The caretakers of the greenery of the city of Vilnius will soon start cutting the grass in the city - even with the lack of rain, the capital's lawns have already reached a manageable height. This mowing season, Vilnius is adopting a new mowing strategy for urban lawns, which is harmoniously linked to the green city policy - managing the environment will aim to restore natural meadows in city spaces, preserve the ecosystem of such meadows, and find a balance between ensuring order and preserving naturally growing vegetation.
Attention will continue to be paid to prevent the appearance of "bare" areas - the municipality continues the practice started last year - mowing only when it is really necessary and only where it is necessary, thinking about both the support of biodiversity and the protection of green areas in case of drought.
"When we talk about the green Vilnius strategy, we are thinking about all the greenery in the city and how to manage, maintain and plant them so that the city spaces are not only tidy, but also as alive and green as possible, so that natural grasslands are restored where possible. a kind of balance has been found between wildlife conservation and order. Lawn maintenance is an integral part of this strategy - we strive for that balance here as well, so that people in the city can enjoy both a neat environment and a sense of nature in the same city spaces, seeing restored blooming meadows instead of shaved dusty areas", says the mayor of Vilnius. Remigius Šimašius.
As last year, mowing operations will be planned taking into account the location and use of public green spaces: where there is no direct human contact with the meadow, mowing will be done once or twice per season (depending on weather conditions), and in areas where more people walk, or especially where they like to spend their free time, the grass will be maintained to a demanding technical specification.
The most natural vegetation will be left on the slopes near the streets, first of all, near the highways, as well as in the dividing lanes and traffic rings. Taking care of biodiversity, like last season, the wind will be allowed to blow the blooming slopes of the Neris embankment. Only this year, during the active reconstruction of the embankment and replanting of the slopes, some of them will apparently not be able to turn into a colorful meadow, as happened last year. Then the robotic lawnmower is sent to the embankment only after the summer flowers have fallen.
Some grasslands will be mowed less often
A new one Vilnius city municipalities Ligita Poškutė, the owner of the company "Mažieji sodai", who has already positively assessed the direction of lawn maintenance last year, considers that the most difficult stage in creating such changes is to properly divide the city into zones, predicting where the grass must be shortened and where it is possible to leave blooming plants meadow
Having admired the blooming slopes of Tauros mountain, Geležinios Vilkos street, and Neris embankment last year, L. Poškutė says that she understands the complaints of people with allergies, but she believes that they should not propose to "concrete" the whole city - everyone understands that there is a period when it is really difficult for people with allergies , but pollen travels long distances, and a mowed lawn in the neighborhood will not save. Meanwhile, by choosing to cultivate taller lawns, cities gain life. The president of the Lithuanian Nature Society, dr. Ričardas Skorupskas, whose insights two years ago also influenced the municipality's decision to abandon the same technical specifications for lawn mowing in all territories.
"Evaluating from an ecological point of view, during a dry period, the herbage slows down the vital processes in order to survive the unfavorable period and ripen the seeds, and at the same time, with its stems, it covers the surface of the earth from direct sunlight, thus protecting the soil from overheating and further loss of moisture." From an aesthetic point of view, unmown lawns in an urbanized environment give a sense of life due to the movement of the wind and the play of the sun's reflections. Such areas, alternating with mowed areas, would create a much cleaner, cozier feeling of the city, the urban environment would become more vibrant, instead of being "sterilized" to the point of hopeless baldness," said the scientist. He emphasized that in order to get a really good result, it is necessary to create a planned, ecologically and aesthetically based process.
Plant breeding specialist L. Poškutė also spoke about this challenge: "Biologists explain that the beauty of grasslands and the range of plants depends primarily on the frequency of mowing. You can also see ugly plants on the roadsides, which are neither decorative nor desirable. But all this can be regulated by mowing the slopes at a certain frequency or uprooting unwanted plants, while at the same time allowing the flowering plants to mature and disperse their seeds. It just requires professionalism and flexibility."
There is room for both order and nature
Landscaping specialist Renata Mikailionytė (company "Sodo botanika") also mentioned the fact that the maintenance of a higher meadow can sometimes be more complicated than the standard short cutting of grass.
