Recultivation of brownfield sites, Juchhof family gardens
Realisiert:
2019
performed by:
On the border between the Juchhof family garden and the Werdhölzli biogas plant in the city of Zurich, there is a fenced-off fallow area, the responsibility for whose maintenance was previously unknown. Due to the lack of care, the area was overgrown by Armenian blackberry ( Rubus armeniacus ) and various fast-growing trees - especially red dogwood ( Cornus sanguinea ) and common ash ( Fraxinus excelsior ). In addition, the area was used by the neighboring allotment garden managers as a dumping site for all kinds of no longer needed materials (green waste, earthenware, garbage, etc.). In 2019, the civil servants from Naturnetz took over the area on behalf of Grün Stadt Zürich in order to upgrade it into an ecologically valuable, extensively managed herbaceous border with a low hedge adjacent to the family garden.
In an initial phase in March 2019, all material depots were removed and disposed of, and blackberries and overgrown shrubs were mulched and trimmed across the entire area. At the border of the family garden, the hedge was also cut for the first time in favor of an ecologically valuable low hedge with bays and a demarcating effect from the allotment gardens. In addition to brush cutters and hedge trimmers, the strength of the civil servants was needed here, who removed everything undesirable from the ground with pickaxes and cross hoe.
Before the second step in June 2019, a significantly positive effect of the work carried out so far could already be seen. A nutrient-rich, diverse herbaceous vegetation had established itself on large parts of the area. The hedge had the desired shape. The Armenian blackberry only grew in smaller areas. Fast-growing woody plants had been pushed back to the desired extent. As expected - due to the proximity to the family gardens and the road - some invasive neophytes were also able to spread. In particular, annual fleabane (Erigeron annuus) and common virginia ( Parthenocissus inserta ) were discovered in some places. Before the first mowing, the civil servants had to remove the neophytes in addition to the remaining blackberries. The herbaceous edge was then carefully mown with a scythe mower and, in the edge areas, with brush cutters, and then gathered and removed by hand with a rake and fork.
After another neophyte pass and the autumn mowing, the area is already very close to the desired state. In future, management of the area will be limited to two short neophyte passes and two mowings. With little effort, a waste dump contaminated with invasive blackberries was transformed into an ecologically valuable edge area.