The bluebell bulbs go in

A smaller group of 6 people worked hard today on yet another fine autumnal afternoon. More clearing work has been done and 500 bluebell bulbs were planted. The Millennium Gardens are looking stunning!

Many hands make light work!

Lots of people turned up today and fortunately the rain held off all afternoon. The results are spectacular! As well as clearing up the 'woodland' corner, we have tidied up some of the areas that had already been planted. Some new plants have gone in, to fill out the existing beds and to make an eye-catching corner bed at the entrance to Booths' car park.

Unfortunately the bluebells we had ordered did not arrive in time, so we'll have to have another get together soon.

The mulch arrives

We have sourced mulch locally from Drinkwater Mushroom Farm in Galgate, near Lancaster. We bought 5 tons of it, which arrived in a truck on the Friday before the Big Dig.

The site

The site for the project is in the corner of the Millennium Gardens. There are some trees here, but mainly it is rubus ground cover. This was planted when the Gardens were established in 2000 and has now got quite out of hand. It is a very pernicious plant, with strong roots that make it hard to completely remove. Our plan is to dig down, plant new plants in there to take over and cover it with some mulch.

If you know the correct full name for this plant, please let us know by adding a comment to this blog!

Getting the ground ready

We are preparing the ground for the woodland cultivation. The Sunday after next is planned to be a big volunteer session, so we hope lots of people will turn up. The bluebells have all been bought and we're putting up posters all over Settle. Fingers crossed it doesn't rain!