Ch-ch-ch-changes...

Transition communities are part of a global movement created primarily to encourage a reduction in our reliance on fossil fuels, but also to try to get people to shop locally, grow their own produce, reduce consumption, and so on. I spent yesterday morning in the company of some stalwart women from the town's Transition group who had gained permission to make use of a couple of abandoned flower beds near the town's leisure centre. The aim was to transform these two beds into one where edible plants such as rosemary, sage, nasturtiums, borage and mint, among many others, would be grown and used by locals, and the other where bee and other wildlife friendly wild flowers would be introduced.

Using donated plants from our own gardens (sage and lemon balm from ours) and a few extras from the local council (who supplied a man, a van, and a little bit of cash for plants to fill up any remaining spaces) in three hours we turned this...

into this 'edible' bed...

...and this....

into this wildflower bed....

After planting wild strawberries, thrift, clover, cowslips, and more, the 'path' snaking through the middle was sown with native wildflower seeds. The plan is to add little pockets of new planting whenever we can, so that slowly the grass and nettles will disappear. The ground in this bed is almost solid (I dug about 20 spaces for the plants - I know!) so it will take some doing - hopefully some worms went in along with the plants and they'll multiply, do their clever wormy stuff, and help make it easier next time!

It was thrilling to spot bees homing in on the edible bed within minutes of the plants being arranged in their positions ready to go in, and as the work progressed several people stopped to admire the new look, and to ask questions. A couple of people were pretty cynical, wondering how long it would last before plants are ripped out, or the willow fence is turned into weapons by the local youth, but we shall wait and see - and if plants get taken we'll try to replace them. We are all trying to do something to improve the town, and hopefully each little bit will have a positive impact. As I walked home afterwards I picked up a stray plastic bag and collected rubbish from our street (something we do every so often). You do what you can, and try to make a difference!