The sun is (mostly) shining and our campus grounds are blooming thanks to photography lecturer, Liz Morley, and her team of Wilding Campuses volunteers. The team have been super busy transforming more of our spaces into wildlife and environmentally friendly landscapes for students, staff and critters to enjoy.
Hear from Liz herself on what’s been happening since February:
A new microforest:
We started this term with some ambitious projects. Firstly, we worked with progress tutor Amandine Bimpudi and a team of our student mechanics who planted 40 trees. This forms a 'Miyawake microforest' at the college’s City Hub campus. Pioneered by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawake, the trees are placed much more closely together than in traditional tree planting, leading to rapid, attenuated growth that mimics the way seedlings would naturally compete in the wild.
We added compost to enrich the soil to aid this rapid growth, that should quickly create a patch of dense woodland, making an ideal habitat for all kinds of creatures. We planted a mix of field maple, wild cherry, crab apple, hawthorn, oak, rowan, birch, dog rose, elder and hazel, all native species that support an expansive ecosystem.
The student volunteers were amazed at the thought that an oak could live 800 years, meaning their trees could live well into the distant future. They had not had the chance to try planting before, and quickly took to it, asking later in the day if they could study groundwork or horticulture as a career!
Creating a pollinator paradise:
At the front of our City Hub we have 50m long stretch of flowerbed. Over the years this had become seriously neglected, with bare dirt interspersed with clumps of grass. To transform this into a resilient, drought tolerant, perennial meadow, we began by clearing the more aggressive weeds of mostly prickly sow thistle; Sonchus Asper. We then created a small circular ‘weed enclosure’, where we left the wild plants to do what they wanted. The rest of the bed was mulched with a thick layer of sand and gravel, with heaps of sand forming ‘bee banks’ for ground nesting bees.
Over several sessions, bee habitat posts were installed and the whole area was planted with a diverse mix of bare root and peat free plants. The bare root plants were packed without plastic, meaning they were close to zero waste, whilst the pots from the other plants will be re-used once we set up a plant nursery area. We overseeded with wildflowers including kidney vetch and scarlet pimpernel, phaecelia, buckwheat and clover; the whole area is now a riot of beautiful colour.
A new community allotment for Basford
Our joinery students built a very impressive greenhouse frame and raised beds, with Wilding Campuses funding the cladding panels for the greenhouse, plus sourcing the compost for free from Veiola. Our foundation construction students helped to shovel the compost, whilst a team of our SEND learners have just planted up the beds with home grown vegetables.
Students have also planted 100m² of wildflowers, introducing 23 new species of wildflowers to Basford, which will attract bees, birds and other pollinators such as butterflies to the campus.
A new courtyard garden for Adams
On the 2nd June, 3 student volunteers joined us to install planters, fill them with compost and plant them up to create a new green space in the previously bare lower courtyard of our Adams building. Using recycled plastic planters made locally by Futuremakers in collaboration with our students, recycled galvanised bins and even a bean tin, the students were keen to make it the most sustainable place possible. They put together the plant list, which included hazel and elder trees heucheras, day lillies, roses and geraniums, (plus a fishbone cactus!) we also installed our previously inoculated mushroom logs in the planters and have our fingers crossed for a crop in autumn.
Meadow Maintenance
A big success has been the adoption of a meadow maintenance schedule at our Basford, Ruddington, Highfields and City Hub sites. Strips of rough grass have been left at the City Hub, a whole 5 hectare area has been left for nature at Basford, and, perhaps best of all, mowing has been hugely reduced at our Ruddington site, meaning the bee orchids present in the grass have bloomed beautifully and will have the chance to set seed.
A Great Big Wild Wednesday
On Wed 18th June we hosted the Wilding Campuses partnership event, with a plant-up, habitat build, sustainable locally sourced sharing meal (including herbs grown right outside the doors) and stalls run by students and guests. Over 60 people attended! Photography students helped guests to make botanical blueprints, students led a stall making origami seed bombs as well as making oak-block bee houses with GrowNotts.
Students and staff came from Bluecoat Aspley school, getting a taste of college life, and University of Nottingham who were happy to work with the younger ones and share expertise. Our animal care students came down and created some fantastic habitat gabions, filled with assorted recycled materials, and a hibernaculum which create spaces where shade loving invertebrates and amphibians can shelter.
"Wilding Campuses isn't just about working for nature, it's about building community and bringing people together. With collaboration we can achieve far more than we could as individuals. Today was about bringing people together with a common goal, do something for the planet, support nature, and also: enjoy ourselves and have fun!"
– Liz Morley on the success of Big Wild Wednesday.
