GPCA Newsletter 2000.5 May

GOLDSWORTH PARK COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION  
 
MAY 2000 NEWSLETTER VOL. 20. NO. 5.

 
PAGE 1-6 STORIES TO BE LOADED HERE

PAGE 7

STREETWISE...STEETWISE...STREETWISE...

A NEW KIND OF OFFICER IS POUNDING THE BEAT IN YOUR AREA...

Note: Goldsworth Park is in Area 6.

Woking Borough Council's team of Streetcare officers aims to provide a quick, customer focused response to reports or complaints about maintenance and environmental issues such as potholes, abandoned cars and the appearance of highway verges. Each area officer is responsible for:

# checking that roads are gritted during icy spells

# ensuring that bus shelters, recycling sites and public toilets are clean, tidy and in working order

# reporting abandoned cars and maintaining high standards of street cleanliness

# making sure highways licences for scaffolding, materials such as sand and skips stored on the highway and general works are in order

# enforcing action against people who lower kerbs to create a driveway without permission

# checking that grass, trees and bushes are trimmed and tidy

# monitoring driveway construction and roadworks for utilities such as British Gas, Seeboard and BT.

Residents who wish to make a report simply need to contact the Streetcare call centre on xxxxxx or email steetcare@woking.gov.uk

The Streetcare officer responsible for your area will then investigate the cause of your complaint and arrange for action to be taken within seven days. In cases of emergency, such as flooding, immediate action will be taken.

This article is reproduced by kind permission of Woking Borough Council

LETTER FROM A RESIDENT

Do you think local residents could be persuaded to care better for their hedges that overhang pathways? In certain areas it is very difficult to walk in comfort or even beside your partner. And surely it would only take a few minutes to clear out the rubbish thrown under the hedges or bushes by thoughtless others. The council does a good job, but we should take pride in keeping our own areas in order too. Name and address supplied.

PAGE 8

GARDENERS' DIARY FOR JUNE

FROM BERNARD AT BOTANY BARNS

BEDDING AND ORNAMENTAL AREAS

It should be safe now to plant out hardy bedding plants, and tender 'dot' plants such as Canna, Eucalyptus. Keep fleece handy in case of late frost. Move established containers outdoors, plant up tubs and window boxes, using a multi purpose compost, and incorporating a slow release fertiliser. Lining terracotta pots with polythene will cut down the need for watering and feeding. Plant up hanging baskets if not already done. Plant out border perennials and biennials. In large gardens, replace beds of annuals with dwarf evergreen shrubs such as Hebe, Santolina, pachysandra, etc. Prune shrubs that flower in early summer i.e. Broom, choisya, Kerria. Prune ornamental almonds, cherries, plums, now if they need it. Trim back quick-growing hedges. Deadhead Rhododendrons, azaleas. Check roses for pests and blackspot. Spray with appropiate pesticide/fungicide. Look out for lily beetles (bright red with a black head and their slimy black larvae). Mow lawns frequently, in dry weather raise the cutting height.

FRUIT AND VEGTABLES

Make last outdoor sowings of french and runner beans. Sow quick-maturing veg for late summer and autumn crops, e.g. beetroot, lettuce, radish. Water ground before sowing then cover with dry soil to seal in moisture. Sow vegetables for winter salads such as Chinese greens, winter radish. Thin vegetables sown last month, continue to move young plants of winter vegetables such as broccoli, celery, leeks to their final positions, plant out tender veg such as tomatoes, courgettes, sweetcorn. Keep earthing up potatoes until foilage meets between rows.

GREENHOUSE

The main tasks now are watering and pest control, damp down paths in hot weather, open vents daily , close at night, apply shading if not done already. Feed tomatoes once fruit is the size of a marble, using tomato feed or phostrogen. Remove side shoots from tomato plants. Look out for aphids, spider mite and white fly. Check the undersides of fuchsia leaves for brown or black spots of rust. Pick off any infected leaves and spray with a fungicide.

TIME TO CATCH UP

It's not too late to carry out spring tasks i.e. to apply a weed, feed and mosskiller to the lawn, sow quick hardy annuals such as calendula, candytuft, godetia for late summer colour. Pinch out tips of fast growing shrubs such as fuchsias, cistis and phlomis for a better display and compact plant, also remove the central spike from antirrhinums and salvias for the same effect.

Botany Barns (Knaphill Garden Centre) is situated in Barrs Lane, Knaphill. Telephone xxxxxx. Open 7 days a week.

MORE STORIES TO BE LOADED HERE

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