Hampton Park Improvements

Friends of Hampton Park will be meeting on Sunday June 25 from 8:30 to 11:00 at the Island Park parking lot at Hampton Park to continue their park improvement work.  For further details and other opportunities to help with Hampton Park, please click on the attached link or contact Sharon at carlingtonhampton@gmail.com

Before the summer heat really sets in, Hampton could use your help!  

Sunday June 25, 8:30 to 11 am, meet at the Island Park lot 

Bring gloves and pruners. Long pants, closed toed shoes recommended. All other necessary equipment will be on site. 

If you can’t make it until after 8:30, the majority of the work will be around the meadow area on the Island Park side so just hunt around and we should be easy to spot!

Tasks

1. Invasive removal: dog strangling vine, garlic mustard, knotweed (only small regrowth)

2. Weeding/pruning/watering in the new planting areas in the meadow. A diseased pin cherry in the middle of the meadow needs to be cut down and bundled for disposal.

3. Assistance with rain barrel: It’s positioned under the downspout of the small building so that rainwater is funneled into it but any hose attached to it will likely be stolen (the last one was). It can be plugged at the bottom and the water accessed from the top for now, but any other solutions on how we can better make use of it are welcome! 

4. Assistance with sign holder instalment: I may not have this done in time, but if I do, we need to install a post in the meadow with the sign holder that lists the species/Ecology Ottawa partnership, etc.

If people want to stick around for about 30 minutes after 11 am, we can gather at a picnic table to chat about any issues or do some planning for summer events or fall projects.  We have a number of year-old tree seedlings that we may be able to plant this year in the Carlington Woods North, and I’ll be meeting with Councillor Brockington early next week to discuss the idea.

Monday June 26 and Tuesday June 27, beginning at 8 am 

We have two NCC students and possibly one NCC staff member coming to clear the largest knotweed colony on Monday and Tuesday. Up until now, volunteers have been clearing regrowth and tarping this area. In two days, we should be able to do what it’s taken volunteers years of weekends to do! 

We’ll start around 8 am. If you have even an hour to spare Monday and/or Tuesday morning to help out with the removal, let me know. It’s the usual spot where we’ve been cutting — beside the inner path that runs parallel to the creek bed — so look for us there.  I’ll be there until at least 2 pm on Monday and for as long as I need to be on Tuesday. 

Cheers,

Sharon