 |
| Ryan, John, Anna and Matt |
...but they didn't say it to my face! I could tell by the raised eyebrows though. But HAH! We did it - 800 plants planted. PSG FTW.
Here's how it went down. Around 4am I woke up. Going to bed at 8.30pm due to sheer exhaustion will do that to a person. Lying in the dark I looked at every app on an iPhone that a person could stand for three hours, then got up, overworked muscles complaining loudly.
 |
| The mulch pile, decimated |
At the leisurely hour of 10am
Matt and I went to PG and got 40 shovels and a dozen pitchforks, several tubtrugs, clipboards, boxes of drinks, gloves, waivers, a wheelbarrow and all the other things you need to run a three ring circus like ours.
 |
| Bryce, and our three major genera |
Emily and
Ryan joined us at the SPUR site (now known as the Pennsylvania Railroad Garden) and we started pulling the remaining 200 or so plants out of the Regent's Cab parking lot, and arranging them on the pathway in groupings.
Pretty soon the volunteers started arriving, and we knew what we had to do: move mulch. The 30 or so yards of mulch left on the site just had to go - you can't plant on top of a pile of mulch. Believe me - I've tried.
 |
| They can dig it |
Today we had about 25 volunteers, and the mulch pile evaporated under their enthusiastic pitchforking incredibly quickly. We moved a lot to PG in
John's truck, and piled the rest on the street.
Bruce is coming for some this week - anyone else want some? Help yourself!
 |
| With a smile, no less! |
While that was happening, I was placing plants in the spots they should be planted, and a team followed behind me, tucking the plants in. The hose was set up and anytime I noticed a mulch-mover starting to look a little glassy-eyed I pulled them off the pile and asked them if they wanted to stand relatively still in the sun, watering plants instead. The reply was always 100% enthusiastically affirmative.
 |
| Matt, Maulik and Eddy with pizzas |
By about 1pm the pizzas arrived and the tired workers stopped and ate. After a nice chat in the sun, we got back to it again and the remaining plants went in very quickly. Cleanup time!
All the pots were picked up, trash collected, tools returned to the shed, water hose put away and finally, in the afternoon sun around 3pm, streets deserted (apparently there is a popular sporting event today...?) I found myself alone, marveling at what we all accomplished this weekend.
 |
| Ken rocks a Euphorbia lambii |
Matt, Ryan, Emily, Carlin, John, Gina, Chris, Alex, David, Filippo, Angela, Ashley, Dee, Daniel, Bryce, Eric, Tara, William, Maile, Eddy, Maulik, Jessica, Anna, and
Ken. You are all amazing. Thank you so much for all your hard work. You should be very proud of everything you did today :)
Want to see more pics? Click here!
I think we run a fully 5 ring circus! Awesome post with great captions.
ReplyDeleteAnnie, Thanks for allowing me to participate. I am very proud of you for creating a garden like this and terrifically transforming a trash dump!
ReplyDeleteJohn, without you this would never have happened. You're my planty hero!
ReplyDeleteTwo corbies studied all the pictures posted by Dr Eucalyptus and marvelled over the fantastic job you all did. A huge accomplishment and so many interesting plants. It looks great already.
ReplyDelete