Hands + hands + hands + hands = light work

Or... many hands makes light work! Once again this equation was proven when Leanne, Miyuki, Arum and I met at the Mariposa Center Garden last night to water it throughly, and plant 12 Verbena bonariensis (Tall Verbena) and about 9 Echium candicans (Echium) "Pride of Madeira."

Now, aside from the gap in the fence where the homeless people get down to the train tracks, we have everything planted. I've called Amtrak and Caltrain four times now in an effort to get that hole closed, and nothing ever comes of it. I'll keep trying though!

It took about an hour to plant everything, water three wheelbarrow loads of jugs, and put everything away after refilling the jugs again for the Wednesday night watering crew. And we weren't exactly rushing! If I was doing it alone it would have taken me hours, so thanks guys: much appreciated!

In the next three weeks we'll be watering this garden 2-3 times per week to get the newbies established. Luckily they are plants that love a hot, dry spot so they will no doubt fit right in and take off like rockets.

Photos show (top to bottom) Miyuki planting soem Echiums, Leanne wheeling water, and Miyuki, Leanne and Arum sitting on the bench-like coffee-table-ish thing that someone (thanks a lot whoever you are!) dumped in the garden recently. Got to dispose of that somehow...

After all that I went over to Emily's and we worked on some paperwork for two new grants for the SPUR and P. Garden projects.  Busy busy busy...

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Let's plant an urban forest!

Friends of the Urban Forest are coming to the 'hood! We hope to work with them on the 17th and Pennsylvania Urban Renewal (SPUR) project to line the 100 block of Penn Ave with trees. Our cost will be $75 per tree which we hope to fund with grants.

But what about the 200 block, you ask?

Currently there are Callery Pear trees (Pyrus calleryana) alongside the lofts on the west side, and a few other trees further south, up the block on the same side. But nothing on the east side of the block at all. In fact, it's rather awful over there... asphalt sidewalk, grafitti, yuck...

If you are interested in planting trees on that side of the street, the cost is $75 per tree. They bring a tree, cut the sidewalk for you, and help you plant it and stake it and give you all sorts of help. Believe me, this is a deal!

Want to know more? Contact FUF at the above link, or, better yet, come to the community meeting at Mr & Mrs Miscellaneous (the new ice cream shop on 3rd Street) at 4pm on Saturday July 17th.

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Busy weeks, but not in the garden

Arum, Emily and I have been hard at work for the last few weeks preparing two massive grant proposals. One is the Community Challenge Grant and the other is a PUC grant, and both will go to fund the SPUR project, which we hope to break ground on in the fall.

We're all desperate to get back out into the garden though! It feels like we're missing the summer, stuck in countless meetings with contractors, landscapers, architects, sound engineers and representatives of the city and other agencies, as well as plant, tree, rock, gravel, lumber and compost suppliers... not to mention the hours of painstaking writing, editing, formatting, printing and collating.

The grants are due to be hand delivered by Arum today at 4pm. What an accomplishment: Go team! And thank you for your dedication to this pivotal task. :)

I'll leave you with a photo of the garden taken recently...

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Cactus demolition team!

I have tasked John with the procurement of large, specimen cacti, agaves and yuccas for the SPUR project. We both saw a Craigslist ad for some big columnar cacti this week, and went to see them and meet owner Doug on Wednesday night.

The four cacti turned out to be huge - one was about 15'+ tall, one probably weighed 500# (remember they're full of water!) and clearly these specimens had been growing in situ for a decade or more. Naturally, the only access to them was through a low, narrow passageway under the house whose back yard they grew in, and that meant there was no way to get them out whole - we'd literally have had to helicopter them out if we wanted 'em in one piece!

We explained this to Doug and he was philosophical about it. Then John hacked the cacti to bits with a saw! Well, OK, he came back yesterday and spent 4 hours removing two cacti in long pieces, and stacking the “logs” at P. Garden. Then at 7pm Matt and I met him there and we finished the job on the third one, carrying out the largest bits we could handle tied to a ladder that acted as a gurney.

Think about a 200# log covered in 3" flesh-skewering spines that wants to roll off your ladder and pin you to the floor in agony. Yes, you only ask good friends to help with a job like this...

This morning at 8am we met John at the garden and unloaded his truck at PG. I really don’t think anyone’s gonna steal those large, spiky bits of cactus, but dog owners be aware that they’re up by the bricks for now so take care of your dogs! I had planned to ask Steve who owns Regent’s Cab Co. at 17th x Pennsylvania if we could pot the cacti and stand them up against his fence over the summer so they can root up in peace. Serendipitously, after leaving the garden this morning we saw Steve at Hazel’s Kitchen, and he graciously agreed to allow us to stash the goods there. Thanks Steve!

And thanks Doug, John and Matt. Now how’s that for a team effort?

Pic shows John lowering a gigantic bit of cactus to the ground while Matt looks on. Spiky!

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