The Sustainability Hub's new look courtyard
The long-awaited raised beds have arrived and are starting to be planted. The beds will form an educational garden at the Hub which will not only look more attractive, but will also provide information about different types of plants in an interesting and accessible way.
The courtyard beds have been divided into three main areas: bee-friendly, sensory and edible/medicinal, though some plants fall into more than one of these categories.
The bee-friendly area has been partly supported by The Co-operative and comprises plants such as Lavender and Dahlias, all of which have been identified as important for bees and other pollinators.
The edible section will include plants that are not only edible but also decorative and appropriate for their planting environments. We intend to showcase some edible plants that have become less common and to increase the range of plants and parts of plants that people know are edible. We will also encourage tasting of certain plants when they are in season.
The sensory garden will consist of plants with a range of smells or textures. We hope that this will increase the attraction of the courtyard as a place to sit and relax, eat lunch or have informal meetings or gatherings.
We also have an insect hotel which is intended to provide a habitat for insects which are considered to be beneficial in the garden.
Each section of the garden will have an information board and there will also be some identification charts for the plants and flowers. We also intend to link the information boards to QR codes which will link to further information on the Keele Hub website.
There will be a lot of changes happening in the courtyard over the next few months so why not take a woodland stroll over to the Hub and have a look at what we are doing.