Extreme Gardening - Sunday 16 September

Kitting up

Many people wanted to take part in this, as it sounded so much fun. In the end, for safety reasons we chose our experienced and qualified climbers, Steve, Robin and Becky. And though they all remained incredibly cheerful, it was cold and poured with rain, so maybe the fun aspect was somewhat diluted.

Getting started

Having seen the complexity of the climbing skills needed, on top of the dangers of stanley knives in operation near security ropes (very counter-intuitive for climbers), this was definitely the right decision.

Sowing seed

The retaining bank north of Terrace D was seeded as a meadow last spring as it is the plant roots which will really hold the soil in place long term rather than the green matting. Some of the soil washed out within a few weeks taking the seeds with them and leaving bare patches. We thought we would try and reseed the bare bits this September, by cutting small slits in the upper matting and spreading a mix of seed and sand behind and then repegging.

The bare bit

Becky said, 'This was a great new experience. I have never tried to garden from a rope before.' However in some areas all the soil has gone, which is useful to know as something else will need to be done there, and we could only have found out in this way.




 Kate

  www.lancastercohousing.org.uk

 Vertical Gardening Continued, Steve: 

To add to Kate's blog I have added a couple of photos taken hanging off the rope. From the big grin on her face it's obvious Becky just loves dangling from ropes in the pouring rain!

Hopefully the reseeding will take effect before the winter weather draws in. I suppose we will have to wait until spring to see how effective it was.