Mark's Photographs.
Carrie's Photographs.
A huge rainbow appeared just as we were going to this week's Green Gym but fortunately the weather held reasonably dry with just a light shower. As this is one of the sites that we visit on a regular basis everyone is aware of what needs to be done so Team GG were soon spread across the area and tackling the most important tasks. One area that needed particular attention was the hedging along the southern boundary as this had become very overgrown. To make the best of what was existing, it was decided that around 15m to 20m would be treated to hedge laying which would tidy it up and encourage new growth where needed. The area was cleared of bramble and weeds then the standing hedging was trimmed back prior to "pleaching" the trunks and branches. Pleaching is where the diameter at the base is cut back to allow the wood to be leaned over whilst still being attached to the base. Once the hedge has been laid in one direction then the excess branches are trimmed away and the hedge is held in place with stakes. To tidy the whole thing up a woven set of thinner branches (called "heathers") are used to bind the tops of the stakes together.
The above picture shows what the finished hedge should look like but I hasten to add that this is NOT the hedge we laid...! The stakes and heathers that we used were coppiced from over at Mill Copse as there is no suitable hazel available on site.
During the session other teams were working on undergrowth removal, hedge planting, tree planting, litter picking and trimming back overgrown areas along the pathways. Wow.....what a busy Team GG we were ......!
Many thanks to Carrie and Mark for the work in progress photographs.
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