The wood mulch has arrived and, thanks to Stan, it is already being spread over the perimeter borders.  It is a huge step forward in our battle against the weeds.

It was a glorious summer morning at the park on Wednesday and we celebrated by “anchoring” the Friends of Starbank park boat planter at the gate next to the Starbank Inn.  We’ve even started planting.

There was loads of other activity this week with the area round the Marion Morton planter tidied, grass seeding and yet more weeding!

Some roses, together with an occasional bug, in Starbank Park on 2 July.

And a French Marigold

It was an excellent morning for gardening today and we made best possible use of it, doing loads of weeding and edging.  There is always more to do but the park is looking pretty good.

A report from the Heritage Lottery Fund shows a growing risk to parks in Scotland, with councils having to make budget cuts. It predicts that the quality and condition of many parks could dramatically decline if action is not taken. As part of the research, an Ipsos MORI survey also showed that 1 in 10 people across the UK use, visit, or pass through their local park almost every day.

This morning on Radio Scotland’s Morning Call, Louise asked: Should local parks be a council priority?

Julie Proctor the Chief Executive of Greenspace Scotland gave Friends of Starbank Park a very complimentary mention.  The programme is still available on

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0480spv.

The item on Parks starts after about an hour and our mention is about 25 minutes later, just after Lesley Hinds is interviewed.

Julie and her team have finished planting out the summer bedding.  They have done a brilliant job and have made a huge difference.

The Friends have been busy clearing out the rose borders, only one left to do.  Some have thriving roses but others have had no live bushes left.  These bushes have been removed and the beds dug over.

The border at the east wall is looking great.