October and November are always busy months for OiB, even more so when Covid is causing constantly changing restrictions on how many people can meet out of doors. During this period we do a lot of tidying up. So various individuals managed to get out and tidy up the Charles St car park, a number of planters around town, flower beds on Weston Lane and Bremner Street corner, as well as smaller sites. All socially distanced or keeping in a bubble, of course.
At the start of 2020 OiB, Wildlife Friendly Otley and Otley 2030 were working together to provide Leeds Parks department with a guide on how to introduce more trees and wildflowers to Otley. We were especially interested in changing road verges from barren green grasses to more interesting wildflower areas which would offer friendly places for wildlife and reduce the carbon footprint of maintaining verges.
Leeds Parks found other areas of Leeds to plant up before Otley and then…. Covid struck. Despite this, the Otley organisations kept talking and looking for alternative groups to work with. It was with great excitement that we found that the BT telephone exchange on Charles Street was happy to let us intiate a wildflower meadow in their garden. We considered planting up the garden in the Spring but the weather had been beautiful and dry so we were concerned we would not be able to keep it watered, hence we let the Spring pass.
Autumn looked a better bet and so, in September, six socially-distanced members of OIB and WFO started with this roughly mown area.
Focusing on the front rectangle of grass we mowed the grass again, and again, and again. This allowed us to get down to the turf of the garden. Then we used a turf cutter to slice strips out which we flipped over. The addition of 0.5 kg of wildflower seed and about the same of dry sand scattered by hand over the newly exposed earth seemed to work well. Over the coming few days the British weather did the right sort of things and watered the seed in. Some of it will require colder weather to trigger germination.
We will sign-post the area to help guide the official mowers to cut the grass/wildflowers correctly. We will also put up a sign explaining what we have done so everyone can see how well or badly this is doing.
For those who are interested in the details;
seeds purchased from https://www.naturescape.co.uk/
“N5F long season meadow mix”
| Latin Name | English Name | Mix Composition |
| Achillea millefolium | Yarrow | 3% |
| Centaurea nigra | Common Knapweed | 5% |
| Centaurea scabiosa | Greater Knapweed | 3% |
| Daucus carota | Wild Carrot | 5% |
| Echium vulgare | Viper’s Bugloss | 2% |
| Galium verum | Lady’s Bedstraw | 6% |
| Geranium pratense | Meadow Cranesbill | 2% |
| Hypochaeris radicata | Common Catsear | 2% |
| Knautia arvensis | Field Scabious | 3.5% |
| Lathyrus pratensis | Meadow Vetchling | 2% |
| Leontodon hispidus | Rough Hawkbit | 2% |
| Leucanthemum vulgare | Oxeye Daisy | 5% |
| Linaria vulgaris | Common Toadflax | 1% |
| Lotus corniculatus | Birdsfoot Trefoil | 4% |
| Malva moschata | Musk Mallow | 3% |
| Plantago media | Hoary Plantain | 2.5% |
| Primula veris | Cowslip | 3% |
| Prunella vulgaris | Self Heal | 7% |
| Ranunculus acris | Meadow Buttercup | 5% |
| Ranunculus bulbosus | Bulbous Buttercup | 5% |
| Rhinanthus minor | Yellow Rattle | 6% |
| Rumex acetosa | Common Sorrel | 5% |
| Scabiosa columbaria | Small Scabious | 3% |
| Silene dioica | Red Campion | 4% |
| Stachys officinalis | Betony | 3% |
| Succisa pratensis | Devilsbit Scabious | 2% |
| Trifolium pratense | Wild Red Clover | 2.5% |
| Verbascum nigrum | Dark Mullein | 1.5% |
| Vicia cracca | Tufted Vetch | 2% |
| 29 Wildflower species | 100% |
Annually OiB tidy up the small park on the corner of Bremner Street. This area holds two bird boxes, some well developed small trees and, on the frontage, small bulbs and plants. It tends to overgrow its space each year so we wait for all the birds to have completed nesting and then cut it back. This year, constraints at the council recycling centre meant we kept the debris on site to compost down safely. Most years we also litter pick the space within the area and we did that again but the litter levels were smaller than usual.
Restrictions on numbers of Otley Bloomers (6 maximum) due to Covid meant that we had to limit participants, but we managed to do a good job in just a short while. No chance for our usual cake and coffee though!
Back in February 2020 OIB were discussing how to celebrate 20 years of OIB, possibly paying for a new seat or planting up the BT building’s garden. Fast forward just a few weeks and the country was in lockdown with members restricted to their homes and, depending on their health and age, access to regular outdoor exercise. A very strange time which was made slightly better by some of the loveliest spring weather we have seen. This lovely weather dried out many plantings around town which could not be supported by Leeds Parks as they had to modify work roles across the city.
OIB had to change what it does as well. We have tried to maintain a new Daily Flower posting on Facebook. Our monthly meetings have moved onto the web in Zoom. Eventually, lockdown limits were raised enough to allow us to tidy and replant the garden at the Fire Station. Moving into June/July we decided to help Otley reopen its centre by filling and planting up 32 barrier planters and asked Otley inhabitants to contribute via crowdsourcing (an OIB first).
When OIB decided to bring back plants to all the barrier planters (32) around central Otley we hoped we would get a lot of help from companies selling us compost and plants and we were not disappointed. Thank you B&TS and Courtyard Planters.
But we didn’t know what to do about the watering. Well the kind companies of Otley stepped up to give us a hand, so we really do thank:
and Arundel Travel
all of whom have stepped up to give Otley a helping hand. Thanks.
We really have got stuck into some great project work over the past 12 months (in no particular order);
When combined with all the usual ongoing tasks and winning a Silver Gilt for the town in the Yorkshire in Bloom competition, it is an achievement not to be sniffed at.
The three pillars that “in Bloom” groups work within are: community involvement, environmental awareness and horticultural excellence, and all these projects fit well into these pillars. We have mainly taken on projects we have been asked to by residents, but perhaps next year we should set our own agenda?
We have a fabulous core of about 15 volunteers who I always find a delight to work with, often in small groups, or 1-2-1, so you get to know people, and that is lovely. Looking forward, the YIB judges comment that with a small team we might need to think a bit smarter about what we do and how we do it is turning around in my head.
As Otley in Bloom goes into its 20th anniversary year I’m looking forward to watching from the outside what the group chooses to focus its attention on, and it is a good excuse to have a critical think about what the volunteers in the group are interested in as Otley in Bloom is nothing without its wonderful people, and the world has moved on in the last 20 years so it is okay to change with it.
Katie Burnett …. signing off.
Otley in Bloom 