Grow Wild team complete their first wildlife garden
Posted 15th December 2011
The Grow Wild team has completed its inaugural project - helping to improve the habitat study area at Fairfield Preparatory School in Loughborough.
The area already contained a well established pond, but the school wanted more from the space - somewhere to grow fruit and vegetables, tell stories, build dens, and go minibeast hunting.
After coming up with a design and agreeing this with the school, our team of four freelance gardeners spent three days:
- Creating raised beds for vegetables - one with shade tolerant red currants, rhubarb and alpine strawberries just under the canopy of mature limes, and one in full sun which was planted with broad beans, early peas and onion sets. These varieties were specially chosen so that the fruit and vegetables will be ready to harvest during term time.
- Planting sensory herbs and a butterfly meadow. The herbs were planted along the one of the fences bordering the playground, so they were chosen for their hardiness as well as their scent – they will release fragrance every time they deflect a stray football!
- Constructing a circle of log seats for storytelling, using timber felled in the day to day maintenance of the school ground.
- Making three different log piles so that minibeast hunting will be more successful and fun.
The feedback from the school was very positive, and the team has been asked to go back to do maintenance work to the area in the New Year.
Grow Wild is a project to support schools, community groups and other not-for-profit organisations to make the most of their outdoor spaces for people and for wildlife.
For more information, click here Alternatively, please contact Martha Rose: 0116 272 8866 mrose@lrwt.org.uk
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