For any Green Man sticker holders following my blog, I can tell you that there has been a lot of interest shown in the Common Ground movement and a lot of stickers posted out to all parts of the country. I don't want to quantify the level of response but I have to say that I'm
very encouraged by the number of people who've emailed and snail-mailed me regarding Common Ground and what it means to them and have really enjoyed hearing about the kinds of things people are doing around New Zealand to create a better environment through planting and sowing. A number of people have made the effort to come and visit, bringing with them wonderful stories of their own projects and plans - most recently, an elderly gentleman, and he is indeed a gentleman, spent and afternoon sitting at my table, describing his regular 'green guerrilla' efforts in re-planting the bare spaces of the city he's lived in all of his life. If you'd heard what he'd achieved and was continuing to do, you'd want to clasp him to your breast and clap him on the back, all at the same time - he's a champion!
I continue to get requests to join the movement despite not having advertised Common Ground for some months now, so I'm confident that, like a rash, the idea's continuing to spread :-)
If you've not yet taken the plunge and would like a sticker and to be one of us, send me a self-addressed and stamped letter to:
Robert Guyton
20 Thames Street
Riverton 9822
13 comments:
Instructions on how to build seed bombs to reforest unloved sections of the road, for those of us who travel too much and have an underlying desire to do a bit of guerilla planting, please. Tips on best seeds to use, how to source them, and how to make a cohesive and nutritious soil/seed mix appreciated.
Seed balls are easy. Find and powder some ordinary clay. Collect and sieve some natural compost. Gather the seeds. Mix them all, dry; mostly clay. Add as little water as you can but enough that when a pinch of the mix is rolled, it stays together in a marble-sized ball. Set them out to dry. Cast them into the places you feel need reviving. Remember to wind down the window before biffing. Watch for cyclists. Quick-sprouting seeds are best. I'm enjoying the legume family. The roading people don't like plants that have thick, car-stopping trunks and fair enough too.
Anything growing on the roadside of the watercourse will be mowed or sprayed - plants behind the ditch will most likely be left un-molested.
Does one have to know the secret handshakes or have to do anything with a goat to be part of this?
Have a drive up McIvor Rd and see what one resident has done just at the brow of the hill on the left. Worthy of a photo on your blog to show just what can be done. Council leaves it alone thank goodness. And she does a daily patrol up and down the road picking up and rubbish. Would love her energy.
Part of our property is a gully on the roadside that is growing Broom. To date we've managed to hold off the neighbours from cutting it down as we're using the Broom as a nursery plant for other trees. We have a good selection of flax, five finger, pepperwood and pittosporum already coming through.
Over a Christmas BBQ one of the neighbours said he thought that although Broom is a legume, there was something about Broom that prevented other plants enjoying the nitrogen. Are you able to shed some light on that? Thanks.
Have a look at the attached para, go well with your photo and talk of a BBQ. maybe have to be a member of facebook to see it
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10201087131396547&set=vb.108156889226567&type=2&theater
Excellent PT.
Philip - yes, there is a complicated set of dance moves that the initiate has to master before acceptance into the movement (it's not called that for nothing!). I'll link to the yootoob clip if you feel you are willing to commit. Michael Jackson and Fred Astaire, both potential members, struggled with some of the steps, so you'll appreciate the amount of commitment you're going to have to have in order to 'fly up' into the ranks.
Truth to tell, the following should explain what you've missed:
(From 'CoastLine' magazine published by the SouthCoast Environment Society Inc)
I’m starting a movement and calling it ‘Common Ground”.
I invite you to join; it’s free and you probably already qualify for membership, as ‘Common Ground’ is for people who plant.
It’s as simple as that.
There’s a token as well, a sticker with the head of the leafy-faced Green Man, a traditional symbol of vegetative vigour.
I’ll post a sticker to you, if you would like one. Email me at rguy10@actrix.co.nz
You could stick it somewhere visible; on the handle of your garden fork or on the bumper of your car, so that anyone who’s not heard of the movement can ask you about it.
You’ll see the Green Man face on some of the articles I write, here and in other publications kind enough to give me space, where the topics might be of special relevance to the objective of “Common Ground”, that is, encouraging more planting, especially that which benefits the community you are part of.
That’s all there is to it.
Keep an eye out for the Green Man and the ‘Common Ground’ movement.
I intend that it should become a useful and enjoyable vehicle for improving our shared spaces.
http://robertguyton.blogspot.co.nz/2013/08/common-ground-up-date.html
Para - gorse is best, but broom will do - it tends to grow thickly and exclude light needed for young natives. careful thinning would help. Being leguminous helps, but light is more important in the early stages. I'm really cranking up the leguminous tree quota in my forest-garden, by sowing and planting tagasaste, kowhai, kakabeak and laburnum, all of which will help, rather than hinder and can be slashed down if need be, or just thinned if they become too thick.
Oh, and moisture too, para. Broom can create great dryness.
Thanks Robert. With regard to trees versus smaller plants and road side of the drain versus far side of the drain, and mowers and crashing cars:
It is my opinion that planting trees on the far side of a drain is ok, because any cars that manages to cross a drain in the process of crashing is probably going to be very heavily damaged, tree or no tree.
Thanks RG
I'd feel bad if a driver was killed after crashing into a tree I planted. I'd feel good if the vehicle was prevented from going over a bank because of shrubs that I'd planted. Y' takes y' chances.
Good point. I will do both, then, and ensure I plant on the far side of the drain with careful consideration of the principles of physics.
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