Nature's Gym by the orchard Nov 2024

 21st November 2024

Nature's Gym - their final session in Mayow Park was in an area behind the orchard where a large tree had been felled and the trunk left on the ground for wildlife. The felling also opened the space to sunlight where there had previously been deep shade.

The plan was to 

• enhance  the stag beetle loggery built a few weeks ago by adding more upright logs half buried in the ground

• drill holes in the tops of the logs to encourage solitary bees to nest

• clear away brambles encroaching into the orchard

• plant hedgerow whips to infill gaps at the hedgerow by the hard standing.

Jane and Donna got to work using a spade and an adze to dig a long trench and gather the prepared logs from the loggery that had been built a few weeks earlier.  

Jane also sawed some logs to different sizes. 

These logs will stand upright in the trench, part buried in the ground and gradually rot down. 

The rotting logs will  hopefully attract stag beetles to lay eggs which will  develop into larvae, munching through the wood for up to seven years before emerging as majestic stag beetles.

Emily brought a drill and sat on the ground to drill a series of holes in what would be the tops of the logs. 

Mike, Charles and Sue took on the task of cutting back the brambles. (No photos), collecting all the arisings and piling them up to create wildlife habitats.

Charles and Alona planted some whips in the gaps between the trees in the existing hedgerow.

The finished loggery (see below) - thank you Donna and Jane. 

We had tea and biscuits when the work was done and all equipment packed away. A  very enjoyable session.

An artistic member of the Friends of Mayow Park is in the process of designing an interpretation sign for the loggery and we hope to have it in a couple of weeks.

Nature's Gym - helping wildlife: 2024

 31st October:

The north-eastern corner of Mayow Park is often ignored as a place to explore and to observe wild life. 

When new social housing was built recently outside the park but at the edge of this space Friends of Mayow Park and Lewisham's Nature's Gym saw the opportunity to enhance it for nature. A fallen oak lay alongside  the railings with Mayow Road - good  for wildlife and all kinds of invertebrates in particular. 

Too much bramble and cherry laurel had grown over the area in recent years. 

We needed to do far more to achieve our intention of turning this space into a nature reserve for wildlife to thrive and where people could visit.

Nature's Gym had already started to clear the scrub a few weeks ago.  But now we had two sessions to create a dead hedge, lay down a wood chip path and plant whips (young trees that are like small twigs)  to create a wildlife  hedgerow.

We had a pile of wood chippings from last year's Christmas trees - ideal for a path into the woods.

With two wheelbarrows to carry the wood chips into the nature area and willing volunteers it took no time to create a pathway.

  One wheel barrow emptied, ready to bring in another load of chippings.

While some volunteers cut back undergrowth, others made holes for wooden stakes to create a frame for the dead hedge.

We had a hand-held manual auger for digging holes, with its spiral drill cutting through the soil. Here we see the first hole being cut.

We needed more holes, to hold stakes in two parallel lines as a framework to hold the dead hedge in place.

Volunteers gathered the cut brambles, ivy, laurel and long branches. Then they laid them between the stakes to build the dead hedge.  

Using this method cuts the need to dispose of plant matter to a composting scheme. Organic matter slowly rots down in this space and will be topped up with more plant matter from time to time.

The dead hedge will also create a home for wildlife. It will provide shelter and food for all sorts of animals including invertebrates such as woodlice, caterpillars and beetles,  small mammals and some birds. It will be interesting to find out over time which creatures move in.

Here we can see the dead hedge between the stakes as plant material is being added.

7th November:

Today's aim was to plant many hedgerow whips along the periphery of the site. 

We needed to dig the ground to take the whips (no photo of the whips). 

Then the whips were planted  in a double row about 50 cm apart in each row. This close planting is so they will eventually form a thick hedge. This is a mixed hedge which includes rowan, hawthorn, blackthorn and even oak.

Each whip was watered and given some wood chip mulch to hold in the moisture.

Some of us will visit the hedgerow from time to time over the coming months and we hope it will thrive. 

Gardening activities by FOMP volunteers

There are three FOMP volunteers who regularly arrange to do some gardening work in specific spaces  within Mayow Park which we are responsible for. This was agreed  with Lewisham Council and Glendale  some years ago but many people who have recently moved into the locality may not be aware of this.

