Apologies for the absence of a blog for the past couple of months. It’s been really hard work here for everyone over the summer, with a range of activities taking place in very hot weather.
Our annual playscheme went really well, with 40 plus children on site every day for two weeks, taking part in fun and educational activities. The kids got to enjoy trips to the Priory Tennis Club and Edgbaston Cricket Ground but certainly my favourite part was that the children planted our new sensory garden in the play area.
A few weeks prior to the playscheme, our therapeutic horticulture volunteers cleared out and dug over a patch of overgrown planting, rescuing and relocating a few decent ferns and then mulched the area ready for the kids to come in and do their bit.
The little garden now boasts Witchhazel, Tufted Hair grass, Mock Orange, Honeysuckle and a range of herbs and other sensory plants, all carefully picked to fit the space and encourage people to engage with them through movement, touch and scent. Thanks to Birmingham Common Good for the funding to help us install the sensory garden [as well a supporting us with the build of a new storage shed and fencing] and providing a great opportunity for the children to join in and hopefully learn to love plants and gardening.
It was originally planned that the children would work on planting one morning of each week, but they enjoyed it so much that they insisted on continuing, getting the whole thing done in a day. After that, they diligently watered their plants daily and, having realised that they enjoyed hauling around the watering cans, helped us out around the garden by watering everything in sight.
We did need the help, to be fair. With the ongoing heat and practically no rainfall, it’s been a difficult balancing act to keep volunteers safe and ensure that the plants in the garden got the amount of water that they need. Annoyingly, many weeds – bramble in particular – seemed to enjoy the hot weather and continued to grow apace while we were busy trying to make sure our ornamental plants and vegetables didn’t die of thirst.
On a few days, we even had to cancel volunteering sessions, as it was just too hot and we didn’t want to put anyone at risk. It’s a salutary reminder that we will have to learn how to do things differently and the garden will have to make changes to be able to cope with our increasingly hot summers. We are currently considering alterations to planting, different techniques to retain moisture in the soil as well as increasing our rainwater capture, harvesting and use. Hopefully, a considered approach will enable us to spend less time [and money!] on watering in the future.
A special thanks to all our volunteers and supporters who have helped us keep the gardens green this summer – we appreciate all the hard work you put in, whatever the weather.