A great weeding team – Year 7’s from John XX111
In mid- August Cottesloe Coastcare had a bus load of enthusiastic helpers from John XX111. Two Year 7 classes spent the morning working with Coastcare Officer, Kate Sputore and Coastcare volunteers.
Mike Gregson (CCA) gave the students and teachers an overview of Coastcare work – ‘the hows and whys’ then we divided into teams and got down to work. At this time of year there is lots of weeding to do and we targetted accessible weeds on the Grant Street verge and an area of native plants on the East side of Grant Marine Park.
Several years ago the Grant Street verge was totally covered in weeds and weed seeds blew from this area to the adjacent native vegetation. CCA volunteers weeded the area and planted local native plants at the site 2 years ago.
The patch of local plants now growing well on the east side of Grant Marine Park was previously an area of unused lawn. With support from Town of Cottesloe, the lawn was removed, reticulation turned off and the area planted with local provenance seedlings (grown from Grant Marine Park green stock). With these two additions the natural area of Grant Marine Park has been extended and a large quantity of water and fertiliser saved, plus the lawn mowing costs have been avoided.
After a well earned break for drinks we all settled back to work again – this time we spread two truck loads of mulch around the plants. The mulch will help keep the roots of the plants cooler in summer and we hope may help supress weed growth.
Unfortunately it is very difficult to keep on top of the weeds in our small native areas where weed seeds constantly blow in from the surrounds.
CCA is extremely grateful for the help we receive from groups such as the John XX111 Year 7’s, teacher Tony Yates and the other teachers who assisted. A big thank you to you all!
