Because Storm Callum moved our mid-month weekend permablitz to the final weekend in October, ouir weekend permablitz happened days before our Wednesday permablitz when we had volunteers from Network Rail in to help us.
Saturday Permablitz - Planting Up
It hadn’t been that long since our first Network Rail volunteer day when their team had spent hours clearing the blanket of bindweed from the “Forest Garden” demonstration bed. This gave us an almost blank canvas to work from today.
We’d bought a variety of 25 hardy, herbaceous and medicinal perennial plants using money from the funding we’d be granted by Milton Keynes Community Foundation. Now it was time to get them planted amongst the edible shrubs and fruit trees already there…
Although all the plants we’d chosen were taken from the original permaculture plot proposal, where to place them was something we decided amongst ourselves. We checked their preferred soil, drainage and light conditions then tended to plant each type in groups of three for more visual impact.
Then we got to work weeding, planting and mulching…
We worked up quite an appetite after more than two hours spent in the garden, so it was fantastic to have such a great spread for our Bring & Share lunch. Our volunteer’s home-made salads, pastries, cheese twists and biscuits were particularly good! 🙂
Thanks to our Volunteers
We had three generous Network Rail volunteers and two enthusiastic Planting Up members who gave up their whole working day to help with our week-day permablitz on Wednesday 24 October.
Starting where the last permablitz left off, the group made a big difference finishing off the last bits of weeding and laying woodchip on the Forest Garden demonstration plot as well as continuing to clear the back coop garden.
Not only did we achieve another patch of the coop garden being cleared and an extra layer on our fertile woodchip mulch to keep our new plants warm. We also managed to give the whole Forest Garden bed a bordered edge using thick tree branches that a recent Green Gym group had cut back from the Westbury moat bed.
