Maintenance of planting beds

Want to know how the planting area in your neighborhood is laid out?
In the Map you can see how the planting area in your neighborhood is described.

Each plant type has its own maintenance. In the municipality of Nuenen, maintenance is divided as follows:

Hagen

We prune the hedges twice a year. Usually in June/July and in September/October.
We often start in the center of Nuenen and then work outward.

Trimming is done mechanically with a tractor with a hedge trimmer. In places where the machine cannot reach, we cut by hand (electric).
We leave the trimmings in the hedge as much as possible. This serves as nutrition. If we can't, we clean it up.

Forest Plantation

A woodland plantation is a group of shrubs and young trees arranged closely together. This greenery looks natural and is good for birds, insects and other animals. To keep it neat and healthy, good maintenance is important. Once every five years, we prune back the forest vegetation completely. This gives young branches room to grow again.

Maintenance

The municipality of Nuenen maintains the greenery in public spaces. We do this according to national guidelines.
We use the method of CROW. CROW is an organization that knows a lot about traffic, infrastructure and public space.

With this method we measure how neat and tidy the greenery looks. We call this image quality.

What is image quality?

Image quality is about how something looks in public space. For example, planting beds, lawns or trees.
We measure this with image metrics. These include photos, requirements and descriptions. This is how we know what the greenery should look like.

Image quality is rated from A+ to D:

  • A+ = very good
  • A = good
  • B = sufficient
  • C = moderate
  • D = insufficient

The municipality of Nuenen aims for level B. This is sufficient and fits our budget.
We regularly check whether our contractor achieves this level.

Planting

Shrubs, roses and groundcovers are maintained based on visual quality, as written above.

Green Dumps

Trimmings or garden waste do not belong in the parks. You can dispose of your green waste in two ways:

Green waste left just anywhere, we clean up only if it causes a hazard or major nuisance. Otherwise, it is not a priority.

Replacing and renewing planting beds

Every year we renew a number of planting beds. We do so, for example, as:

  • the plants are dead
  • the planting has been trampled
  • or if the plants are at the end of their lifespan

Throughout the year we keep a list of planting boxes that are eligible for renewal.
At the end of the year we make a final list. Which boxes we replace depends on the budget.
Implementation is done in the first months of the new year.

In the planting beds we use a mix of plants. Think of:

  • flowering plants
  • plants with berries
  • evergreen plants
  • species that can withstand drought and heat well

These plants are important for bees, butterflies and birds. So together we provide more nature in the neighborhood.

When we renew, we also replace the soil. This gives the new plants a good start.