Pretty as a picture - Garden Project at Fletchers Croft carpark

It began in September 2015, with two of us in the Fletchers Croft carpark in Steyning, looking at the two raised flower beds, that were full of debris and weeds - and sadly, no plants, except a tree in the middle of each flower bed.

Gillian Kille and Val Booker thought it would benefit from some tidying up, and maybe put in a few spring bulbs. We went ahead and dug, and cleared, and weeded, and thought about what to plant. In October, we were then joined by a third member of our group, Mary McFarlane - who offered us some of the surplus funds of the Gardening Group to enable us to buy daffodil and crocus bulbs and some compost.

We supplemented this with some plants from our own gardens and it all began to take shape. Things were coming up nicely (and of course the weeds!) so we had a further couple of sessions in the winter, weeding and tidying, but it now became clear there were lots of empty spaces between the bulbs. Val Booker got in touch with Mayberry Garden Centre on the Old Shoreham Road in Portslade to see if they could help. They have been extremely generous in supplying many trays of plants to give a good spring display and some all round plants to give continuity throughout the year. They ensured the plants would get a good start by also donating a couple of sacks of compost.

Martin from Mayberry brought all the plants and compost along on 11th February, which was a frosty morning with freezing fog, but undeterred, we were joined by a fourth member of our Gardening Group, Janet Bowers, and got everything planted and watered in that morning. The result is a very eye-catching display of flowers which will be seen by residents and visitors alike, as the carpark is in continual use. Our gardening team will now be keeping an eye on it all and making plans about what to plant to keep the display going throughout the summer and autumn.