Here is a summary

HERB BED in front of the cafe. It grows a range of herbs, mostly mints but also plenty of oregano which butterflies love, as we saw back in July. It is allowed to grow a little untidily. People are able to collect leaves of rosemary, oregano, mints and other herbs for their own use. Unfortunately that bed also has bindweed which we struggle to keep under control. When we pull it up, it goes into one of the park litter bins rather than our compost bins. This is because our 'dalek' style compost bins do not heat up to a sufficient temperature to destroy the bindweed.
Information on our compost area will follow in another blog.

SOFT FRUIT BED: Just to the west of the herb bed is the bed with raspberries, blackcurrants, red currants and white currants. The fruit is there for passers-by to pick and for children to taste fresh. The two fruit trees in that space are a Victoria Plum which has not produced proper plums for several years. In the past few years it has developed 'Pocket Plum', caused by a fungus. This prevents the development of the stone and causes distorted fruits to appear. There is nothing we can do, but the tree is still healthy and a worthy addition to the space. Near to that is a dwarfing Jonagold apple tree which produced a few apples this year and which were enjoyed by people in the park. Round two sides of the fruit bed is a hedgerow, planted for wildlife.

There are also plants growing beside the balustrade overlooking the bowls green.

MINI WILD FLOWER BED AND STEPPING LOGS
Along the path to the south of the soft fruit bed is a very small wild flower meadow. This year more colourful flowers came up. Next year, do visit and see how many wild flower varieties you can find.

ROCKERY: Near the drinking water fountain that Friends of Mayow Park funded is the revived rockery, which we rebuilt with help from Glendale. It was the wish of the previous Chair of FOMP, Hilary Jarrett,  that the rockery would look be revived. Sadly Hilary died before her wish came true. I'm sure she would be very happy.

MINI NATURE TRAIL: Along the path towards the tennis courts and just past the end of the bowls green to the left, we have created a mini nature trail and invertebrate 'hotel'. Volunteers from Nature's Gym helped to rebuilt the the pallets of the minibeast hotel and to lay logs along the path. During the summer holidays (and presumably with approval of their parents) children removed the path edge logs to build 'dens' in various locations in the park. We hope that we can find enough logs to reinstate the path and that parents will encourage children to respect the work of volunteers.

ORCHARD: We have 17 fruit trees and one bush. A detailed account of the orchard will be prepared ahead of our Apple Day, coming up in early October.

We welcome volunteers to help us with the rockery and the gardening. No experience is necessary as we will show you what to do. Twice a year there is an orchard workshop, led by an experienced orchard volunteer.

NATURE’S GYM3 – THE HERB BED

The Friends of Mayow Park look after a plant bed of mainly herbs in front of the cafe in a space that once contained neglected and sad-looking roses. Look for the sign saying Capital Growth Community Garden 797 to see the area. It is just one edible garden of many across London that Capital Growth support. See http://www.capitalgrowth.org/ 
Grow Mayow behind the cafe is another Capital Growth site. 

 Now the former rose bed grows herbs with park users  invited to pick some leaves to smell, taste and take home to use.

On 6^th April Nature's Gym volunteers worked hard to remove 'weeds' growing in this space; in other words plants that are not meant to grow there. 

Digging up willow herb plants

There were large quantities of willowherb plants to remove, despite a major cull last autumn. How the willowherb got there in the first place is something of a mystery as it is not widespread within the park.

Another invasive plant in the bed is bindweed. Any piece of broken root can re-grow and the roots are rather brittle, breaking easily. This growing area received a large amount of fresh soil when we started the herb bed and there is a suspicion that the bindweed came in the soil. We don’t put any plants from this bed into our compost bins as the bins use ‘cold composting’ so persistent weeds are not destroyed.

Clumps of blue Forget-me-Not in flower

There were also plenty of other wild plants – mainly wood avens, cleavers and grasses. All of these are attractive but compete for space with other plants that have been intentionally planted such as strawberries, chives, mint, lemon balm, oregano,  rosemary and more. We decided the Forget-me-Nots could stay as they are non-competitive plants with shallow roots and beautiful pale-blue flowers. They will be removed when they have finished flowering. 

Thank you Nature's Gym volunteers for the hard work you put in to clear the ground ready for new planting. 

Our plan is to plant edibles at our Big Dig event on 22nd April. Potatoes and broad beans, lavender and sage are ready to go into the ground. We have some packs of wild flower mixes to sow as well. New volunteers are welcome to come and help. Why not join us? 