"I'm really not in favor of mowing the grass - I think we have to take into account climate change and not cut the lawn short so that it can protect its root system with the top part, so it can create the right microclimate." It is very sad to see burnt grasslands. Scientists have proven the importance of any, even the smallest, insect to the ecosystem - we have to think about that too. But I'm not a hippie who says that you need to "let" the lawn as it comes. You need to find a balance. There are places where children are playing or everyone is just walking, it is necessary to mow there. You just need to take care of the space so that it does not look and is not abandoned: the grass must not fall out and dry out, for this you need to make cuts in time, manage the processes. And it really costs a lot of money, so the attitude of the city mayor and city administration is very important here. This can be said when discussing greenery solutions and projects in any big city in the world," said R. Mikailionytė.
Change does not come easily
L. Poškutė remembers the impressions from Scotland, where the episodes of "Harry Potter" were filmed - there were "patches" of uncut grass mixed with neatly cut areas, and arranged in such a way that it was obvious that the natural lawn was left specially - to remind about the importance of the ecosystem.
"Those areas were too small to be of significant benefit to nature, but this is how people's thinking is being changed little by little," commented the interviewer. - Vilnius also needs to continue the project by creating small demonstration areas of natural meadows, primarily by educating the public. It will certainly not be easy - for me, when I see the cut parcels, a positive impulse comes for a moment - people like order and want to feel that their environment is being taken care of. Therefore, the municipality will need intellectual capacities to balance that natural principle and sense of order. But it's worth changing people's thinking little by little by revealing the advantages of a different choice."
L. Poškutė laughs that last year she herself had the opportunity to carry out a "research" and an educational mission, when, after her car broke down, she drove a taxi through the extremely beautiful unmowed meadows near the former "Audeja" factory for four days in a row, asking the taxi drivers what they thought about the municipality's idea not to mow some areas . They all made the same comment - "it's a mess". But when driving further, towards the former penitentiary on Rasău Street, the passenger asked again how they assessed the area that had been cut short and therefore already brown, everyone laughed that maybe the uncut areas really looked better.
"I understand that some gas station workers diligently mow the grass in their territory once a week, taking care of a tidy environment," commented L. Poškutė. - But it is clear that only a few types of grass survive when mowing the lawn in this way, and thus human dictates unbalance the ecosystem's self-regulating mechanisms. Biodiversity means that each plant and animal has its own narrow niche and rubs shoulders with its neighbors so that none can prevail. When a person damages biodiversity, conditions are created for someone to gain power. Or for unsightly grasses, or for ticks, when we cut down supposedly unsightly bushes in parks, and the number of birds decreases as a result. Just like a bluebell or a weevil can get in the fields with farmers, but cannot survive in the meadow because of the "neighbors". So we too, diligently managing green areas, do ourselves indirect harm - we pose a real risk that something undesirable will appear as a result of the damaged ecological balance."
Regulation - to the nearest centimeter
Last year, the drought forced the Vilnius city municipality to suspend grass cutting work in mid-June. Mowing was renewed only from July 8, and only where it was really needed - in squares, squares, yards. Unmown slopes and dividers and places where the grass was burnt.
In the technical specification, which is used by the supervisors of the green areas of the Vilnius City Municipality - the companies "Mano aplinka", "Stebulė" and "VSA Vilnius", everything is arranged in centimeters. For example, it is stipulated that the street dividing strips and the greenery belonging to the street should be mowed by the supplier when the grass reaches a height of 5-10 cm, and the height of the grass after mowing should be 3-5 cm. Street slopes should be mowed when the grass reaches a height of 15-20 cm, and the height of the grass after mowing should be 5-7 cm. The first mowing of the street slopes must begin in the 3rd-4th week of June (after the plants have bloomed), and in lawns and sloped yards, mowing must be done when the grass reaches a height of no more than 5-10 cm. The height of the grass after mowing should be 3-5 cm. Mowing of unbuilt areas must be done as needed, but at least 2 times per season - until June 15. for the first time and until August 15 second time.
However, Gintautas Runovičius, head of the municipality's Urban Management and Environmental Protection Department, notes that when the city mowing strategy began to be adjusted last year, it was agreed with the service providers that these figures are indicative, and that the grass after mowing should be as high as the specification allows.
Residents of apartment buildings can also decide what kind of lawn they want to see in their yard. "It's certainly not the case that contractors are in a rush to 'shave' grass to earn contract money whether they need to or not." In our contract, payment is not based on the number of cuts. The criterion is quality work and a good result - the number of times the grass will have to be cut depends a lot on the amount of moisture. So if the residents of apartment buildings, I emphasize - the majority of them, not just one, decide that they want a higher meadow under the windows than specified in the technical specification, all you have to do is inform the municipality and it will be taken into account", assured G. Runovičius.
