Good Gardening

Can you identify this caterpillar for us?

What does it mean to be a good gardener? The idea of what it means to be a person that 'cultivates the land' runs the gamut from those who engage in habitat restoration to the blue-ribbon flower grower. At the very beginning of our workday yesterday it was just Annie and I picking up trash along PRG. This pause gave me a few minutes to think about this spectrum of what it means to 'cultivate the land', and it made me really proud to be a part of Pennsylvania Street Gardens. All of our volunteers bring a different perspective and energy to the gardens, and it is a privilege to work with them to cultivate our little corner of San Francisco. Many thanks to everyone who makes these gardens possible!

After a little bit we were joined by Jackie, Nate, Eliot and Jenny, so I organized the group for different tasks as the workday continued. After Annie was done weeding at PRG, she joined Matt for the remainder of the workday on a special project of putting in some additional Agaves in at the northern end of PRG. Meanwhile, the rest of the group set about to rid the southern end of PRG of fennel, and Jackie came across a really cool caterpillar. If you know its proper name please comment or send me a note (emily@psgsf.org). Jenny patiently hand watered from the corner to the start of the redwood fence, giving the Salvias and other non-cactus/agave plants in the garden a well deserved drink; they've made it through the dry summer, and are ready and waiting for some real rain.

Nate, Eliot and Jackie making the triangle
garden look extra nice

After a brief discussion about how we feel like we've neglected the triangle garden a bit lately, we walked up the hill and weeded there, and then our roving band of weeders moved to PSG. Nate and I tackled some massive Malva neglecta and cleared leftover brush from the dog area while Jackie and Elliot weeded by the french drain. After cleaning up a nasty mess by the shed of shoes and unmentionables, I went to PRG and Jenny and I packed up the hose and thanked everyone at Fregosi for letting us use their water. Meanwhile the rest of the crew made sure everything was put away at PSG. We definitely had a full workday and then some, so we finally called it quits and went to lunch.