In the heat of the «Mykolaiv parks» mowed flowering grass in the city: environmentalists reacted

Employees of the municipal enterprise «Parks» mowing the grass. Photo: archive NikVesti

In Mykolaiv, employees of the municipal enterprise «Parks» continue to mow the grass in the midst of the heat wave. Environmentalists say that trees lose their ability to receive nutrients due to the bare soil.

A video of the work of the utility company was published.

The footage shows a worker mowing a green strip of grass and flowers along the sidewalk.

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«Good afternoon, Mykolaiv residents! We are in touch with you at «Mykolaiv Parks». We take care of the beauty and cosiness of our city every day!» signed the video by ME «Parks».

The reaction of Mykolaiv residents is mostly critical. People believe that this practice is harmful to the environment, especially in the heatwave.

Local resident Valerii Zamoka asked in the comments whether it was really necessary to mow the grass where the flowers grew:

«While in other cities they plant grass, in our city everything is mown to the ground. This grass is probably more of a nuisance to «Parks» than dry branches or dangerous trees».

Nataliia Konstantynova pointed out that after mowing, the ground is left completely open under the sun.

«Is this beauty? Why are you exposing the soil and mowing flowers in this heat? Leave at least something for the citizens!» she wrote, tagging the mayor of Mykolaiv.

Inna Tymchenko, PhD in Engineering, deputy head of the Mykolaiv branch of the National Ecological Centre of Ukraine, explained that bare soil quickly overheats, loses moisture, and beneficial microorganisms die.

«Try digging up the soil now, near trees, in the park and other places. You will not succeed. It's stone... Will beneficial living organisms live in such soil? No. If it rains one day, does it have any chance of moistening the soil? No, everything evaporates. What we see is terrible erosion due to the heat and strong winds combined with bare soil... Also, this year the trees are worse off than last year, even our trees that we water. We took measurements: where there is grass cover, the soil temperature is 15 degrees lower. And the pH is neutral. On the open ground, it is acidic, which is bad for trees,» she said.

According to her, even those areas where there was still greenery were mowed.

«Unfortunately, the area with grass in the photo was still silted up by Parks, so they mowed it down. It would have been better if they just removed the garbage there (but this is probably not profitable),» the environmentalist added.

In July 2024, NikVesti published a video of utility workers mowing «dust in the centre of Mykolaiv in 40-degree heat. Afterwards, the municipal enterprise «Mykolaiv Parks» responded to this publication. They explained that on Soborna Street, workers were using a trimmer to rake leaves and mow grass, if any.