Forest planted at centre

Last Saturday Kingswood Community Centre was the first community centre to have a Stepping Stone Forest planted.

The large team of local community volunteers led by Kingswood Community & Leisure Centre assembled to plant 440 native Irish trees and shrubs.

Once the trees were planted the volunteers spread out a layer of cardboard aroung the newly planted trees and then covered the cardboard with a generous layer of wood chip mulch.

The cardboard and mulch helps the suppress any competition from grass and weeds, helping the trees to grow very rapidly.

This method of planting has been inspired by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki.

The local volunteers were supported by experienced Stepping Stone Forest volunteers from Dodder Action and Litter Mugs.

The financial sponsors for this forest were Community Foundation of Ireland / AXA Parks and Trees on the Land.

The organisers were overwhelmed at the community support from such a diverse group of people and thanked local councillors, TD’s and Mayor Emma Murphy for attending the planting.