A new bed is started

Before: team in action

Today's volunteer workday was framed by ominously dark, Byronic clouds to the North and epic, John Constable-style dramatic and fluffy clouds to the West, with vibrant sunshine on the garden. Freshly drenched in rain, the weeds were ripe for pulling!

Chris, Sarah and Hilary joined me and we did a solid 4 hours of work (!) transforming the garden.

First up was removing some encampment debris and putting in a 311 app request to have the trash removed. Done.

Next we set about weeding the area right at the top, preparing a clean surface for fresh woodchips. I think probably a dozen giant tubtrugs of weeds made it to the composter.

After - the start of a fresh new bed

We found a number of logs in the chip pile as well as other branches and bricks, and used them to frame a new bed.

Portuguese Squill
(Scilla peruviana)

We also picked up over a dozen of dog poops, and dozens of bags left at the base of the light pole, full of poop. Whoever is leaving poops, or worse, passive-aggressively leaving bagged crap for us to pick up, you should be ashamed of yourself. What makes you so special that you think it's OK to leave crap for volunteers to clean up?

We'll be watching for you, and will call 911 if you keep leaving dog crap everywhere. You've been warned.

So, we're making a new bed at the top of the garden. It's NOT a place to let dogs crap. It's a garden. If you can't clean up, find a dog park to visit. If you can keep your dog out of the beds and pick up it's poop, we obviously love and welcome you and your lovely pooch(es) ;)

Edges cleaned & weeded

The new bed will showcase all the super-tough plants we need to remove from the cactus wall before the neighboring wall is torn down. Expect to see Yuccas, Agaves, Opuntias, and other cacti in the mix.

We started with an Agave sisalana, moving it from the left to the right end of the new bed. We added an Agave tequiliana in the bed, and one to the front bed too. Matt had placed a Dasylirion wheeleri there a couple weeks ago, and Hilary transplanted a small Salvia canariensis into the bed too. Chris planted a Yucca branch at the back, and there's lots of room for more to come.

We flattened a pathway through the woodchips for walkers and will be back to add more to this exciting new area soon.