Garden Plans Moving Forward Fast

I arrived at the garden on Friday at about 2:15pm and found the soil around most of the plants to be pretty darn moist. The curly willow tree that had seemed to be dead or dying on my last visit had about 10 new green leaves on every branch (crisis averted!). Since I was there I watered anyway--but because the plants didn't need as much water as usual I was finished in the record time of 1 and 1/2 hours. It normally takes 3 hours to water the plants.


I was happy to notice that the playground on the west side of the yard had been completely removed. There was a yellow caution ribbon stretched across that side of the yard and two men were filling up the holes in the pavement where the swing sets and jungle gyms had been anchored. I wanted to say, "hey wait, we want to get rid of the asphalt and put in plants", but I guess with holes all over the place the "slip and fall" lawyers might end up having a field day.

Another development is that committee member, and professional landscaper, Susan Welti drew up some gorgeous plans for the New York Restoration Project to follow when they plant the 33 trees which should be happening in the next two months. At last Wednesday's meeting, when the plans were presented, members also discussed drip irrigation systems, the care that the new trees will need (a lot of water for one thing), and the information that Helen will need for the Lowe's grant application she's writing--for an irrigation system.

In addition Rebecca met with the architect in charge of the Bard building expansion to make sure the garden plans did not conflict, and Tim contacted Liz Poreba, the advisor of the BHSEC ECO Club. We now have two student liaisons to help us plan future garden activities and care.

All in all an amazing amount of forward movement has occurred since last spring. The garden was beautiful this summer, and it will go on. I can't wait to see what it looks like next year.

I'll end this post with pictures of the squirrels eating lunch in the yard, the place where the playground used to be, and some early autumn beauty from our asphalt jungle.