Workday coming up Saturday Feb 8

Our regular monthly workday happens on the Second Saturday of each month, so the next workday is sneaking up quickly. All are welcome for hands-on park care:

Panhandle Community Workday
Saturday, February 8, 2014
9 am - 11:30 am
Gather near the Panhandle playground (near Ashbury @ Oak Street)

Meanwhile, the special event that had been scheduled for Sunday, 2/9 has been been postponed. As part of our 2013-14 Panhandle Park Action Project, we had scheduled a special community event to bring together people interested safer travel to and through the park. I'll announce the new date as soon as we are able to.

January workday pictures

Rain was in the forecast yesterday, and so many of us showed up for the community workday in our rubber boots. The rain held off until the afternoon, but the boots were perfect for working in the damp and muddy Panhandle park. A big group of volunteers set to work with the park's gardener, Guillermo. 

Our main task yesterday involved raking up leaves in the area Lyon and Central next to the south path. Many of these were big elm trees, and we also worked through the grove of pittosporum.

Leaving a pile of leaves around the base of the tree creates a nice blanket to protect roots and also suppresses weeds. The leaves of most trees (eucalyptus excepted) will decompose pretty quickly. Each year we've been able to assist the other park workers in bringing this improvement to more parts of the park.   

Another group of volunteers trimmed back burl growth from the redwoods at Baker Street. 

Meanwhile, graffiti was removed from the McKinley Memorial by city workers on Friday. 

Final Panhandle workday of 2013

At our community workday on Saturday, neighbors worked with park staff in two groups: one to rake up the plentiful leaves beneath the eucalyptus trees west of Masonic Avenue...

...and another group working inside the rain garden for weeding, deadheading and removing leaves.  

Even in the week of the winter solstice, the rain garden receives a fair amount of direct sun at mid-day, contributing to the speedy growth since the planting in March.

The path to the Sue Bierman Glade has been resurfaced with fresh material and its borders have been edged. Gotta love routine maintenance! 

Happy Holidays to all!

Entry ramp work completed at Clayton

After three months of work, the entry ramps and paths into the park at Clayton have been completed.

A similar project to modernize the curb ramps was completed at Lyon Street last year, but this project has a longer curbed ramp leading into the park on the Fell Street side. The cement ramp then connects to a new, straight, pancake-flat stretch of asphalt to reach the east-west pathway.  

The work at Fell and Clayton follows the removal of a eucalyptus tree there last year. Now, the curb cuts at Baker St are the only remaining entrances into the park without the yellow-dot treatment.