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Tuesday 15 May 2012

Weeds--what's the problem?

Just had a few days in Linconshire and was struck with the relaxed attitude to the flora allowed to grow in all areas of the towns, in pavements, walls and every nook and cranny. All the large and small towns I visited were the same, not one had spent any money on spraying. It was a delight to botanise all these strange plants and it was so attractive. Good for bees, butterflies, birds.
This lack of spraying is a cultural thing as I have noticed the same thing in Linconshire many years ago before this current economic difficulty. Also a great majority of roadside verges are designated nature areas and managed as such. Wonderful flora for mile upon mile. In contrast, Calderdale has acres of mowed-to-death verges.

One has to ask why Calderdale is so keen on wasting vast amounts of money on spraying. This spring was terrible with brown, dead grasses and plants littering everywhere, Suburbia personified. Maybe we should change our cultural attitude and accept some of our annual flora. Goodness only knows why the base of large mature trees need the grass spraying, it makes a right mess. Leaving the grass long will prevent the root area from drying out, whereas killing the grass puts our urban trees under even more stress.
Time for a policy change? Anybody interested?

1 comment:

  1. I fully agree Philip. In reality I would think that the Council would be inundated with complaints though. Clearly the residents of Lincolnshire accept it as normal, which of course it should be. I wonder what it costs to destroy this habitat. The money saved could be used to buy meadow seeds for some of our so called "waste" land. The guy who currently destroys could be the guy who seeds.

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