Claim: The Ta’ Qali picnic area has been gravelled over, with the winter grass unlikely to return.
Verdict: Several experts say the material laid appears to be a type of sand widely used to cover lawns and fix flooding issues. Some say they may have opted for a different material, but all agree that the sand won’t stop the grass from returning.
A picnic area in the village of Ta’ Qali unexpectedly captured the public’s imagination throughout September, after photos showing the park covered in what appeared to be a layer of gravel emerged on social media.
The pictures were first shared by actor Thomas Camilleri, who compared the lush, green field throughout the winter and spring months to today’s barren, gravel-coated park.
Unsurprisingly, the photos caused an outcry with a petition calling on authorities to restore the area to its previous state garnering over 7,000 signatures in the space of a few days.
In a series of official statements throughout the week, authorities repeatedly insisted that this would not spell the end of the picnic area’s grass, which they promised would grow back once the weather cools.
We visited the picnic area and spoke to several experts to understand what this material is, why it is used and what it means for the picnic area’s future.
Is this gravel? Is it sand?
The first step was to figure out what the material actually is.
When we asked the project’s architects, they told us that this is a type of “low fines content sand” that was imported from abroad.
In simple terms, low fines content sand is a type of sand that has a lower amount of fine particles, making it thicker and coarser than most other types of sand.
This type of sand can vary in size, colour and texture and is often used for a range of purposes. It is particularly useful in construction work, blended with asphalt to serve as a base for roads or as an ingredient in concrete or plastering work.
However, architects said “it is used in many parks all over the world, spread over soil areas and usually identified as a topdresser,”, explaining that it will help prevent flooding and protect the soil.
Times of Malta asked for documentation certifying that this is indeed low fines content sand but, to date, this has not been provided.
What do the experts say?
We took the architects’ explanation to five landscapers and gardeners, none of whom are involved in the Ta’ Qali picnic area works, to understand what they made of the matter.
Many of them were happy to share their views but did not want to be named, for different reasons.
Some said they felt it unfair to comment on other people’s work, others said they hadn’t seen the works at the picnic area in person so wanted to be cautious. Others simply said they did not want to have to deal with any social media backlash.
The only exception was Antoine Galea, the founder of Garland landscapers. Garland had carried out some landscaping works at the Ta’ Qali National Park some years back but had never been involved in the picnic area.
None of the experts we spoke to, including Galea, had visited the site or seen the sand in person, but we sent them several close-up photographs.
They all came back with the same reply – this looks like low fines content sand, or at least sand that is commonly used in this kind of project.
In fact, they agreed, sand is widely used as a topdressing material for lawns and or green areas, particularly when an area is prone to flooding.
High foot traffic compacts soil
Galea explained that the picnic area experiences a particularly high volume of foot traffic, from families visiting the park in their free time to people attending the occasional mass events hosted on the site.
“This foot traffic compresses the soil, causing a lot of fine dust in summer and flooding when it rains,” Galea said.
Some of the landscapers pointed out that most garden centres typically stock similar types of sand or grit to that seemingly used in Ta’ Qali, often labelled as “horticultural sand,” although the stuff found at garden centres is usually intended for small pots, not large fields.
A visit to a nearby garden centre confirmed this. We picked up a small bag of horticultural sand, described on its label as “improving lawn drainage and breaking down heavy soils”.
This sand is darker in colour and less coarse compared to the Ta’ Qali ground cover, but the texture is fairly similar.
While the experts all agreed that this sand topdressing is widely used in this way, some said it might not have been their preferred material for the area.
One landscaper said he typically prefers to use coarser grit, while another said he’s not keen on sand at all, preferring to use organic material that can add nutrients to the soil, echoing arborist Jonathan Henwood’s recent comments to MaltaToday.
“This is not the material you’d use if you want to grow plants or trees because the sand doesn’t contain any nutrients,” the landscaper said. “But it works just fine for a lawn.”
In any case, the landscapers agreed, the type of material you opt for could change from one case to the next, depending on the soil you’re trying to treat.
Will the grass return?
We asked the experts the question that is on everybody’s mind – will the grass grow back, or is the picnic area now Malta’s largest sand pit?
They all agreed that the grass should be back once the autumn kicks in.
“The sand won’t stop the grass from growing back, unless there were also other interventions, like placing a weed barrier,” Galea said.
Photos from the Times of Malta archives throughout the years suggest that the area is usually bone dry at this time of year, returning to a lush green once the cooler months kick in.
Only time will tell whether the same will happen come this autumn.
No permit but works underway
In the midst of the outcry over the picnic area’s sanding-over, several eagle-eyed commenters spotted another problem, namely that the project’s permit had never been approved.
Even without PA approval, new toilets had been built, the area’s fencing replaced, and the sand laid, among other works on the site.
The project’s architects pointed Times of Malta to a new law which, they say, “states that government departments are exempt from planning applications when carrying out projects in green/open spaces”.
They are referring to a legal notice published in early May, which effectively says that government entities can do away with planning permit when carrying out greening projects.
The works would still need to be green-lighted by some entities, such as ERA and, in some cases, the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage or Transport Malta. And the works have to be certified by Project Green which has to confirm that this is, in fact, a greening project.
The architects told Times of Malta that they obtained “Project Green’s endorsement to carry out the work and as such, there are no illegalities on site”.
Verdict
The project’s architects describe the material strewn across the picnic area as a type of coarse sand frequently used as a topdressing material for parks and lawns.
Five landscapers and experts who spoke to Times of Malta after having looked at photos of the area, confirmed that the material appears to be a type of sand frequently used to level lawns and cut down on flooding by improving the soil’s drainage properties.
They all said that the sand will not prevent the grass from returning in the cooler months. Photos from previous summers indicate that the area is usually barren and dry at this time of year.
Nevertheless, some landscapers said they usually prefer to use different materials in their own work, although this depends on the nature of the soil they are treating.
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The picnic area’s new ground cover caused an outcry. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli
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Originally published here.
