This is what we achieved in the Storey Gardens during May 2023:

• Talking to visitors, giving them information cards and selling plants.
• Lots of watering.  The water tanks in The Tasting Garden are insufficient in dry weather. We have to carry water in large buckets from the tap at the Castle Park entrance or use a long hose system which takes time to assemble.
• Endless weeding, cutting back dead flowers and removing dead plants in the Storey Gardens and the area by the Castle Park entrance.
• The Bay – a Blueprint for Recovery produced decorative signs on slate (see photographs) for the herbs planted by FOSG in the Copper Beech Garden.
• Hand mowing long grass at the north end of The Tasting Garden, the Grounds Maintenance team strimmed and mowed larger areas in late May.
• Undertaking a major reorganisation of the plants in pots by the water tanks as one of the tables was disintegrating.
• Erecting climbing supports, planting and mulching runner beans.

Wildlife

• Blue tits have nested in one of the bird boxes we installed in March.  The Bay set up a camera trap and have filmed a hedgehog which is active most nights. 
• Butterflies – holly blue, brimstone, small white, speckled wood, orange tip and painted lady.

Plants in flower