Meitheal Alive At Kilclief Garden
The ancient Irish tradition of ‘meitheal’ was alive and well in Kilclief last Thursday where a big working party turned out to transform and maintain the community-owned garden.
Cllr Cadogan Enright said: “Everyone brought garden tools, rubbish bags, heavy gloves, and lots of enthusiasm for the late evening session to clear up the area.
“A donation of 20 bags of compost from local charity True Harvest in Kilclief was used to renew the planting beds for Kilclief Primary School’s ‘eco-team’ for the new school term.
“Heavy weeds were forked out and heavy pruning started. A late September date is to be announced for the real end-of year pruning and shaping to be done.”
Councillor Cadogan Enright who organised the event requesting all volunteers to avoid the small patches of the weed called ‘Mares Tail’. He said: “Volunteers dealing with weeding are asked not to pull out the pernicious weed ‘Mares Tail’ as this only encourages its growth.
“We have very reluctantly decided to use small amounts of a special weed killer using painting brushes to deal with this issue. It is not practical to dig it out as it just spreads further.
“This community garden was created using local voluntary labour on donated land and includes a raised viewing platform providing panoramic views looking out over the Narrows at the entrance to Strangford Lough.”
