King's Lynn Horticultural Society klhs.co.uk
July/August 2021 Volume 8, Issue 1
KLHS News
Scene at the 2018 show
IT’S SHOW TIME AGAIN!
craft items to display.
Details can be obtained from Show Secretary, Now restrictions prevent- Rachel Vyse, on 01553 ing the spread of Covid19 631820, or on the website, have been eased, the socie- klhs.co.uk ty is aiming to forge ahead with its first summer show The King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Mayor, for two years. Harry Humphrey and his South Wootton Village wife, Brenda, will be comHall (PE30 3LJ) has again ing along to present the been booked for the event prizes. on Saturday, August 14th. Hot and cold drinks will be The usual wide range of provided and hand sanitisclasses for all age groups er will be available. has been laid out in the The society is relaunching new schedule. So bring itself following the disrupyour flowers, vegetables, fruits, baking and art and (Continued on page 2)
klhs.co.uk
Kelvin Fairweather photographed this huge, 6-foot+ hollyhock in the back garden.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
It’s Show Time Again!
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Wildflowers 3&4
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tion of the pandemic and hoping to attract new members. Secretary, Kevin Ayres, has invited members to submit ideas regarding how they would like the society to grow into the future. Suggestions to date have included arranging more talks as well as visits to local gardens. There could be more virtual competitions, like last year’s successful summer show.
other gardening groups. A return visit to the Cambridge Botanic Garden is under consideration, as is a week-end trip to the new RHS garden, Bridgewater, near Manchester. At this year’s annual meeting, the committee decided to raise the annual membership fee for adults to £10. It would remain free for under 16s.
Since lots of people found solace in gardening and nature during the recent devastating pandemic, the sociePossibly more virtual events could be ty should have a bright held in the winter, perhaps linking up future. with ildNolan’s w s r flowe in 2019 g in ( cludin ) e back pag
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WILDFLOWERS By Nolan Mills It all started in 2012 when we went to the Olympic Games in London. The annual wildflower beds in the Olympic Park were amazing, I thought we could do that on Wootton Park. So in 2013 I marked out and sprayed with Roundup the first strip. It was 50m long and 1m wide near the Little Walsingham Close entrance. I put it 2m from the cycle track so as not to interfere with mowing and 1m wide because if it failed it would quickly revert back to grass. As expected it didn’t grow well that first year. I hadn’t appreciated how essential a clean seed bed is and to get that from permanent grass can take some time and effort. For the second year (2014) I did much more cultivation - spraying with Roundup autumn and spring before rotavating and sowing in early March. Also I used seed from the company that supplied the Olympic Park – Pictorial Meadows. The result was much better. Over the subsequent years we have used several of their mixes but prefer their cornfield mix – this is mainly poppy, cornflower, corn marigold.
per square metre so we divide the strip into 5m lengths. 15g of seed is mixed with 500g of sand to spread the seed evenly. The sand needs to be slightly damp to make the very small seed stick. We found the best sand for this job is children’s play sand from Argos! In 2018 the Chairman of the Wootton Park committee asked if they could have a strip on the North Wootton end near the Pyramid, I measured out a 20m strip, this was sprayed to kill off the perennial weeds, rotavated and sown. All three strips produced plenty of colour through the summer for walkers and cyclists to enjoy and were buzzing with insects.
Last year (2020) we did some trials with the strips. What happens if we do not sow and rely on residual seed? We left the ends of the strips unsprayed and did not rotavate at all. The unsprayed area quickly reverted to grass. We did resow 12 m lengths in the middle of the South Wootton strips. It was an extremely dry spring and neither the sown nor unsown The next year we added a second 50m areas performed well. It made us realstrip nearby between the Blackthorn ise that rotavating or disturbing the Road and Castle Acre Close entranc- soil is essential. es. We were now experts with the (Continued on page 4) sowing technique. The seed rate is 3g 3
beds on the corner of Avon Road/ Rushmead Close. This year we sowed This year (2021) we have increased in very early March as conditions our sites of annual wildflower sowing. were perfect. I am pleased as they The three strips on Wootton Park emerged before April’s drought and have been sprayed with Roundup, should do very well. rotavated and sown. The South WootWe hope people respect them as alton strips have been reduced from ways and do not cycle or let their 50m to 35m, the North dogs tramWootton one is still ple through. 20m. South Wootton Can’t say the Parish Council have same about asked us to grow wildmuntjacs flowers in a neglected (see photo corner of the Cemetery, from 2018)! also we have two small (Continued from page 3)
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