Dockland light cutting

2 days ago
1 min read

Another good turnout this morning when 16 of us gathered at West Beckham Old Allotments. We were blessed with cloud and a cool breeze, which made for ideal working conditions. As you will know Docks have been a continual problem for us on this site, although the work that we have put in over the last few years has resulted in a material reduction in numbers. Nonetheless they continue to need close management and so, after a briefing from John, he soon had us out in the field attacking the problem with gusto.

Unfortunately, the ground was too hard to allow us to dig out the roots and so instead we snipped off the seed heads from the offending plants to prevent further spread. With this number of volunteers we were able to crack on and probably dealt with a good 90% of the growth. You could certainly see the difference at the end of the morning, which is always a sign of a successful and satisfying work party!

In the meantime, Fran did sterling work on tree maintenance, checking them over and removing grass trapped within the tree guards. Great work Fran! Overall, I must say that the trees and hedging plants are looking in surprisingly good condition considering the drought…clearly a tribute to the care in planting and the regular maintenance since.