Before & After
Close Work in Bed One
The May 21st agenda for Garber Park Stewards' work day concentrated almost entirely on preparing the Evergreen entrance restoration beds for the approaching conditions of summer. Since everything that we planted in February is thriving, the apparent challenge was to rid the beds of invasives while they were small and easily removed. Just beyond the boundaries of the beds, a lot of weeds and invasives are springing up; our main charge however is to maintain an environment within the boundaries in which our natives can freely establish themselves.
Looking at the problem this way, the outstanding intruder was Ehrharta grass. If this energetic plant were allowed to mature within the beds, it would overwhelm our natives and limit or destroy their progress toward natural reproduction.
Removing hundreds of tiny shoots is close and tedious work. Our great volunteers, more accustomed to the rigors of blackberry hacking, nevertheless threw themselves into the task at hand, even on the 80% slope of Bed 1 at the top of the hillside.
As the before and after photos of our wood fern in Bed 3 demonstrate, we cleaned out the beds. Of course, we will have to return to this task probably in the fall. A few repetitions will curtail the invasion of Ehrharta grass.
We even had a little time left over to enjoy the special triumphs of mid-May, in particular, our native strawberries in Bed 4 below the path. If you look closely at the photo below, you will see that the berries are just beginning to ripen.
Mary Millman
Friend of Garber 2
