The city's first tiny forest will be planted on Woodthorpe Grange Park...
Tiny Forests are the hot new thing in urban greening. Typically occupying the size of a tennis court, they’re fairly easy to find space for, and they’re proven to deliver environmental returns that far exceed traditional tree planting approaches. They grow up to five times faster compared to traditional monoculture tree-planting schemes, absorb up to thirty times more carbon, and attract more than 500 species of additional flora and fauna, all while storing water and cleaning our air.
This weekend Green Hustle, in collaboration with Nottingham Open Spaces Forum’s People's Forest Project and Nottingham City Council Parks and Open Spaces team, are planting The Hustle Holt – Nottingham's first Tiny Forest on Woodthorpe Grange Park. It’ll be one of the first few in the country.
How does it work, you ask? After a good digging over, the ground is prepared with enriched and aerated soil, young saplings are then planted densely, the ground around their roots is mulched, and they are kept watered and weed-free for the following two years so that the forest can establish itself. The tightly packed trees quickly form mutually beneficial relationships with each other via mycorrhizal fungi networks, so the Tiny Forest can quickly look after itself.
Adam Pickering, Hockley Hustle founder and one of the directors of Green Hustle, said the team are “so pleased to have a hand in delivering Nottingham’s first Tiny Forest. Nottingham’s a city with big green ambitions, and we’re hoping that this tiny tennis court-sized biodiversity hub will play a small part in helping us grow a greener future, and live more harmoniously with our natural environment.”
Green Hustle started life as a virtual festival in September 2020, with funding from Arts Council England. They hope that through organising environmental action and providing a platform to celebrate other community-led efforts, they can inspire people to work towards a greener world.
On June 5th Green Hustle plan to hold an outdoor festival in Sneinton Market. In the vein of other events from The Hustle Collective, it will be a collaborative affair, with Nottingham community groups, artists, and sustainable businesses contributing.
Christine Katerere, who co-leads Green Hustle, but hadn’t previously been involved with environmentalism said: "I became involved with Green Hustle as someone that cared deeply about the environment but never felt I could engage with action around climate change, it felt inaccessible. It's honestly been a little revolution discovering everything that's going on locally. I've realised that I don't have to understand all the jargon to make a difference and that we can all play our part, one small green act at a time."
Please note that this article was amended on Thursday 25 March 2020 - we originally stated that planting would be taking place on Friday 26 and Saturday 27 March. This has now been postponed to a later date. Official statement.
Keep up to date on the Hustle Holt via Green Hustle social channels.
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