COLUMN - Melton in Bloom with Marie Walters

We had a large quantity of manure, compost and bark chips to put into beds and borders within the Heritage Garden.

This will significantly help to improve the soil structure and water retention for the coming seasons.

When Parkside was originally built, a lot of the planting areas had very poor soil, some quite shallow, and some with various building materials lurking within.

We have spent a lot of time and effort in improving the planting conditions, and continue to do so, on a regular basis, to improve growth and flowering.

We have had some very good news – Melton Lions had three large planters to spare, which they wished to donate to us, and pictured are two of the Lions with our volunteer, Doug (centre), taking delivery last week.

They have been placed in the Civic Plaza at Parkside, and we will be mulling over some planting ideas, which would create year-round interest, colour, and provide for wildlife.

We could choose some small evergreens, perennials, seasonal bedding plants, and maybe some herbs.

The area is quite open to the sun for a large part of the day, so we will need water-retaining granules mixed into the compost, as well as a mulch of some sort, to retain as much moisture as possible during the hotter months.

Our sincerest thanks go to all at the Melton Lions for such a lovely gesture.

The other great news we have is that the old canal boat in the Heritage Garden’s Waterways Bed has finally been dismantled and removed, and the replacement is being installed this week.

More details to be revealed in due course. Our volunteers removed a lot of the old planting in the Waterways Bed to enable access, but we will be re-using quite a lot of these plants in other areas, and certainly all the spring flowering bulbs.

A new design will enhance the area when it is completed in due course.