Blossom time

 Mayow Park is at peak spring blossom time. Cherry blossom, hawthorn, fruit tree blossom. We mustn't forget the wild flowers including dandelions, cuckoo flower, daisies, forget-me-not and lesser celandine. All of these provide pollen for bees and other insects that fly from flower to flower. 

Here are some photos from today in the park.

The pink cherry blossom on the ornamental cherry trees - a joy to behold. They have lined the path edge below with their pink petals.

Nearby the hawthorn bushes are showing off their blooms

A short stroll to the orchard for the apple and quince blossoms

At ground level there are wild flowers to attract pollinators too:

cuckoo flower

daisy

dandelion

Forget-me-not

lesser celandine

Come and visit while the park is blooming.

All photos: A Sheridan

Time to sow

27^th March 2019 was a cool spring day, but a good day for sowing seeds. Twenty two children from a Reception class at a Sydenham primary school came with their teacher and their teaching assistant to Friends of Mayow Park and help us sow wild flower seeds in the mini meadow. The aim is to transform this semi-circular space into a colourful, pollinator-attracting wild flower display this summer and future years.

Scraping away the grass 

Wildflower seeds don’t like competition from grass so the children scratched the soil and pushed grasses aside which also helped to rake the soil to a crumbly texture.

The seed packs were opened so the children could see differing colours and shapes.  Colours ranged from light brown to dark brown, to black and grey. Some seeds were very small while others were larger and easier to pick out. They varied in shape too, some being round, others more oval.

Looking at seed shapes, size and colour 

Mixing the seeds with sand meant it was easier to see where they would be scattered. In pairs, the children took small handfuls of the sand/ seed mix and scattered their seeds in their chosen sowing spot.

Sowing seeds mixed with sand

 Watering the seeds was the final step.

Watering the seeds

This activity ended and the children returned to school. Well done all of you.

 It is so important for children to learn about the right conditions for plants to grow and practical activities such as this, in outdoor spaces, help them to understand in context.  The Friends of Mayow Park hope the children will visit through the spring and summer to see if their sowing efforts have been successful.

Over the coming weeks the seeds will be watered every evening by a volunteer unless there is rain.  With the right conditions, not too much rain, not too much drying heat from the sun, we should see the first shoots emerge by mid-April.