The arable weeds' nursery at College Lake was started by Val Atkins, whose husband Graham originally founded the nature reserve near Tring in Buckinghamshire in the 1970s.

College Lake was never sprayed with herbicides so when landscaping started and the soil was moved around the site lots of rare arable weeds surfaced.

Val realised that to save these rare plants they would have to start a nursery to enable seed collection. Her aim was to create a cornfield as it would have been in the 1940s and 50s.

Forty years on the arable weeds' nursery is now maintained by a group of dedicated volunteers. George Bray took over leadership of the group from Val and when he retired in 2019 Barry Watson and I stepped in. There are now nine volunteers; Georgina, Tessa, Sally, Doreen, David, Diana, Trish, Barry and I.

We meet every Tuesday and Friday at the nursery in College Lake. We have built raised benches with plant boxes to make the gardening easier, we have a shed and a greenhouse in our corner of the reserve.

In August and September, we collect seeds from the plants which have flowered that year. In November and December, we clean and sort the seeds ready for sowing.

The seeds are sown ready to go through a frost which they need to soften their seed coat ready to take in water and germinate. Some seeds are sown directly into the cornfield, others are germinated and nurtured in the nursery and seedlings in plugs are transplanted in spring.

Each year, the arable weeds are planted alongside heritage wheat in a cornfield at College Lake and in a one-hectare arable weed meadow at the top end of the reserve.

The heritage wheat is grown from grain found in the thatch of a local building. We use a bowser to carry water to the plants in dry weather.

We grow about 36 species most of which are extinct or in danger of extinction in the wild. The rarest plants which we have nurtured are field cow-wheat, corn cleavers, shepherds needle and many more.

We also carry out trials for the Natural History Museum, Plantlife and The Species Recovery Trust. So far we have successfully trialled interrupted brome, darnel and upright goosefoot.

I keep detailed records of our seed stocks and planting. The importance of this project is nationally recognised; we regularly receive requests for seed from other organisations.

Please come and visit us during June and July to see the cornfield in bloom.

If you are interested in looking around the nursery or volunteering with us, we welcome visitors on Tuesday and Friday mornings.

BBOWT arable weeds project volunteer, Alan White

Visit College Lake during June and July to see the arable weeds at their best