Yesterday's rain showers started just before our 9 am starting time, but a good-sized group of both new and regular volunteers still came out for the community workday. We broke into two groups, the larger of which was tasked with planting nearly 50 plants that had been provided and laid out by Rec and Park staff.
The new plants were designated for a patch around the playground that has been mostly weedy and sandy. A couple of months ago, we added thick layers of soil and mulch to start suppressing the weeds and building better conditions for plants. We chose California native plants like ceanothus, heuchera, currant, and penstemon, all of which will remain short in stature so as to keep the views into the playground. The area is partially shaded by tall eucalyptus and Monterey Cypress, and it will be interesting to see which of the plants are able to survive.
Even with the recently added soil, in order to dig deep enough for the new plants, we ran into tough soil and a bunch of roots, which meant a lot more work. I was incredibly impressed by the volunteers who kept going, even as the rain started falling more steadily.
The other volunteers worked in our rain garden, removing weeds and eucalyptus leaf litter.
By 10:30 the rain was steady, and we helped the waters breach the border of the rain garden. Everyone was stoked to see the garden working as designed. And with about a half-inch of rain accumulated, we called an early end to our workday. Sadly, we also cancelled the picnic that had been planned to celebrate the completion of our 2012 Capital Project.
