Gardening and meadow creation day at Glasney College Field

At the end of last month the MS4N team and Becky our Urban Ranger hosted one of the volunteer gardening sessions at Glasney College Field in Penryn. This site is of great historical importance as well as being a favourite with the residents of Penryn as a place to come and sit in the sunshine and walk their dogs.

There was a great turnout for the day with local residents and members of community groups from all walks of life and ages. The good growing weather had made plenty of work for everyone with lots of cleavers and nettles growing up in our plant beds. But with gloves, determination, shovels and hard work the volunteers all did an amazing job and made the plant beds look like new again.

After the weeds had been tackled it was time to re-sow the wildflower meadows. As the grass and soil is so rich at Glasney College Field the initial attempt at meadow creation hadn't really been effective. So the decision was made to do a very light turf strip and sand of the meadow areas and then re-sow the wildflower seed mix that contains 32 different species. Wildflowers do well in poor quality soil and the sand is there to give them a head start over the grass. The volunteers had great fun learning about the process,sowing the seeds and then raking the areas to help bury the seed slightly and protect it from birds and the elements.

Overall this was a great day and the volunteer gardeners achieved a lot. If you would like to be a volunteer gardener for the day check out our schedule on the right of the homepage. We run lots of events at sites all across Cornwall and everyone is welcome.

So next time the weather is nice and you can't think of what to do, come along to one of the sessions and help care for and improve your local greenspace.