Give Seeds a Chance (Grass in the Park)
Give Seeds a Chance. Well, that’s what John & Yoko would have said! In our quest to protect nature, working with the elements, we took on the relentless rays of the city sun to protect grass in the park at London’s Exchange Square.
CLIENT: British Land
LOCATION: Broadgate Campus, Exchange Square, London
HEAD GARDENER: Tiziana
TIMING: Spring Seeds
This site is an open park amongst city buildings. In central London, a popular spot for visitors and local workers to hang out. They come to coffee on the way to work, take a break between meetings, catch up over coffee, bring the kids, walk dogs or kill time on the way to the airport.
The Challenge
A combination of a very dry spring and lots of people (& dogs) trampling a particular patch had left an expanding section of lawn struggling. The grass was also getting scorched by the sun, reflected off surrounding glass buildings. It was agreed that these areas of dying grass needed reseeding. The challenge was to protect germinating seeds in a lawn permanently open to the public.
Working with the elements…
…reflected sunlight from glass buildings can often get significantly hotter than ambient temperature. It depends on building design, the type of glass and the angle of the sun, but in some cases magnified sun can be hotter by up to 30°C. Even known to melt plastic.
The Q&S Solution
We wanted to protect the area of lawn, without impacting on the neighbouring café’s desire to keep the lawn open to the public.
Client agreed that for the seeds to take we needed to afford them some protection. If the area of lawn couldn’t be fenced off, then the reseeded patch needed a clear protector to prevent people and dogs trampling the area.
We suggested a ground level horticultural fleece pegged into the lawn.
The horticulture fleece offered a good compromise. It’s lightweight, transparent and allowed the rain and sun to penetrate the seeds, while creating a gentle deterrent to visitors to not tread.
The Result
The fleece acted as a great protector, allowing the grass seeds to germinate nicely in just under 3 weeks. With careful watering we have managed to restore the lawn to a very good standard.
