Surprise delivery of wildflower turf for local schools

Surprise delivery of wildflower turf for local schools: Olney schools are ‘blooming’ with gratitude as local business gifts rolls of wildflower turf in celebration of Wildflower Week.

Six schools were treated to a visit by one of the iconic bright red George Davies Turf lorries as it delivered over 20 rolls of popular wildflower turf in a bid to enhance picnic, play and forest school areas.

As a family-run business in Olney, George Davies Turf is passionate about supporting the community and having a positive impact on people’s lives, and decided to bring these values together for this year’s Wildflower Week which runs from 1 – 8 May.

George Davies said, “We’re delighted to have been able to support so many local schools ahead of Wildflower Week, and we look forward to catching up with them over the coming months to see how their wildflowers are looking and what new wildlife they have visiting now as a result.

“Wildflower turf is easy to maintain, has a low environmental impact, and can increase biodiversity by restoring native ecosystems and providing an essential habitat for butterflies, bees and other pollinators. It’s therefore perfect for small and large areas and is a great project for children to get involved with and something that they can enjoy year after year.”

Jo Bevis, Headteacher at Carlton C of E Primary School said, “We were over the moon to receive the Wildflower Turf from George Davies Turf as we are lucky to have a lot of outdoor space. We will be splitting the turf between our primary and reception areas, creating a dedicated wildflower area and also using it in our forest school. Our pupils are really looking forward to getting stuck in and will be helping to prepare the area where it will go. We hope to see lots of new wildlife visit us over the coming months.”

“Mrs Lukic at Olney Infant School said, “As a forest school leader and all-round eco warrior I was delighted to receive the wildflower turf which will be used in a dedicated area in school, surrounded by benches for all to enjoy. The children and I had a lot of fun watching the turf being unloaded off the lorry and I had a fantastic team of helpers from our year 2 class who got stuck in with laying the turf. We are so excited to watch the flowers bloom in the coming weeks and inviting more nature in.”

For those wanting to create a wildflower area at home, the team at George Davies Turf have put together some handy tips below to get started:

Tips for installing wildflower turf

• If you can take the old turf up with a spade that would be great, then just lightly dig over the area with a spade and spike it a bit so the roots can go down into the soil
• Wildflower turf actually loves poor stony soil and can really thrive there so the rougher the better
• Don’t put any fertiliser down (wildflower turf hates fertiliser)
• Give it a water (depending on how much rain we’ve had)
• Then leave to enjoy for the Summer
• In Sep/Oct time – get some shears and cut it down quite low ready for winter – easy as that.

To find out more about the best time to lay wildflower turf, click here to read the recent blog post from George Davies Turf.

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