Rain didn't stop us!

John vs fennel!

Saturday’s volunteer workday was a surprise: it didn’t rain! Apparently I was super busy the whole time as I didn’t get many photos, but John, Josh, Chris, Matt and my parents made a big dent in the task list.

John weeded fennel. That’s a serious job - you can cut the tops off easily enough but you really need to dig them out, roots and all, to kill them. And boy do they have roots! John was not daunted.

Matt and Josh planted three gorgeous Nolina nelsoniis at the north end of the garden. This is a new genus for us - hope they do really well in that super-dry spot. I mean, super dry later in the year, obvs...

Nolina nelsonii

Chris cut down a whole tree (Acacia stenophylla) with a small handsaw. The poor thing was leaning right over and there was no way to straighten it up. Happily it had a sprout at the base, so he staked that up to regrow.

And my parents planted a couple dozen Artemisia “Powis Castle” and Euphorbia wulfenii in various spots.

I weeded away madly and pulled up as many Malvas as possible - the ground is so soft they’re coming up easily so it’s a great time to pull them out.