Pioneer Quay Project

A few weeks ago, I took on some of the ivy that was overflowing off the embankment onto the cobbled path. 🌿 It was quite the mammoth task, to the point that it was unfortunately my secateurs' last outing ❌ but I made all sorts of discoveries under the vines, including a pair of shears (which helped me to finish off the job), a pair of jump leads and a bottle of hand sanitiser (topical)! Oh Pioneer Quay, you are full of mystery... I also disturbed lots of little bugs, which was very exciting to see for the biodiversity of this little haven! 🐝🦋🐞🐜

❗️A quick PSA ❗️- we have recently parted ways with the online fiscal service we were using for donations. Firstly, we would like to thank everyone who donated - you are reason we can do what we're doing! We are now in the process of setting up a proper bank account, so please bear with us for a few weeks, and once that's set up, we'll be able to take donations once more! 💸

And to leave you on a cliffhanger - there's some very very exciting news around the corner ... Watch This Space! 👀

It's been a few weeks since our last post, so I thought I update you all on what we've been up to! 😄
Following all the warm weather, Pioneer Quay is looking LUSH! The goslings are growing up, the plants are green, and we even have strawberries that are starting to come out! 🍓
Other great news is that we reached out to the amazing people at One Manchester and they sent us 6 bags of compost and 3 big packs of herb, vegetable and flower seeds! For FREE! 😍🤩 We are ever so grateful and can't wait to get our raised beds finally planted up and flourishing for summer! 🌞🌻🌷🌼
Gary and I got out last week to clear up one of the raised beds, with one of the main offenders being mint! We managed to get it all into one corner in preparation to contain it in a pot at our next gardening day. I've also been out with the loppers to clear the path down to the old pontoon by our new Circular&Co. bird feeders, so the path is considerably more navigable now (and we have a solid start to our compost pile)! Lots of work to be proud of! 💪😁
Lastly, we recently met up with Neighbourhood Officer Ruth Billingham and the local Labour councillors Marcus Johns, William Jeavons and Joan Davies for a productive meeting at the site, showing them how far we've come in the past few months, and they were all very impressed, so we look forward to working with them much more in the future! A lot of excitement all in all 🥳
Have a great week, everybody! 🌈

Super Sunday, gardeners! 🌞🌈
The sun is shining, so before the heavens open, how about a wander down to our site that's looking more luscious by the day? While you're down there, keep an eye out for the new Circular&Co. bird feeder I installed by the old pontoon! And play a round of Spot the Gosling - it shouldn't be too hard, because there are loads! It's very exciting seeing all the life that's appearing at Pioneer Quay as we move towards summer, and gives us lots of hope for the importance of this wild green space in the city centre 🦆🐣🐥🌱🌿🌼🌳
Have a great rest of your weekend everybody! 😊

The sun is back! Sort of... 🌞⛅️

I was back at Pioneer Quay this morning and did a quick hour of clearing rubbish and some of the scrub from our wetland area by the canal and I still managed to fill a bin bag! I also found a bag of rocks, so I’ve put it to one side as it may come in handy! 🚯🍁🍂

As I was clearing up, I thought it would be great to identify some of the plants by the canal. In the first photo, we might actually have water mint (Mentha aquatica), but if anyone has a better idea, please let us know!
In the second image is Angelica archangelica, also known as Angel’s Fishing Rod, and it puts out tall shoots with a ball of flowers on the end, as seen in picture 3! Lastly, the reeds are actually Iris pseudacorus, or the Yellow Flag Iris, so look out for their wonderful flowers come summer! 🌞🌼
EDIT: I can confirm it is water mint! And there was a worry that the Angelica was giant hogweed, but I think we were right the first time :)

Is it too wet and windy to be a Terrific Tuesday? I suppose we wouldn't be in Manchester if this wasn't our weather for the middle of May! 🍃🌧
Regardless of the rain, I'm still striving to get down to Pioneer Quay at least once a week, and while I was doing some gardening and enjoying my surroundings (and dodging parental geese), I had a thought about a segment I'd like to do.
Being a site that's been left to its own devices for a long time, it has a great variety of plants that have popped up, most which I don't even know. So I want to give the answer to that, one by one! 🌱☘️🍀🌼🌷🌸🌻🌳
For today's post, we're going for an easy one - this herb is mint (or Mentha spicata), and yes, it is growing out the side of the raised bed! It likely came from the project that first set up the raised beds place a few years ago, and has been growing happily ever since. It smells great, and would be a good addition to desserts and mojitos - perfect for the summery weather we're having! 🌿🍹🍸

Thank goodness it's Thursday, right gardening gang?
Yesterday, Gary and I returned to Pioneer Quay to undertake what we hoped to be the last of the semi-back-breaking root removal operations (or root-canals, as I believe Gary punned). As usual, we started by clearing the remnants of revellers (beer bottles and caps, cigarette butts and filters, a needle or two), then we got to work forking up the last of the rebellious roots.
After about 2 hours and 1 broken fork, I think we got the last of them, and we look forward to returning next time for some lighter work! As always, keep your eyes peeled for volunteer events in the future (and pop down to the site to see our resident goslings for yourselves!)

Morning all! In celebration of Earth Day, we're excited to share some great news: having reached out to the amazing Circular&Co. about our project, they have very kindly sent us an early Christmas present! As a company that focusses on making their products out of 100% recycled materials and has sustainability at the centre of everything they do, we felt that their values resonated perfectly with ours, and we're so excited to share this news with you. I, for one, can't wait to get some of these bird feeders set up and attract even more wildlife to our city-centre oasis!

Lastly, being a pet-owning influencer isn't easy - see the second photo for an outtake... Now introducing our Chief Executive and Head of Pest Control, Oliver!

Thank you again, Circular&Co., and have a great Earth Day, everyone!

WE HAD MOLES! 😮😱❌🚫 Oh wait, sorry, that was Gary and I! Today, we visited Pioneer Quay to clear some roots leftover from when I was chopping down saplings, only to find that it was a much bigger job than we'd previously thought...

It was certainly arduous work for not too much pay off, but we had rocket lollies!

As always, keep an eye out for volunteering opportunities, and if you ever see us doing any gardening on site, please don't hesitate to pop down and say hi!

🐣 *Chick Alert!* 🐣

On Sunday a dedicated Simon, Phil & Guv went straight from their litter-pick with 'Clean & Green Castlefield' onto some gardening at Pioneer Quay Community Garden. We were limited by how much we could do because 'Mum & Dad' were looking after the kids right next to our planters! These tiny goslings couldn't have been more than a few days old and safely hatched in our city-centre oasis. We carefully worked around them and made the planters look much better. It's really coming along, feel free to have a look next time you are in the city centre! 🌱🌼🌿