Saturday 16 May 2020

What's Growin On?

If you want to hear me uming and awing my way through an interview, here's your opportunity:


https://www.buzzsprout.com/1046374/3778724-episode-3-victory-gardens-and-butterfly-ways


The following item about Butterfly Ways is inspirational.  I think they are known as Pathways for Pollinators here in the UK.  This was very much the thinking behind the patch of grass next to the school which we sowed up with a wildflower meadow mix last autumn.

Here's how it looked yesterday:



Compared to how it looked last September!




And here is a picture from the day it was sown:



There is rather too much grass in the mix for my liking, given the effort involved in removing the course grass in the first place.  I guess the fringe shows what the original grass was like, and there are flowers appearing in amongst the lime green new grass.





In case you are wondering about the lack of close ups, although there is a public path alongside access has become a little more complicated with the school gate being locked











4 comments:

  1. Malachy, eh? and here I thought is was Malcolm. The picture with the little children is charming. And, yes, we had a Victory Garden on the west coast during WWII. It was a vacant lot under a billboard.

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    1. The children just loved the sowing session!

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  2. Interesting that someone from Canada tracked you down. It was a long interview too. Well done for flying the flag but where was the Scottish accent?
    If you can get hold of some yellow rattle that’s supposed to keep down grass growth in wild flower meadows. I think growing flowers for pollinators is a good thing to do on allotments and was amazed to hear that this isn’t allowed on some sites.

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  3. Sshhh, there is an extra helping of yellow rattle in that seed mix. My accent? I ken, I ken!
    On a more sinister note, Edinburgh Council are redrawing the allotment rules. All sorts of arbitrary constraints have been introduced. e.g. You are only allowed to paint your shed "green, brown, or cedar". There is also a 75% minimum cultivation rule.

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