The 2010 Bard Yard--Lush and Elegant

I went to water last week and the stars must have been aligned because the gate to the yard was open when I got there and Kristie gave me a tour and explanation of the new sprinkler system. Kristie had drip-watered 2 or 3 of the trees while she worked in the office before I got there, so I started where she left off.

It looked as though Sonia and/or Kristie had done some weeding as well as watering since I'd peeked last Monday. A few of the trees still had some yellow leaves, but less than they did last week. The cherry tree doesn't look so great though. I gave it a good watering, but the soil around the tree looked moist before I started. Maybe the problem is that it's outgrowing it's container.

The garden looks beautiful. I loved the garden last year in all of it's patchwork of containers, but this year the new trees really pull everything together with more elegance. Here are some pictures:



I also took pictures of things in the garden I found interesting, including several to show alternate ways our trees are getting water in addition to the sprinkler system or directly from the hose.

Here is one of our TreeGators still full from last week's watering. Notice the squash-like vine behind it...

and in front of it. The theory is that these plants have sprouted from our compost.

Tim rigged up the plastic sheeting to direct more water spray from the sprinkler system to some of the tree beds. Another large viney plant has crowded into this bed.

Tim is also experimenting with these less visible screens. The automatic sprinkler spray goes right through them, but I'll bet these are helpful in directing soft to medium rainfall toward the beds.

Sonia's taking care of this plant that is growing in this crack in the curb.

I found this chewed up gourd-like thing on the ground. My guess is that it's a baby watermelon from one of the compost vines. It makes sense that watermelon seeds from a student's lunch ended up in the compost.

Here's a monster of a weed that I pulled up.

Our Trees Need Watering

I heard on the news Wednesday morning that NYC Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe and the Parks Department had put out an announcement to New Yorkers to help out by watering trees in front of their businesses and residences. I'm assuming that this announcement was spurred on by the heat and shortage of rainfall this month. In looking for this announcement on the internet I also found out that MillionTreesNYC has a tree stewardship training where you can get tools and earn a permit to work on street trees. (I think high school students who need them can also earn credits.)One of our willow trees from last year. I wonder how it's doing today?

Today I'm going to follow fellow BHSEC garden committee member Sonia's dedicated lead by going in to water the trees. Wish me luck as it'll be the first time I've gone since the new automatic sprinkler system was put in. (I hope I don't mess it up!) Both Sonia and Kristie report that the trees in the yard really need extra water and some of the trees are not getting the maximum benefit from the sprinkler system so they need even more. I noticed a smattering of trees with yellow leaves when I peeked in from the sidewalk early this week. According to Trees New York, an urban forestry organization, in hot weather trees need 15-20 gallons of water a week.

I also just spotted a post on Garden Rant about gator bags being misused to mulch, not water trees in Washington D.C. Our garden committee has many experts so I know we wouldn't make this mistake, but since I'm not an gardening expert it was interesting for me to learn that you have to be careful about how you mulch trees. Trapping mulch up against the bark can encourage disease--good to know! I also like this blog in general so I thought I would share the post here and on our blogroll.

By the way if anyone out there would like to donate some TREEGATOR bags to BHSEC...THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!