Genentech slays again!

Amazing results

We were so delighted to welcome Genentech volunteers to the gardens again on Friday for Genentech Gives Back week, as they are truly a force to be reckoned with.

Last year we had a great gang, and the results were incredible - could they do it again?

Great teams

Aditi, Matt and I were joined by 15 volunteers and Kunaal and others took some great pics of the action.

In two hours we managed to fill a dozen huge composting bags, and 4 bags of trash as well, with a huge pile of weeds left that didn't fit in the bags. What a feat!

I can actually see the path!

Volunteers from Genentech are always energetic and focused, and this gang proved to be no exception. They gleefully took it upon themselves to search for and destroy all unwelcome forms of weed life on the path - including digging out the notoriously difficult to remove fennel and malva weeds, whose roots are just devilish.

Weeding is cathartic!

They picked up trash, they hacked back weeds, they raked up heaps of waste and they even carefully cut back Calandrinias and made cuttings to share. All with great cheer and lots of laughs.

I quickly used the 311 app to call in the vast debris piles we made, and a truck from Recology arrived quickly to take our green waste and trash away, while I took home the recyclables. Hurrah for 311!

Teamwork!

All in all, the day was fast paced and very effective, and I'm super grateful for the Genetech and PSG teams - thanks for ALL your hard work! Check out Instagram, Facebook and Twitter using the links on the right of the site to see more photos.

Extra! Extra! Weed all about it!

The path used to be so neat...

Wish you could do some gardening on a Friday, instead of our usual Saturday? Looking for some volunteer hours to fulfill your company's volunteer policy? Just ready for a Friday afternoon in the sun?

Join us for an EXTRA Volunteer Workday on Friday June 15th from 1pm-3pm

Please meet up at Pennsylvania Railroad Garden, on the 100 block on Pennsylvania Ave, as we’ll work there.

We're going to clear the path at PRG so we can refill the granite path covering. Every weed will be obliterated! We have teams joining us from Genentech and other companies, and it's a great opportunity to give back and meet some fun people.

Gloves, tools and drinks will also be available to make it all happen, as usual. We just need YOU and your smiling face to join us :)

Path of least resistance

Hilary taking a break

The 4' wide path at PRG has become quite difficult to use this year. It's overgrown and very narrow in places, thanks to some enthusiastic plants and also the decomposed granite (DG) substrate gets washed into deep grooves by rain. That creates ankle-twisting ditches on one side - not good.

DG needs maintenance every couple years, and I had called a number of companies to get quotes on repair. One of them came out to see the site on Saturday. The representative said the path needs to be completely clear to give a real quote.... so, at our volunteer workday on Saturday we decided to seriously attack the path!

Before

Matt, Aditi, Sarah, Sage and Hilary joined me and the sun was very warm as we worked on cutting back all ornamental plants (not weeds) that crossed the path edging.

Not weeds? Well, we have a weeding volunteer day on June 15th 1pm-3pm (join us!) and that team can focus on weeds, then we can just use the string trimmer if there are any left. Ornamental plants need to be cut back a bit more carefully though.

After

Anyway, away we went. We focused on a couple sections and really hauled out a lot of plant material. The path is now drastically wider in spots, overhanging branches are trimmed, a lot of fennel got whacked, and Calandrinia cuttings were reserved for future planting. More to do though!

Then on Sunday, Matt and I did a couple more hours before exhaustedly heading up to Papito for some well-deserved sangria.