The Piazza is a big space and, although the planters are largely self maintaining, there is a bit of weeding, digging and watering that we’d love your help with. Throughout most of the year we have no need to water the plants, and when we do the rain butt is usually full. However, occasionally weeks can go by with no significant rain- like July 2018 and May 2020!

During these times your help is vital and I’d like to thank Lilia & Bori, Alex, Bob, Carol, Shilpi & Faruk, Julia, Marcia & Kean (for weeding) and everyone else who has rescued a few plants for us this week by bringing water down in a variety of whatever containers!

There is finally a bit of rain in the forecast and the temperature is cooling, but as the world warms, we can expect these dry periods to be more frequent. To make sure our plants (aka pollinators and carbon emitters) can survive dry periods we are installing another rain water butt, donated by the Whale family in Southville and HCCA are looking installing an emergency water supply. We are also paying close attention to the types of plants that thrive in dry weather and planting more of them.

But local volunteers are vital to keeping the Piazza green and tidy. We’ve created some basic watering and weeding guidelines so that anyone can join in. We will put these on our new noticeboard.

If you like sociability, or need some gardening tools, or don’t feel confident to garden alone, do contact us on our Facebook page or email [email protected] and she will arrange company.

Guidelines for Piazza Gardening

Watering

If we have very dry periods or you notice the plants looking parched can you help water?

There is a rain butt located behind the wall

pictured here- please bring a watering can or a bottle to fill, or bring water from your home if the rain butts are empty.

It is best to water plants when the sun is not on them. This is tricky at the Piazza, so early morning or late evening are the best times.

The areas that the community is responsible for are:

• The Maple grove and sedum beds
• The rain garden
• The rockery
• The planters

Weeding

We will be asking for help with weeding over the summer and Autumn once we have sorted out our garden waste

Litter picking

Unless you have a litter picker or some gloves we are not advising the public to help with this until further notice. If you do pick up litter the bins by the mural above are regularly emptied by Bristol Waste Street Cleansing team, who deserve a big thanks for all the gritty cleaning jobs in our city (below, picking up food as a thanks from Chai Shai)

Your Ideas

We welcome ideas for improving the space and making it work for everyone. These could be painting, planting, events or enhancing children’s play. Please get in touch [email protected]