooming Milford and made possible by a very generous donation from Gary Hans of AMG Wealth Management in Park Farm, Allestree. It is the biggest project Blooming Milford has been involved with since the installation of the riverside benches in 2018.

Clearance of Hopping Mill Meadow Spring Garden area March 2020

The area was identified as a possible garden for Blooming Milford to create in 2019 and permission was gained from AVBC. It contained several elder trees which needed to be removed and many brambles and weeds. This was done in several waves by both Blooming Milford and AVBC. Finally the area needed to be forked over in preparation for planting. This took four people several hours to remove roots and weeds and was hard work due to the wet clayey consistency of the soil. The area finally prepared is shown in the photo above.

Now the planting began. Plants that flower February – April were chosen and, due to Gary Hans’ generous donation, very large and healthy plants, shrubs and trees were purchased. Of the trees there is a very large Victoria plum, the fruit of which will be free for residents to pick as they pass by, and a flowering cherry. For the shrubs there are many large specimen camellias, magnolias and daphne, and these are underplanted with numerous hellebores, drumstick primulas and bergenia (elephants ears). Finally, AVBC left us a large pile of chippings for us to use, from their January clearance of the Hopping Mill Meadow, left below the retaining wall of the R&D car park. This was transferred in 20 barrow loads to the spring garden to form a generous 2 inch thick layer of mulch over the whole area, to suppress weeds and retain moisture. Already attractive, the spring garden should mature to give much pleasure in springs years to come.

Magnolia and cherry blossom in flower March 2020

Completed Spring Garden March 2020

 

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