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.

Julie and her team have planted the bedding plants (geraniums and French marigolds) in the star and the crescents in Starbank park.  The borders are really tidy and the bank will be full of  colour in just a few weeks.  Many thanks to Julie and her team and to the Council.

Another glorious morning, if anything it was too hot for gardening.  The weeding continues and we cleared weeds from another four rosebeds and from the back of the east border. The compost heap is growing.

The Council are very active here just now.  Julie and her team have cleared the bedding borders and are replanting at a great rate.  Thanks Julie.

Most importantly we spotted a frog escaping the undergrowth.

The Newhaven Heritage Boat

We have a new boat planter at the east gate on Starbank Road. The boat was donated by Newhaven Harbour while Newhaven Heritage kindly donated funds for paint, plants and compost. Poppy seeds were scattered on 17th May by members of the Wardie Church Youth Group and Newhaven Church Sunday School in remembrance of those who died in the Great War. The poppies are growing fast and should be flowering in August.

Marion Morton

Andrew Morton has generously donated an oak planter and a weigela in memory of his late wife, Marion Morton, former Deputy Lord Provost of Edinburgh. These have been placed near the west wall.

What we did in the past month

• Painted, placed and planted out the boat planter
• Planted the oak planter in memory of Marion Morton.
• Planted assorted herbaceous and nursery plants in the perimeter borders
• And we have weeded, weeded and weeded! Chickweed just loves the rain!

Wednesday and Saturday Volunteering

We have built on our Wednesday volunteering success by starting Saturday gardening sessions. These are going well but more volunteers on either day will always be very welcome so come along and join us for a healthy, friendly and useful morning, Wednesdays and Saturdays 10.00 – 11.30.

Visit our website (www.friendsofstarbankpark.org) and follow us on Facebook (https://en-gb.facebook.com/Friendsofstarbankpark?ref=stream ).

Normal service resumed today with a glorious sunny morning.  We cleared wheelbarrows of weeds, again.  Today we were in the herb borders, planted only a few weeks ago but full of weeds, but at least most weren’t chickweed!

The Park is looking better again after a huge weed removing effort.  We just hope the rain stops.

It rained this morning, the first Wednesday morning since we started.  But there were enough hardy Trinity souls to do a load of weeding.  Almost all the perimeter borders have been weeded over the past 3 weeks and what a lot of weeds!  The park is looking much better and the benefits of all the winter planting are clear to see.

Also, more good news as the Council gardeners were out today, starting to clear the winter bedding for the new summer bedding plants.

It was a good day for weeding.  We attacked the chickweed jungle beside the west wall and the weeds in the fountain.  We made pretty good progress.

Before

After

And the roses are starting to flower