There is nothing like spending an afternoon planting pansies on the commons. Really. My first day of Beautification Brigade was yesterday, and I couldn't be more excited!!! We were filling the flower beds on State Street with pansies. Unfortunately, the flower beds we somewhat destroyed. The wood is deteriorating, and the soil is matted with roots from the tree center piece. Most of our work consisted of digging up and churning the soil that was in flower bed until it was acceptable for the new flowers. The pansies that we planted were not yet bloomed, so right now it looks like a bunch of leaves in the flower beds. Very soon they will be bloomed and colorful though! One of the best parts of Beautification Brigade is working with other community members that are passionate about gardening and beautifyng the city. I had some great conversations with the other volunteers. Also, people walking by always comment on our work and that makes it very rewarding. The comments usually span from thank you so much, this is great! to what organization is this for? But I would have to say that my favorite comment of the night was when a guy walked by, looked at me, and said: daayyuummmm girl, you too pretty to be digging in dat dirt. Highlight of my night right there. Honestly though Beautification Brigade is a really fun volunteer opportunity for me where I can learn about gardening and plants and also be outside.
Today was my internship. First, Mr.Fernandez asked me to do some research on strawberries. I had to look up a few different kinds: Wendy, Honeoyo, Hecker and Allstar. One interesting fact I learned about strawberries is that there are two main types. June bearing and day neutral. As far as I know, June bearing types produce one large crop, while day nuetral continues to produce fruit continually through out the season. Then I helped Mr.Fernandez sort out his old landscaping catalogs. Not too exciting, but I am grateful for the experience!
After school there was an NHS meeting. The group wants to do some sort of a community project. With not much input, I was elected to spear head the project. Yikes!! But thats okay, the more gardening the merrier. Ideally, the group would like to get a space approved by the Mr.Mills and plant a garden on school grounds. So right now I will be looking into getting that worked out. If all else fails, but I get a space with the Ithaca Childrens Garden, then I can have them help me plant. We will see!
Other things to look forward to: College visit this weekend to Boston University! woo My birthday is on Tuesday!! wooo Shadowing Trish from Tetra Tech on next Thursday!! woooo Compost class tomorrow!! wooo
I'm so tired. When will life slow down?!?!
Your Wise-scaping Journal is fantastic Jackie !
ReplyDeleteIf you have time tomorrow I'll help you measure the dimensions of the hexagonal planting area. I ordered 6 stone benches from Finger Lakes Quarry.
The overhead size of each bench(for your sketch) will be 48" x 18" spaced equidistantly around the perimeter of the hexagon.
Ask Mr. Fernandez about resilient, woody & herbaceous ornamentals, ones that can be inadvertently side-swiped or stepped on. It might be best to include more homogeneous textures with a few varieties such Euonymous creepers that can recover from a trampling more easily than azaleas and/or rhododendrons. Lower growing ornamental grasses can also take traffic. He'll have lots of ideas as well as compatible texture, profile and color schemes once you show the layout around the central maple.
It might be best not to fill up that space, but to leave corridors where students can pass around plants, not over or through them.