NATURE'S GYM HELP OUT 2: NATURE CONSERVATION

This post follows on from the previous one. While the minibeast mansion was being rebuilt, other Nature's Gym volunteers chose to work in the wooded area close to the cafe gate, a space which is normally locked for safety and wildlife conservation.
The last time any nature conservation work took place there was at least seven years ago. Volunteers  at that time had built a stag beetle loggery within the space. With the passing of time ivy and self-sown tree saplings had grown up without check until it was impossible to see into this area. Nature can look after itself but nature conservation activities give it a helping hand by maintaining some areas to encourage specific wildlife.
Our volunteers now had to cut away a lot of undergrowth just to enter through the gate, but the stag beetle loggery was still there.

Stag beetle loggery after undergrowth was thinned

They cut back some of the growth and created areas of dappled light, where some sunlight could shine onto the woodland floor and allow shade-loving plants to grow. All the vegetation that had been cut back was piled into a corner to create another wildlife habitat.

Three  of volunteers (see one at the back)

 Our volunteers clearly  enjoyed the challenge to make a difference to our wildlife.  And what a joy - a robin came to visit. If you look at the photo below carefully you may just be able to spot the little visitor.

Can you spot the camouflaged robin?

NATURE'S GYM HELP OUT1: MINIBEAST MANSION

We were delighted to welcome back Nature's Gym on 6th April 2017. Nature's Gym volunteers have worked with Friends of Mayow Park for a number of years. Over the years they have helped in the Triangle beds and in the woodland adjacent to the hard standing (close to the orchard). In the woodland they created the log circle for story telling and where school groups can meet.
They also built the minibeast mansion back in 2012 with a stack of pallets stuffed with twigs. This structure was looking rather tired and in need of renovation. Have any visitors to Mayow Park ever noticed it?

Two of the volunteers chose to work on the minibeast mansion. We have not surveyed which invertebrates have made their home there although there is evidence that spiders have set up residence in some parts. I could not find a photo of this tired-looking structure to post here but as improvement was certainly needed.

The volunteers started by removing the  top two pallets and a higgledy muddle of twigs  poking out of the spaces in the pallets. They realigned the pallets and got to work cutting a large number of hollow bamboo canes which would form part of the new home for any invertebrates who like homes in hollow tubes.

Our work is finished for the day

When it was time to stop, it clearly looked much better but there is more work to be done to finish the whole structure and turn it into a des-res. Who knows, we may be able to get it to look like an interesting and attractive feature? See this photo below from elsewhere.

Hoping our structure can look as impressive as this in the future.

It was disappointing that just three days later I found that ALL the bamboo canes had been removed and carefully taken to the story circle. It was clear that this was not intended as an act of vandalism but some children exercising their curiosity and creativity. A willing volunteer came to the rescue and spent up to one hour collecting all the canes, to relocate them back in the mansion.

I love the idea that children can explore this small piece of woodland. Mayow Park has a number of hidden places to explore, to offer inquisitive young minds a chance allow their imagination to develop through all sorts of play activities, but they need to understand what this structure is and why it was built.

 I HAVE A SPECIAL REQUEST TO  all parents of children who are allowed to play in that space, whether supervised or allowed to play freely.  Parents, could you explain to your children that volunteers spent time building the structure for wildlife and that they can help to look after it. Would any children like to help us finish of the mansion?
If interested,  contact Friends of Mayow Park on: friendsofmayowpark@ymail.com

Upcoming events March-April 2017

We have a number of activities organised by Friends of Mayow Park.
Friday 31st March is our popular bat walk: meet at 7.30pm by the Mayow Park cafe entrance - opposite Burghill Road.
Thursday 6th April: Nature's Gym session with a focus on wildlife and conservation. Meet near the cafe.
Saturday 22nd April: The Big Dig. We will plant in the Triangle herb bed.
Tuesday 25th April: Friends of Mayow Park quarterly general meeting at Dacres Wood Field Centre 7pm

Let us know if you can join us for any of these events.

Nature's Gym February 2017

Volunteers from Nature's Gym came to help Friends of Mayow Park (FoMP) on Saturday 4th Feb 2017. The main focus was to lay fresh woodchip mulch on the paths in the Triangle. Some work was also carried out on the fruiting hedgerow at the hard standing and more will be done by FoMP at the next gardening day on 4th March.

Workday at the Triangle on 21st July 2016

Would it be too hot and humid to work in the Triangle garden? That was the question being asked the day before,after one of a series of very hot (over 30 degrees C) and humid days.

