Thursday 12 July 2012

Gardening - 10-12th July

We have been weeding and raking. I posted a default on Parktracker asking the Enterprise team to come and tidy up the Square. Today there were 10 + of them with all sorts of machines: chain saws, weeders, cleaners, mowers, strimmers. They pruned and weeded and mowed and the Square looks spritely and better cared for now. They have also cut some of the shoots from the trees on the SE corner so the sight lines are better. Unfortunately someone has trampled the stem of one of the new elm tree which looks like it has had it.

Gardening - 3rd July - planting Gaillardia

We put in the Gaillardia plugs which have grown on nicely in my back garden. It has rained and poured since and although they have survived they do look drenched and partly flattened. We are working towards London in Bloom - Your Neighbourhood judging on Friday 13th July. Lots and lots of weeding to do as you can see from the photo of the rose beds.

Thursday 21 June 2012

Map of planting Spring 2012

This is a layout to show what we have planted this spring. We are grateful to funding we received from The Amwell Society and to Greenspace who held money from filming in Wilmington Square which has enabled us to buy most of the plants.

Gardening 16th June - planting Iberis Snowflake

We planted out the Iberis Snowflake in the lavender bed having grown then on from plugs for 3 weeks. I have repotted small Gaillardia in the pots which we will put in the beds in a few weeks time. Unfortunately some people continue to walk right through the beds and these fragile young plants have been trampled already. A and I replant squashed and uprooted plants daily. Let's see what survives.

Gardening 14 June - weeding

The chickweed has loved the rains as much as everything. We weeded the lavender bed.

Tuesday 29 May 2012

Gardening 27 May - homeless visitors

Enterprise have mown the lawns and weeded the rose beds this week so the Square is looking fine. As the weather has warmed there have been more homeless people sleeping in the Square again. The plants were wilting a little, especially the hellebore. We watered with the watering cans early Sunday morning and I planted some campanula mixed with the geranium. This bed is looking OK now. Unfortuately someone has taken another of the azelea. The Iberis cotton white have arrived as smallish plugs so we are growing these on for a few weeks. A has kindly taken them in to her care.

Gardening 19 May- tree damage

There was a fight with sticks in the Square last night and some of the small trees were uprooted. Gardening wise, a couple of plants have been taken: an azalia and a rose. We planted some Verbena Voodoo Stars in the bed near the gates. Replaced the damaged clematis and the missing rose. I planted three Globe thistles in the cntre of the bed with pansies.

Tuesday 8 May 2012

Gardening update - 4th May

The clemetis has been uprooted despite the protective guard around it. On Friday 4 May I planted some red and white "St George" geranium plugs in the bed nearest the gate. I moved the periwinkle from the shaded bed and planted them alongside the roses near the gate. Unfortunatedly dogs have already squished a few of the geranium. Let's see whether these smallish plants survive.

Pigeons galore

The Wilmington Square pigeons are well fed and so there are even more of them:

Tuesday 17 April 2012

Gardening - April 18th






I have ordered mail order plants to fill the beds. Luck had it that the first delivery arrived in the middle of the only week I will be away this spring. We planted everything yesterday but the helleborus (Niger) were looking a bit limp and slightly mouldy. The geranium (Blue Johnson) were quite difficult to work out having been grown from cuttings: it was clear which were roots but not obvious where the shoots were. Let's hope that both survive. We also watered with the cans (hosepipe ban is effective). It took A, O and I, 4 plus hours. We also planted nasturtium which had been grown from seed in the stone pot. We got some free Dahlias and Begonias in bulb form which O planted in the middle of the philadelphus.

Spring window boxes



The window boxes were abundant this spring.

Gardening Session - March 25th






We had a good fine warm day for gardening on 25th. Around 12 - 15 people joined in and we were helped by Chris from Greenspace.

We achieved the following:
- weeded and turned the soil in the two NW beds.
- planted a ring of pansies and 3 St John's Wort in the round bed
- planted 30 lavender (a further 30 planted later in the week) and 3 philadelphus (mock orange, which looked a bit lame on arrival from the garden centre) in the oval bed
- removed ivy from the oval bed near the entrance.
- planted a clemetis on W border to climb the dead tree
- planted a climbing rose on the other dead standing tree. This was removed 2 days later but a new one replanted within the week
- we also planted a semi circle of bee friendly summer flowering bulbs (spicata Blazing Star) in the rose beds and some crocosmia in the SW border

A big thank you to all the gardeners and to the encouraging comments from neighbours.

Tuesday 31 January 2012

RSPB Survey and Islington Parks Survey





On Sunday 29th Jan a few of us met in the Square to conduct a bird count for the RSPB's Garden Birdwatch and to fill in a more detailed survey on wildlife in Islington Parks.

10.50 - 11.50am
Cold but clear
3 Blackbirds (2 male, 1 female)
3 Blue tit (including 2 eating from feeder)
56 Feral pigeon
2 Wood pigeon
2 Carrion crow
2 Jay
1 Robin

We also saw 4 squirrels including one building a dray.

Snowdrops are out, as are a few aconites. There is honey fungus next to the bug pit. I have notified Greenspace to see if this needs treating?