Monday 8 December 2008

Guerilla Gardening

With the arrival of the frosts at last, Chris also decided that the spot of guerilla gardening that we've had planned for the village could safely go ahead. We had to wait until the heavy rains had stopped because we were worried about the seeds getting washed away.

Chris set to work (I had to go into the office) sowing a mix of native wild flower seeds into the rough areas of the village green. He used plenty of yellow rattle seed which will partially parasitise the rank grasses, weakening them enough that other plant species can compete.

Some of the villagers wandered out to see what he was up to and were quite pleasantly surprised when the plan was revealed. Chris was rewarded with a well earned mug of coffee at our friend Gary's house which overlooks the green.

Now we just have to watch and wait. Hopefully it will look something like this next year!

2 comments:

Denise said...

Which grasses do the yellow rattle seed attack, as we've got an area of rough grass and I was wondering if they would help improve it!!!
Denise

Jenny Holden said...

Hi Denise! They work on any grass, even Italian Rye :o) try sowing into mole hills or create little bare patches to get them started. They need a hard frost during the winter to help them germinate.