Spring is springing!

It's been a long and cold winter this year. But while we were all rugged up inside, eating roasts and drinking hot toddies, the bulbs we planted in autumn were quietly getting ready for their first spring in Mabley Green.

And with the weather warming up, some of them have started sending up new shoots, and adding a little green to the meadow. Which is a welcome sight for our winter-weary eyes. Better still, pretty soon those green shoots will will turn into bright yellows, vivid purples and deep blues as our bulbs burst into flower. Bring on March!

Some sad news from our sponsor

One of the unsung heroes of 2010's wildflower explosion was our sponsor, EFG (the company across the road from the meadow). Despite 2010 being a hard year for almost every UK business, Michale Spinks at EFG kindly donated the budget we needed to get the meadow going.

But sadly, although EFG would have liked to sponsor the meadow again this year, they've had to pull out. So I'd like to bid a fond farewell to them, and say a big THANK YOU to Michael Spinks and the folks at EFG. We couldn't have done it without you!

There's good news too though - the bulbs we planted last autumn are all naturalising species. So they should start multiplying on their own, without us having to buy more. And many of the annual plants will have self-seeded already. So we won't need quite as much seed as before.

That all means that right now, not having a sponsor isn't really a problem. But to keep doing good stuff, we'll need some ongoing support in the future. So if you know any other local businesses with an philanthropic itch to scratch, send them our way!

Mabley Meadow Spring Guide

Thanks to the mammoth effort of our bulb planters in Autumn, it shouldn't be too long before we start seeing some spring shoots. So here's what to look out for, and when:

Crocus
Flowers: February - March

There are loads of different types of Crocuses, they grow quite low to the ground so you might not spot them until the flower. The ones we planted will bloom in early spring - so they'll be the perfect meal for hungry bees waking up after winter.



Daffodil (Narcissus)
Flowers: March-May

When the crocuses finish flowers, it'll be time for the daffodils to take over. We planted a few different varieties in the meadow - so who knows what will come up. There'll be plenty growing next to the path, and quite a few more deeper in the meadow too.



Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa)
Flowers: March-April

This plant loves cold weather, and when it grows on mountainsides, its bright green shoots peep straight out of the snow at the very start of spring. Which is where the name comes from. Then as the snow melts, it produces bright blue flowers to let you know winter is officially over.


Native Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta)
Flowers: April-June

When the conditions are right, bluebells will gradually spread all over a forest floor - carpeting it in blue flowers. We only planted a few as a test, but if they like it in our meadow, one day, we might have our very own bluebell wood in Hackney!



Snakeshead Lily (Fritillaria Meleagris)
Flowers: May-June

These flowers look a bit like a lantern covered in pink and purple checkers. They don't grow very tall though, so you might have to look hard among the grass to see one.




Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum)
Flowers: May-June

The leaves of this plant look a bit like grass. But it blooms, it's spectacular - growing a long cluster of white, star-shaped flowers.



If you see any of our new bulbs in bloom, take a pic and send it to mableymeadow@gmail.com so we can put it on the blog and share it with everyone!

Another win for the meadow!

Hot on the heels of the London in Bloom post comes another great success for the meadow - we won TFL's Life Between the Lines competition!

To help celebrate the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity, TFL set up the project with the RSPB to promote biodiverse spaces within a five minute walk of a London tube station *ahem, or Overground station, ahem*.

Our spectacular meadow (with it's healthy population of bumblebees) ticked all of their boxes, so they awarded us first place!

Better still, there are prizes to go with the award. Specific details about what those will be are on the way, but the main one is a one-day masterclass with an RSPB biodiversity expert. Which is a fantastic thing to win.

RSPB usually charge £100 a head for these courses, and Sue from Friends of Homerton Station can testify that they're amazing - and incredibly helpful. So if you'd like to come along to our free one, just leave a comment or email mableymeadow@gmail.com. More info will be posted on here soon...

We are the champions!

When London In Bloom came to Hackney this year, they absolutely loved it!

In fact, the judges were so impressed that they awarded the meadow third place in the Community Garden category. London in Bloom is a pretty tough competition, and we were up against 24 other incredible green spaces, so to get third place (especially in our first year) is a tremendous achievement. Congratulations Mabley Green-ites! We earned it!

Also, if you'd like to do a bit of exploring around our great city, check out the inspiring spaces that scooped first and second place - they're amazing!

ps - for everyone who gets the meadow emails, this is old news. I only just got the certificate, so wanted to hold off until I could take a pic of it. Sadly, as far as certificates go, it's a big crap.
pps - I only just realised the irony of holding a London in Bloom certificate in front of an autumnal meadow. Oops! So try to imagine a blooming meadow in the background instead. Or better still, photoshop one in, email it to me, and I'll replace the pic.

Mabley Green's bulb-planting machines

Our volunteering day on Saturday was AMAZING, thanks to the incredible efforts of everyone who came down. Aside from the epic weeding session at the start of the day, the really big achievement was our incredible bulb-planting marathon.

In total, we planted an astonishing 1600 bulbs across the meadow (details of what we planted, and where, will be on here soon). We planted lots of different varieties, so they earliest bloomers should start to show up in February. Then the flowery baton will be picked up by the next set of bulbs, until the meadow flowers take over in June. So if we get lucky with the weather, we'll have blooms all the way from February to October!

Volunteering day - Saturday November 6

Now the meadow has finished blooming and seeding for the year, it's time to whip it back into shape and prepare the ground for an even bigger and better display next summer!

So, come to the meadow from 11am-4pm on Saturday November 6 and get stuck in. On the day, we'll be:

- Sowing a new batch of wildflower seeds
- Planting daffodil, bluebell and crocus bulbs
- Creating a beetle loggery using waste logs from the London 2012 site
- Putting our protective fences back up
- Having a chat and giving each other pats on the back for doing a good deed.

Feel free to stay as long or as short as you like, and do as much or as little as you please. Just make sure you wear sturdy shoes, and if you have them, bring along a garden fork or spade and a pair of work gloves.

If you've not been to the meadow before, we'll be meeting on Lee Conservancy Rd (E9) - just past the underpass, near the corner of Eastway. Or, to keep things simple, where the red X is on the map.

See you then!