Peak District
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Archive for 23/09/2013
Have you ever wanted to start a community garden? With many communities building more and more high density housing , community gardens are becoming all the rage. People living in townhouses, apartments, condos and basement suites often don’t have enough room to grow plants. Although you can grow a lot of food on a balcony, some places don’t have this kind of space. Starting a community garden means looking for a piece of land that can often be leased from a landowner. Surprisingly these pieces of land are often found quite easily. Lets take a look at this tour of community gardens to see how they got started. Below is a photo of Alexandra House community garden in South Surrey. It’s hard to believe this garden is just over a year old.
The gardens are full of abundant harvests and so much fuller than the first season. This garden was built…
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Part of the fun of encouraging biodiversity is seeing all the little critters this time of year. I try to have something blooming from March through November, if possible, and that gives opportunities for many species to survive.
The sedum is even busier this weekend. This praying mantis has been sitting on the sedum all weekend. It did not actually snatch anything while I was watching. The painted lady butterfly was on the sedum all weekend, too.
Side view of painted lady butterfly on sedum.
Also on the sedum were this little skipper butterfly and many kinds of bees and flies. I can see why the praying mantis hangs out here. There was also a little yellow sulphur butterfly, I am not exactly sure which kind of sulphur it was. I can’t show pictures all the species that were on the sedum!
Praying mantis blends in on miscanthus “morning light” ornamental grass. This one has a…
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Even a generation ago, most parents would have greeted this question with blank faces. Playing out was just what kids did – why would you need a reason? Of course, things are different today – for all sorts of reasons. In almost all neighbourhoods, parents need to take a stand, and to resist the norm of parenting that says being a good parent means rearing your child in captivity.
For parents who come together to set up Playing Out road closure projects, taking this stand means extra commitments: talking to neighbours, liaising with the Council, setting up rotas, and maybe spending a couple of hours a week out in the street. So, to rework my opening question: why do parents get involved in organising road closures for play?
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