Gardening Advice & Tips for Irish Gardeners

Community spirit will be alive and well in Portarlington over the coming weekend as people all over the town give up their free time to give something back to their neighbourhood as the annual ‘Spring Clean Up’ gets back under way.

TheGardenshop.ie is a sponsor and organiser of the 'Portarlington Spring Clean' which we organise in conjunction with Portarlington Tidy Towns.

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We are providing gloves, bags, litter pickers & hi-vis vests to supplement those provided by the local Co. Council. There will also be 3 trucks available on the day to transport all the rubbish collected to our depot where it will then be picked up by the local council. 36 separate groups are involved in the cleanup who each work on cleaning their own estates, roads and public spaces.

The event has grown massively over the last number of years and turnout has increased from 6 people in 2005 to over 250 volunteers in 2012 - when it was featured on RTE's 'Dirty Old Towns Project'. We are also providing a worker to for 3 days leading up to the event to clean up particular litter black spots.

With the combined effort of the members of the public, the County Council & TheGardenShop.ie much of the town’s litter & rubbish will be gathered up and disposed of. With fly tipping & littering the surge of many scenic areas and public streets this initiative can make a real difference in addressing this issue and go a long way towards changing people’s attitudes towards street litter.

David Maher of the TheGardenShop.ie explains "We are proud to help organise and support this event. It is wonderful to see 100s of people giving up 2 hours to clean their local area and send out a very clear message that looking after our environment is very important to the community. The event really transforms the town and shows people how clean our streets, towns and countryside should be everyday of the year"

TheGardenshop.ie calls on people right across the country to get involved in their local cleanup efforts.

You too can take part in the event which begins at 10am on Saturday the 13^th of April. Meeting points will be located at the entrance to each housing estate around the town. Contact you own Tidy Towns folks for times and meeting points in your own localities.

From clearing litter, to pruning hedges & trees, to planting summer bulbs & flowers will all go a long way towards to making the place you live that little bit more pleasant.