ECBI - Edinburgh Community Backgreens Initiative - Providing Greenspace for the Community

Introduction
Green Caretakers is a backgreen maintenance service provided by ECBA.  We see a tenement backgreen as a resource that if properly managed can increase amenity, add value to a property, and support its residents to live a green lifestyle. 

Green Caretaker Services
The Green Caretakers service includes a full range of services relating to backgreens.  Customers can choose the services which are appropriate to them.

Backgreen Clearance
If your backgreen has become a jungle or a savannah, we can send in a team to clear it out.  The Green Caretakers will cut back weeds and overgrown shrubs, plus remove any rubbish.  Wherever possible we will compost green waste on site and set your tenement up with a composting system.

Design
Our Community Gardener will work with residents to prepare a design for the layout of the backgreen.  This can be a simple lawn or include new features such as decking, raised beds or a mini orchard.  We are keen to provide designs which are low maintenance but high on biodiversity, we can use the ‘forest garden’ approach which mimics a natural woodland glade.  We will provide a costing for the owners to consider before proceeding. 

Installation
Our Green Caretaker team will install the new backgreen design, using wherever possible, local plants and materials.  We will provide a simple ‘handbook’ to each household, that will provide advice on how to maintain the new backgreen.

Backgreen Maintenance
Gardening isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and the maintenance of the backgreen can be neglected if there isn’t a keen gardener in the stair.  If left long enough, a renovated backgreen will start to revert back to a wilderness in no time. 
The Green Caretakers provide a fortnightly backgreen maintenance service.  We will cut the grass, remove litter, clear the paths, prune the plants and maintain compost bays.  If someone on your stair is a keen gardener, we can provide a flexible service such as grass cutting and litter picking, leaving the resident gardener to do all the fun things.  Depending upon the needs of the residents and the service option chosen, we can also in some cases compost household biodegradable waste in the backgreen.

Additional Services

Grow Your Own
ECBA offer a Grow Your Own course to teach folk how to grow fruit and veg, whether in a raised bed in the backgreen or in an allotment.  Green Caretaker customers receive a discount on the cost of the course, or can attend the course for free by joining in on the Backgreen Blitz’s we organise around our Community Backgreen sites (see our website for more information).

Bike Lockers
We can arrange the design and installation of bike lockers in your backgreen.  There are several approaches we can take, such as each owner would pay for the cost of his or her bike locker, their flat number would then be displayed on the shed.

Raised Beds
ECBA can install raised beds in your backgreen to facilitate households to grow their own fruit and vegetables.