Friday 27 July 2012

Reading flower meadows - before and after weeding

The flower meadows in Reading are coming along well, they only have one big problem: weeds! So we used the nice weather this week to have a break from pollinator sampling and to do some essential weeding in the meadows.

The annual meadows
Victoria Recreation Ground looked like this before weeding:

 ... and after weeding:
The annual meadow in Henley Road Cemetery was particularly overgrown and looked like this before weeding:
After over 2 hours of weeding (here you see Sam with a big sow thistle) ...
... it looked like this:
 
With california poppies flowering:

The perennial meadows
The meadow in Cintra Park looked really bad with shoulder high weeds:
... and after weeding:
All perennial meadows will be cut regularly this year to prevent weeds from growing and to help the establishment of the perennial meadow plants. Next year they will be left to flower and we hope we (including the pollinators) can all enjoy  a beautiful flower display.

Watch this space for more updates and pictures of the flower meadows in Reading in a few weeks time!


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