Jayne Clavering of Burcham Street Gardeners writes:
We are excited and proud to present the Burcham Street Gardeners pond and wildlife corner!
After a previous highly unsuccessful attempt at creating a pond and bog garden, the Project Pond master plan has been to reinstate not only a pond but also introduce a wildlife corner within a small walled community garden to create a haven for local wildlife, plants and insects for local residents and community centre users to use, enjoy and learn.
To ensure we didn’t make the same mistakes as we did with our last disastrous effort! The Tower Habitats grant from the Tower Hill Trust has enabled us to bring in some real expertise in the form of Ken Greenway from Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park to support with the design, build and give us the knowledge we need to maintain and ensure the area flourishes.
Early on we realised the pure physical tasks involved in digging out were so massive and difficult for us as a group, we were overjoyed when Ken’s team of wonderful volunteers stepped in working incredibly hard digging out. We were then as a group left with the task of removing the earth that had been dug out which we did so well, we ended up moving all the soil when in fact we should have left some for backfill! Once again Ken and his trusty volunteers came to the rescue by bringing earth to us from the cemetery park!
Dug out and planted with spring bulbs (see photo below), the pond was then left over the winter months so it could begin to fill naturally, with a final topping up of water and planting bringing things to completion at the beginning of May. Our final session with the lovely Ken has ensured our knowledge on pond care has also been topped up and we now eagerly await the arrival of new animal and insect visitors and seeing the area thrive spectacularly over the coming months.
As a group, we can’t thank you enough for enabling the realisation of our dream pond! We are inspired with ideas for new projects to discover more on wild plants and herbs and their edible and medicinal uses. We also all look forward to our Garden Party and official pond debut in July!
