Volunteer Workday this Saturday 10-12

Everyone can lend a paw

Our monthly workday is coming up this Saturday, November 1st from 10am-12; it’s a great way to get out and about in the sunshine after Halloween! We will meetup at Pennsylvania Garden (251 Pennsylvania Avenue) and disperse from there. We have the necessary tools and gloves to make it happen, and any will provide needed training too. New or returning volunteers, green or black thumbs, all are welcome!

Mind the sign and the cactus!

SFMTA should be
 fixing this soon!

Just a quick garden update, SFMTA has been called and they are still within their 5-day window (!) for fixing the 'Do Not Enter' sign that was run-over on Sunday. Annie and Matt zipped over to the garden to cleanup debris, but we'll have to wait for SFMTA to get their act together. For now, please use the arch entrance to the garden.

3 columns of our new
silvery, fluffy and spikey cactus

In other news, I turned the compost today and readjusted the heap (it's getting a bit out of hand back there!) and removed a mountain of trash from around the bench. The highlight was getting a rejuvenating snuggle from a lovely pup, Molly, who came over to say with her 'hoomin. I can't guarantee such a cute dog will be there when you visit, but there is a beautiful brand-new cactus at the bottom of the steps; it was purchased because of funding from the UCSF Medical Center, so thanks to them for enabling us to make the special purchase and to Annie and/or Matt for installing such a spikey and beautiful specimen.

Fun at the Potrero Hill Festival

Many thanks to all of the lovely folks who stopped by our booth at the Potrero Hill Festival today! Your kind words of support and your generosity towards the gardens really go a long way.

We had dozens of people sign up to volunteer at the garden (!) and many went home with a delicious jar of honey from Connecticut Friendship Garden and SF Bee Case. Other park stewards were on hand too, with Friends of Jackson Park, the NABE, and many others either at our booth or one next door. We made up the 'green belt' at the festival, and it was a lot of fun.

 I look forward to seeing everyone at our next workday on Saturday November 1st from 10am-12. It really is a community effort and it takes many hands to keep both gardens looking great, hope to see you all again soon!

A hot and doggy workday

A snuggly visit at the garden
 for  Lucy and her people

Once mighty fennel is easier to remove
after you remove the top and let it wither

Saturday Eliot, Nate, Mary, Ana and I all got together to get some work done at Pennsylvania Garden (PG), Triangle Garden and the Pennsylvania Railroad Garden (PRG). It was the usual first-of-the-month Saturday workday, except for the weather, which was a balmy +80F at the garden. Despite the heat we worked hard, picking up 8 tubtrugs worth of trash (!), clearing pathways and weeding our way around all three gardens. The only gardening photo I have to share is of a fennel bulb that we previously chopped; one method for removing extremely difficult fennel is to basically cut the fennel to the grown. Then, as it attempts to recover and looses some of its death grip on the ground in the process, you come back and dig it out a few weeks later.

Snoopy gets a good shake on at PRG

We were visited by many a cute dog and their owners, and I was able to snap a photo of Lucy with her owners at PG, and Snoopy at PRG. A few people even stopped by and promised to volunteer at the next workday, so I hope to run into them again next month! Everyone is invited to our workdays, so if you can come by your help is greatly appreciated in keeping the gardens
looking their best.

Saturday Workday Party Double Feature

Gardening and a Party!

This Saturday, October 4th is a volunteer workday at the garden. You are invited, and really, it's a triple feature because you can
1.Come by the garden for the workday, then take a nice walk to
2. Progress Park, which is hosting a party put on by the SF Parks Alliance & DPW  (info here) 
3. The weather should be summer quality 80F!!!

Maybe it could get even better, and the line at Mr&Mrs will not be long? Ok, that would be a miracle. Regardless, looking forward to seeing you all out and about this weekend!!