Planting the Cptn Bill Boat

Having spent the morning working on the BT Community Garden, our volunteers spent the afternoon planting up the Cptn Bill Boat opposite Heywood Market.

The first task was adding fertiliser and vermiculite to improve the soil quality so that the plants will grow strong and health.

Vermiculite can absorb three or four times its weight in water and also attracts various plant nutrients such as potassium, magnesium and calcium. These qualities will help to keep the plants watered even in the driest of weather.

The plants we are choosing this year are predominantly perennials such as hosta, and rudbeckia, which will create a more sustainable planting and we are then interspersing bedding plants such as cosmos, petunias, marigolds and lobelia to add that splash of colour into the autumn.