An update from Sara Messenger of the Bradley Stoke in Bloom group.
By the time our October workday arrived, I think we were on ‘Plan D’ or maybe even ‘E’, but a plan is still a plan! We returned to the rose garden on Brook Way (just north of the doctors’ surgery) and seven of us, including newbie Emma, spent a very productive day there. We cleared the paths, weeded the flower beds, trimmed back the overhanging greenery, removed two dead bushes, avoided the numerous wasp nests, planted wall flowers, and repaired and then covered the rose garden carpet with bark chippings. The carpet has done a great job of keeping down the weeds here, but it was beginning to look tatty, the mower chewing up sections of it just added to its dejected air, so we have been planning to cover it up for a while. Although a couple of gardening firms promised us some bark, it never arrived, nor could the local garden centre get enough delivered at such short notice, but the day (and over £300) was saved by a last minute offer of some free bark if we could collect it, which we did, by hand (well, wheelbarrow)! We also plan to repaint the benches here, but have been advised to wait until warmer weather but it will be done, unlike the nearby bench on the Patchway Common playing field which has been waiting 10 years for its graffiti to be painted over!
One of our Willow Brook Centre planters is looking very bare at the moment as the plants have yet again been attacked by vine weevil larvae, so we have had to remove them to try and treat the soil, but we have suggested to the Beavers and Rainbows that in the meantime they may like to make poppies to decorate it. Our herb garden here is in need of a good trim, so please do feel free to come and snip off any herbs that you may need. The kitchen garden has done very well this year and we’ve picked strawberries, sugar snap peas, onions, tomatoes and peppers from here. One passer-by asked if that really was rhubarb growing in a town square and was most surprised not only to be told “yes”, but for us to cut some off and give it to her to take home!
BSiB has donated daffodil and crocus bulbs to the skate park for the grassy banks and tulips for the base of the tree pits and we will go back to help when the trees arrive.
We were also invited to meet Bradley Stoke Senior Friends and I had a very enjoyable afternoon, cuppa in hand, chatting about past and future projects (everyone wants us to do something with Rabbit Roundabout! We already have a few ideas as to what we’d like to do).
And we also had an email from Natracare in Woodlands Lane, inviting us to come and see their garden. They have installed a pond, shrubs and plants, raised vegetable beds, grass meadow and a green-roofed roundhouse, and we’re all hoping that this can qualify for recognition by Britain in Bloom as a business contribution to making local spaces greener.
Our next workday is on 19th November and we will be at The Common East. Even if you can only manage a morning, we would love to see you there.
How to contact Bradley Stoke in Bloom:
- t: 07582 634107
- e: bsib@hotmail.co.uk
- w: bradleystokeinbloom.com
- Bradley Stoke in Bloom on Facebook
Photo: BSiB volunteers at the rose garden on Brook Way.
This article originally appeared in the November 2016 edition of the Bradley Stoke Journal news magazine, delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to 9,500 homes in Bradley Stoke, Little Stoke and Stoke Lodge. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.
