Plenty has been happening at the Triangle Garden and our allotments since we returned from the Christmas break! Resurfacing at the allotments is complete, as can be seen from the photo above taken on 16th January and treeworks to the community nature garden were finished on 14th – see pics below.
So why and how did all this start? Back in the summer we identified that the uneven surface of our allotment (right) was causing people with visual and mobility issues to struggle at our Growing Ability project. We had a couple of potential gardeners come for a taster session and not return due to feeling unsafe on the uneven ground and cluttered site. We were already wary of the dust levels kicked up in the polytunnel from the bark surfacing in there, so we started looking at alternative materials for the communal areas, and fundraising to buy some raised manger-style troughs that people could sit at to garden.
We also realised that our pollinator-friendly planting in the community garden was not flowering as freely as it might – the plants just weren’t getting enough sun. When we first designed the garden in 2000 many of the trees were a lot smaller – some only five years old – and now 25 years later their canopies were closing in, restricting light and reducing biodiversity (left).
Then along came the North Herts Prosperity Fund which offered up to £20,000 for capital works improvements to accessibility, perceived safety, community cohesion and biodiversity for local communities – the tail end of the Tory government’s Levelling Up money that needed to be spent by March 2025. We applied in late August (thanks to the super-quick turnaround of the contractors who quoted for us) and after several months of waiting with baited breath, were told we’d been successful!
Earlier this month successful contractors Maydencroft started resurfacing the communal areas of our allotments and coppicing the more aggressive shade-giving trees and the work is now complete. The difference at the allotments is massive and much appreciated by all our Growing Ability gardeners, staff and volunteers. The new surfacing – recycled hardcore with a top-dressing of crushed granite fines – has a lighter finish from the dark old bark and really brightens up the area under and around our shelter, making it super-clear where any obstacles like posts or raised beds are. It’s also much more even under foot and doesn’t kick up dust.
At the community garden the change is not so noticeable yet as the leaves aren’t yet on the trees – so the whole garden feels brighter than in summer. But when the leaves finally open there will be much more light to the central meeting space and the beds around it, both mid-morning and in the late afternoon, now that certain canopies have been reduced (see below).
You’ll notice from the photos that we’ve left some piles of logs blocking some of the impromptu paths that have been worn along the riverside. These are habitat piles to create homes and food for invertebrates that will in turn feed the bats, birds, lizards and newts that inhabit the garden. The reason we’ve blocked the paths with them is to try and reduce the trampling of the riverside flora. Nature is under threat and we humans need to take a step back and share our environment more generously with other creatures if we are to allow biodiversity to thrive. There is plenty of riverside path from the basketball court alongside the forest garden. Leaving the riverside untrampled in our community nature garden, will allow nature to thrive here once again.
Over the next few Sunday Garden Clubs we’ll be planting up the worn streamside areas and injecting new life into the pollinators garden. You’re very welcome to join us – book your free place online – all ages welcome!
And don’t forget to join us for our Big Garden Birdwatch on 26th January! Book your free place here. Thank you and see you soon!