London in Bloom

London in Bloom has come around again and my partner Frank has been working in Duncan Terrace Gardens in historic Islington.  The lawn area has been lifted and re-turfed and the following photo's shows you the progress..

Ready for top-soil

Top soil being added

Water retention crystals added

Heel and tread to consolidate soil

The team decided to shut off access to this area whilst working on it for safety and luckily the weather was on their side so they could crack on with the job.

Frank and his team beginning the turf laying

The next two photos show the turf almost done and you can see the sun ray design which is caused by unrolling in alternative directions.

Unfortunately a temporary fence had to be erected to stop public and their dogs from spoiling it and also to give it time to establish.  

The gardens have recently had many new plants put in and many improvements made to the existing planting. This work has been carried out jointly between Islington Council and the Friends of Duncan Terrace led by Clare who works tirelessly maintaining and developing the planting and without whom none of this would be happening. 

New planting of Hellebores, Liriope and Euphorbia.

The photo on the right shows that the bark has been laid.

Saturday 30th March was the beginning of Islington in Bloom 2019 and the official start took place at 11am in Duncan Terrace and was attended by Councillor Claudia Webb and also later in the day the Mayor of Islington.  Local residents also attended with some fun activities going on and Clare was in attendance to promote the day. 

 Councillor Webb plants a Hebe while Clare and Frank look on

A fun time was had by all

This is just the start of an immense task between Islington Council and the Friends of Duncan Terrace  to maintain the gardens to a high standard for the community to enjoy and hopefully impress the judges for London in Bloom.