It was a glorious Wednesday morning .

Despite the weather, the turn out today was a little a disappointing at only six.  dressed the border beside the gate.  Still loads of weeds to attack!  We watered the boat planter  and the northern border which was remarkably dry – thanks Jen for helping!)

The final task for the day was to rescue a baby robin which suddenly landed, with a thud, on the bothy doorstep.  It was stunned and, when it came round, hid in the bothy but we captured it, let it go in the park and it was last seen flying off into the distance.

About 30 local people turned out on Saturday afternoon for our poppy planting ceremony with Wardie and Newhaven Churches.  Justin Taylor, the Wardie Church youth leader spoke for a few minutes on the Great War and its impact on people and communities.  The poppy seeds were planted by the children and Alister Greig, from Newhaven Church, closed with a few words, and an advert for the Friends of Starbank Park!  And all was with a backdrop of a yacht race, so close that we could hear the wind rattling the sales!

Special thanks to Wardie and Newhaven Churches for the ceremony and to Newhaven Heritage and Bill Simpson for their support.

Scattering Poppies

The boat

The yacht race

We had an very promising start to our Saturday volunteering.  There were five busy volunteers who dug out yet more chickweed and almost finished clearing the weeds from the paths at the north end of the park.  Well done and thanks to all involved.

We have, thanks to a boat supplied by Bill Simpson and a generous donation from Newhaven Heritage, a fine boat planter at the east Starbank Road gate.  The boat was painted by the indomitable Stan a week or two ago.  Yesterday we fixed it in its spot near the gate and filled it with soil and compost, ready for planting.  Wardie Church Youth Group and the Friends of Starbank Park have organised short ceremony for 3pm on Saturday 17th May to plant poppy seeds which we hope will be flowering in August to commemorate the start of the Great War.

Ready for Planting

We didn’t stop with setting up the boat planter.  We weeded several rose borders, the new herb borders and the new border at the north fence.  We also trimmed the edges of loads of borders.

Long grass and tidy edges

The petals are falling off the cherry trees giving a lovely pink carpet.

Carpet of petals

Not a bad morning with lots of edging, weeding and general tidying.  Stuart has done a sterling job scraping the weeds off the bottom path.

Many thanks,  Julie for a really helpful demonstration of rose pruning.  That will keep us busy!

Tidy Edges

A wonderful day in the park.  Five volunteers from Martin Currie Investment Management Limited came for the day and, despite the damp morning, we had 13  Friends of Starbank Park too.  The council delivered 600 plants at 10.00am and the result was huge progress.  All 600 plants were planted, with rosemary, lavender and box hedging in four central beds in the top of the park and 100 geraniums in the new border at the north wall beside Starbank Road.  The team from Martin Currie were terrific, working really hard all day, despite increasingly heavy rain in the afternoon. We took a huge step forward today.  Many thanks to Ritchie and Jen from the Council and the whole Martin Currie team.

The Martin Currie team and an old guy

The herb borders

The herb borders from the west

Geraniums along the north wall

Another busy morning weeding and tidying in the park, amongst the fantastic cherry trees.  Everything is growing well, including the weeds!  We cleared a load chickweed in the SW corner this morning.  Some of it was so thick it was like lifting turf, and its only a few weeks since we last weeded there.

Winter Planting

Cherry trees

It was a glorious Easter morning at Starbank Park today and there was a terrific turn-out of egg-rollers for this very traditional event.   The views were wonderful, the park looked good and it was great to see it so busy.

The paths have been finished in time for rolling Easter eggs!  And the grass on the bank has been cut!

Many thanks to the City of Edinburgh Council and their contractors.  Starbank Park has been improved hugely by the new paths.