Would we have enough volunteers to make a significant impact on the overgrown plant beds?
The rainy weather in May and June, coupled with warmth, had seen a small amount of bindweed turn into a strangling mass of long thin strings winding round our herbs. The herbs had also grown and were falling across the woodchip path throughout the plant bed, hiding the path.

Herb bed looks more like a nature reserve

Hard to know where to begin!

As for the adjacent fruit bed, that too was overgrown. The raspberries were doing very well much to the joy of passers-by who grazed the fruit but the grass had grown so that it was impossible to see the stepping logs and the patch with primroses and blueberries was only visible if you knew it was there. Pulling away the long grass exposed this patch.

Grass removed to expose the blueberries and primroses

The woodland style wood chip bed that meanders behind the hedgerow and in front of the dawn redwood tree to the water fountain was bare and needed a deep layer of fresh wood chips, while the path edge logs were rolling away and needed to be bedded in.  The tree stump 'den' opposite the raspberry bed was shouting for a bit of a trim too.

Tree stump den opposite the raspberry bushes

It turned out to be a reasonable day, hot but not scorching,  with clouds and a light breeze. By 11am the Nature's Gym volunteers, and leaders Jess and Judith, had arrived. Before long the volunteers had done their warm-up exercises, tools were given out and work started. In total, and including Mayow Park volunteers, there were 13 people. 

Working hard at our tasks

Tasks were chosen and everyone got on with the hard work of making the beds look  cared for. We all worked so hard that the time flew but luckily someone realised that we had gone beyond the normal tea time/ lunch break.  Without further ado, hot water flasks came out of the van; tea-bags, coffee, milk and biscuits too. And everyone took a well-deserved breather.

Lunch break on the grass, in the shade of a tree, in front of the cafe

After lunch we all carried on with our tasks. And, as before, we lost track of time. The path by the dawn redwood tree looked better for a good layer of fresh wood chips laid along its length.

Wood chip path by the dawn redwood tree

It was almost time to stop. Two of the volunteers would not give up until they had finished laying wood chip mulch along the path through the herb bed.

The Nature's Gym volunteers were determined to complete the job

We cleared up all the green waste and piled it up ready for the Glendale grounds maintenance team to collect to take to a garden waste recycling centre.

When all was finished, Judith and Jess were finally able to pose for the camera knowing that a huge amount of clearing and tidying had been achieved and that the work of their volunteers was really valued by the Friends of Mayow Park.

It was time to look at the garden and note the cardoon plants, with their purple flowers just emerging atop the tall stem structures. Other park users were also admiring these grand architectural plants and noting the bumble bees flitting between the flowers. 

Cardoon flowers looking beautiful

There is still more work to do as the bindweed has also colonised parts we did not manage to clear. So a call to park users for another workday is on the horizon. 

Thank you to all the Nature's Gym folk who turned up and worked so hard to help.

Nature's Gym volunteers work wonders

Weather plays an important part when there is gardening to do so it was a great relief that today, 17h September 2015, turned out dry, relatively warm and with some sun. Nature’s Gym volunteers and staff returned to Mayow Park and there must have been 15 people in total. 

As always there was more than plenty to do. Most of the work was based at the Triangle fruit and herb beds but a few volunteers worked at the orchard and bug hotel.

The orchard saw a team removing weeds round the base of the trees and adding a layer of mulch to suppress weeds and look after the tree roots. 

The bug hotel in the nearby woodland had more woody material added to the pallets to create a cosy environment for our park invertebrates ahead of the winter. Would it be cosy enough to attract a hedgehog or two?  

One of the volunteers did a grand job of cutting down the mini wild flower meadow with shears and we plan to sow more wild flowers in late autumn in the hope of a colourful display next spring and summer.

In the Triangle, the hedgerow round the fruit garden had become untidy with branches stretching over the woodchip path, hindering movement. This has now been pruned. The woodchip path has been raked in an effort to remove weeds growing in it. And the herb bed has had serious attention to remove bindweed which is gradually taking over available bare earth.

hedgerow pruned  to allow access to the path

Richard raking the woodchip path

Meet Gary and Gary

All this work generates plenty of garden waste. Glendale’s cleansing team were able to assist by taking it away.

Some of the team

As always these sessions are not only about serious gardening. 

There is time to relax and catch up on news during tea/ lunch break. 

And home time means packing tools back in the van.

Packing up time

The impact of all this work should be clearly visible to all. The Friends of Mayow Park are very grateful for the regular support we receive from Nature’s Gym volunteers.

This photo was taken the following day.