Bed edging in parks, gardens and other green spaces

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Isn't it about time bed edging was back on the agenda? Neat edges make such a difference to parks, gardens and other green spaces, and it’s economical to maintain them if you have the right machinery. The TurfTeq is a versatile and productive edger.

But it can also be done without such machines – or with using them (on hire) – only every now and then to re-cut such edges. It is not necessary to own them outright these days.

Well made and well maintained edges add an instant appeal to beds, whether flower or shrubs, and even a bed in transition – that is to say between plantings – if free of weeds and well edged looks acceptable and more than that to the eye of the beholder.

Besides the use of such machines – or manually remaking and maintaining such edges – keeping them well trimmed manually by use of sharp edging shears is as important, if not even more so. The grass clippings can either be removed or incorporated into the soil. Visibly, however, they should not remain as that will detract from the good looks.

© 2017

Groundscare TurfTeq edging

Save Our Forests & Public Land!

Hands Off Our Forests

The new Infrastructure Bill will allow development on ANY public land or forest, allow anywhere to be fracked and will allow the extermination of barn owls, red kites, wild boar and goshawks. We must stop this bill becoming law!

DID you know legislation is currently being pushed through Parliament that will allow any public land to be transferred by a Government agency, all rights of way extinguished, to private developers?

Did you know the same law – the Infrastructure Bill – will allow any substance whatsoever to be dumped under any land, and that it will become a legal objective to frack anywhere where there is the potential of shale gas, or turn any coal seam into gas?

Did you also know that the same law gives the potential go-ahead to exterminate barn owls, red kites, goshawks, wild boar, and a great many other species not deemed as 'native'?

You'd be forgiven for not knowing because incredibly – despite its massive implications for nature, the environment and also our rural and urban spaces – the Infrastructure Bill has almost entirely not made the news.

There are no celebrities crying 'foul' or any politicians who are supposed to be opposed to the Government. It's almost as if all parties want this law to be passed under the radar, because whoever gets in after May 2015 will have carte blanche to hand over our countryside, urban public spaces, and the ground we walk and live on, to multinational companies.

Read more: http://www.permaculture.co.uk/news/0411145760/save-our-forests-public-land

Park pride

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

This year urban park visits are up by 13% and 93% of the population agreed that having open green spaces close to where they live is important*, proving the significance of quality local green space and acknowledgment of the commitment made to these spaces over the past decade.

Despite the economic struggle that green spaces have encountered this year, awareness raising campaign Love Parks Week has over 900 free events listed and will be reaching out to communities across the UK with 1.3 million people expected to join the festivities throughout the week, which display exactly what parks and green spaces can, and do, offer to communities that need, use and love them.

Mark Camley, Director of Park Operations for the London Legacy Development Corporation said, “The range of activities planned across the country for Love Parks Week is great news for parks and park users. Parks are the most democratic of places providing spaces for activity, relaxation, education as well as offering great health benefits. This year’s launch of the Inspire Program will be a fitting tribute to all the celebrations in 2012 bringing people into parks by staging events linked to the excitement of the Games. I’m excited to say that only a year after the hosting of the 2012

Games, we expect the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to be reopened and host a range of events and activities as part of Love Parks Week 2013.”

Love Parks Week is now in its sixth year and is a campaign which aims to raise awareness and call for continual reinvestment of green spaces. Paul Bramhill, CEO from organizing parks charity GreenSpace “These results prove that quality, easily accessible green space really counts, particularly

to those in urban areas where it can provide escapism from every day troubles and good old fashioned family fun at little or no cost, whilst also strengthening communities, making them a more desirable location.”

Bramhill continues “The challenge we are faced with is maintaining these much loved quality green spaces with diminishing budgets. Continual erosion of funding to the sector could result in a decline in visits and therefore a potential increase in crime, obesity, chronic stress, unsociable behaviour, not forgetting the effect on the environment. We need people to understand the risks and stand strong for their parks.”

This year the campaign is also running a Park Health Check asking people to think about and assess the quality of their local park and has also created a Love Parks Club both encouraging a greater sense of stewardship.

Public parks, in Britain came about as a result of the Public Health Act in the mid-19th century to improve the health of the nation, and especially the working classes and they are as important in this respect today than they were then.

Furthermore, parks are of great importance for people who, for many different reasons, decide to holiday ay home, engaging in staycation, as a means of taking the kids and themselves out into some green space in the neighborhood.

Being involved with caring for a large municipal park myself I have personally seen the increase in use of parks and open spaces in Britain in the last couple of years and even more so now where travel is becoming more and more expensive and holidaying abroad is out with many.

© 2012

The dog poo fairy does not exist

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Parks and Open Spaces are littered with the feces of dogs (those of foxes cannot be helped) and many dog owners are the most irresponsible people that one can encounter.

Owning a dog comes with obligations, and some of them legal, and one of those is that you have to, by law, pick up Fido's doo-doo and dispose off properly in a litter bin.

The fact is that you do NOT have to hunt for a doggie doo bin anymore as any litter bin, in most place, in Britain, now can be used for dog waste. It is no longer, though in my eyes it still is and in all honesty nothing has changed, hazardous waste.

There was a time it was treated as such and it would be incinerated but within the last number of years it has been downgraded to “ordinary” waste again and is disposed off in landfill sites.

So, no excuse not clearing up after your dog and definitely no excuse to – when you have bagged it – to leave it littering the sides of a path in the bag. There is no fairy that will come along picking such bags up and getting rid off them.

Dog feces are a menace and harbor serious health risks and here especially for toddlers and young children, as several incidents in recent years have shown where children have lost the sight in their eyes because of contact with dog waste.

Some parks and open spaces, in summer, in certain places stink like sewers and worse because of heated dog waste laying in the grass and elsewhere. It only takes a little bag and a trip to a litter bin.

Be a responsible dog owner and clean up after your dog and dispose of the waste properly.

© 2011