In 2022 OiB tidied up and planted the corner of the Gallows Hill carpark. This survived despite the drought but it suffered badly from dogs, leaping from their cars and using this corner the way only dogs can. We tried building a fence of broken branches which worked well. Unfortunately some tidy person thought the fence looked terrible so they took it away.
Fast forward to April 2023 and OiB decided to learn how to weave willow, we asked the Friends of Gallows Hill to cut us some willow and we wove our own “tidy” willow fence. Looks good, tidy and it seems to keep dogs out!
When OiB are working in the beds we are often asked, what are planted here. So here are how many plants we planted equally across all four beds at the start of summer.
Cornus Midwinter Fire
12
Spirea Bridal Wreath
8
Foxglove Excelsior Hybrids
72
Achillea Filipendulina Gold Plate
32
Allium Globemaster
120
Astranta Major
24
Nepeta Six Hills Giant
16
Lavender Augustifolia Hidcote
24
Geum Lady Stratheden
48
Seabiosa Perfecta Alba
24
Geranium Orion
16
Echinacea Summer Cocktail
24
Crocosmia George Davison
120
Helleborus Walbertons Rosemary
8
Helleborus Niger Potters Wheel
8
Helleborus Hybrid Pluto
8
Salvia Nemorosa
24
Sedum Album
40
Sedum Sunsparkler Dazzle Berry
40
Myosotis
96
Verbena Bonariensis
48
Campanula Portenschlagiana
16
Sedum Rupstre Angelina
16
Sedum Salskianum
16
Then as part of the December preparation for adding compost we added a bunch of bulbs.
People and Groups; I’d like to thank all the people who help Otley in Bloom do their work. This includes Otley Town Council (OTC), Otley BID, Rotary Club of Otley, Inner Wheel Club of Otley Chevin ,Otley Maker Space, Wildlife Friendly Otley (WFO), Courtyard Planters, Otley 2030, all Otley businesses, Leeds Parks Department and the many individuals who give up time to help us. It continues to be a real pleasure to work with you all to make the town a greener and prettier place.
Litter; in 2022 the need for litter picking has reduced significantly, though some parks, roads and hidden places have received impromptu tidy ups.
Climate Emergency; we have continued to use locally grown perennial plantings wherever possible as well as peat-free compost. Biodiversity has also influenced our decisions.
Planters and Beds; OiB maintain some 85 different beds around Otley, from the very small to fair-sized gardens. Some require irregular rubbish removal, cutting back, dead-heading or re-planting. Where possible we maintain benches, fruit trees, herbs and bird boxes to enhance areas.
OiB spent time with OTC and the BID confirming planter responsibilities. OiB has removed its branding on the Insta-planta planters. OiB has taken on weeding and litter clearing of the Kirkgate planters.
Watering; OiB has requested that OTC, Leeds and other organisations add lockable taps to the outside of the public or semi-public buildings to simplify watering around town. This will become more important as climate change attacks local water supplies in the coming years. Plants need water. If Otley wants a green centre then it has to make water more easily available. 2022 saw a hose pipe ban with the likelihood of another in 2023 looking probable.
Advice; where we can, OiB offers advice. This years we offered help to OTC, Inner Wheel Club of Otley Chevin, Hug on a Tray and Leeds Parks.
Wildflower plantings; the BT garden contract between WFO and Openreach, which OiB practically support, came to an end and at present we don’t know what will happen from the end of 2022 going forward (update, Wildlife Friendly Otley have done a deal with Openreach so hopefully all will be fine). We hope the project can be continued. We believe that having that semi-natural garden in the centre of town is a real benefit.
OiB highlighted the potential destruction of Wharfe Meadow’s large flower beds as part of Leeds Park’s cost cutting actions early in Spring and thanks to some fast foot work from OTC, WFO, Otley 2030, Leeds Parks, OiB and other interested parties we reached an agreement for local organisations to take over the maintenance of four flower beds. OiB aimed for perennial plantings with high insect attractiveness that were somewhere between the human-orientated plantings of a traditional park and the wildflower meadows that insects would love. Given that the soil lacks any water retaining organic material we spent many project days planting up, watering and weeding (so much weeding) to achieve a planting that worked. Watering stopped once the hose pipe-ban came into force. Before the year end we hope to make a major modification to the soil which should mean less work in 2023. From feedback in the park this has been a success and we should all pat ourselves on the back.
OiB was asked to plant up a corner of Gallows hill into an insect re-fueling station. We cleared and dug over the space. We cleaned lots of streets of leaf litter to provide a better structured soil. Planted insect-focused plantings and built mini fences to protect the area from dogs needing a tree. The dry spell in the midst of the Summer killed some plants and so some additional planting was required. Hopefully that will be less of a problem in 2023.
Despite an early drought back in April, which occured soon after we planted this garden, we managed to keep all the plants growing, now as we enter another dry period most look to have become established and should not require additional watering (at this time). But like the whole area the plants are stressed.
We discouraged dogs from using the garden as a toilet by slightly fencing off the garden with some dead branches. The result has been a garden that is helping out local insects. We will be reducing the nettle population of the garden as so much of Gallows Hill has fine stocks of nettles
And we manage to get a morning together to tidy it up.
May is such a great time around Otley to carry out the first big clean up after the late winter weather. Recently we have been out dead-heading daffodils in the Barrier planters and the rose bed of the Firestation. Litter picking of the garden at Bremner Street opposite Asda has to be done. The amazing Nectar beds close to the Prince Henry’s crossing needed 4 large bags of weeds to be taken out of it and clearing Myers beck of Balsam to minimise flooding in the winter on such a lovely warm day made sinking into the mud in wellies a real pleasure. Why not come along and help out, just watch Facebook for the next project. https://www.facebook.com/Otleyinbloom
Otley in Bloom 