by volunteer and DofE student Edward:
On this day of volunteering lots of work was finished. The weather was sunny and mild which was perfect for doing work but attracted many hoverflies.
Some of the work that was completed was the planting of wildflowers. 400 small wildflower plants had been grown from seed by members of the Triangle Garden’s Growing Ability project (people with additional support needs who grow food and flowers at the allotments during the week). There were also some clumps of Ox Eye daisies for planting that had been donated to Triangle Gardens by Jane ‘The Hitchin Forager’. All plants were planted by the volunteers.
Planting the wildflowers took nearly the whole 2 hours but afterwards, there was still time for us to water them. When they grow they will become more visible. Wildflowers are important for the ecosystem because they provide pollinators with food throughout the year. An acre filled with wildflowers can make enough food to feed 96,000 honey bees per day. By planting wildflowers in the Triangle Garden we are providing local butterflies and bees with food.
We used a small three-pronged fork to poke each plant out of the cells from behind. We then dug 2.5-centimetre holes with a dibber or a small trowel and firmed each one in. They were all planted in the area in front of the forest garden and Triangle Garden where the grass is being allowed to grow long, and where volunteers planted a load of spring bulbs last autumn.
Some more volunteers did some pruning work to make the garden look neater. Volunteers said they found the morning very enjoyable.
