Sunday, May 11, 2008

May Work Day

It was a perfect day to work in the garden, following a day of rain.

We had plenty to do. We had gotten lots of inexpensive plants through the Council on the Environment -- flats of impatiens, dusty miller, portulaca, marigolds and cosmos as well as perennials including Echinacea, Rudbekia, English Lavender, Russian Sage and Vinca minor -- (thank you, Nancy Wilks, for coordinating this!) as well as some lovely goodies from the BBG Plant Sale.

Major projects for the day included:
- Naoko worked on the "trample path" in the mound area. After loosening the soil and adding compost, she transplanted unwanted asters from the rose bed, and then planted a carpet of dusty miller and impatiens. We hope this will give the message that this area is actually a bed and not a path!
- Nancy C. planted the barrels with a pink, magenta & purple assortment of annuals including lobelia, dianthus, verbena and more
- Lisa, as usual, worked in many areas and was such a whirlwind of productivity that I can't list it all. And, she pruned the forsythia and the euonymous.
- Susan J. harvested compost and worked on the front of the rose bed, moving the rudbekia and replacing it with two lavender plants and portulaca.
- Nancy Y. planted the Chimney Pipe containers with the beautiful dahlias she'd gotten at the BBG sale, and worked on several of the other front containers too. We are delighted that her larkspur has re-seeded itself and is growing lushly in one of the containers! The pansies and violas are still thriving, and we will leave them be 'til the temperatures rise
- Beverly did a lot of work in her bed, planting annuals, and redesigning some of the perennial plantings. She planted a rudbekia. We all agree that one can never have enough black-eyed Susans!
- Nancy W. worked on the tree beds and gave them plenty of mulch. She also planted seeds in the previously-neglected 8th Street tree beds.
- Nancy C. planted vinca minor (also known as myrtle and periwinkle) in the area west of Sara's bench, and we placed fencing all around this area. We really hope the kids will refrain from using this area and that the vines will "take".
- we installed some wooden picket fencing (an impulse buy this morning at Lowe's) on the south side of the center mound area. It looks good but is way too flimsy and needs serious reinforcement.

A great day. We got a LOT done but still have a lot to do, such as weeding! We have a bunch of annuals still to plant, and have to make decisions on our remaining perennials (two echinacea; a Scottish heather plant from the BBG Plant Sale, and the Judy Zuk magnolia that Nancy & Beverly got at the BBG Plant Sale).

1 comment:

Ellen Kirby said...

Way to go, gardeners. It's fabulous to read about your workday and all the participation. Hope the garden continues to flourish. Can't wait to see it when I come to Brooklyn this summer. Ellen K.

Resources (Books and such) List

  • Community Gardening Guidebook, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, www.bbg.org
  • The End of Nature by Bill McKibben