June 25: Work Day Report

Last Saturday we made significant progress in the garden. Another 30 folks came out to help--including Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells, who paid a visit en route to his Ward 6 Family Fun Day at the Yards Park. Alicia Aleman got some video of the councilmember hard at work:

Since the trees and grass seed were planted at our first work day, Saturday's focus was on the swales, which were doing their job too well and holding on to the rain water. First we mixed in some sand to make the soil more porous. Then we leveled everything out to try to prevent puddling at the ends.

Brian Dalton mixes sand into a swale.

Meanwhile other volunteers laid rocks around the edges of the mounds. It really helped tie things together aesthetically, but really the rocks are there to hold filter fabric in place under the gravel walkways. Two birds with one (or a few hundred) stones, if you will.

Then we split into teams and laid the filter fabric along the walkways, and covered it with gravel. The existing surface of the site is rock, broken concrete and brick, and miscellaneous material. It's not easy to walk on, or very pretty to look at, hence the gravel over top. But if we just put the gravel straight on, it would sift to the bottom and the larger ugly material would rise to the top--think of a box of cereal.

ANC commish David Garber orders Councilmember Wells around.

We got partway through installing the walkways before calling it a day. But there is still work to be done! Please join us this Thursday evening, from 5 to 8 pm, as we finish up these walkways and tidy up. We hope to toast our accomplishment with celebratory food. If you can help, with a pizza donation, a grill, or in another way, please let us know!

A Note About the Maintenance

Some of the trees are looking pretty sad, we know. It's been hot and dry, especially the first week after they were planted (the most critical time). Surfrider has hired Chapel Valley to water everything three times a week, and at last check we think 4 of the 5 damaged trees will bounce back. We're keeping an eye on the fifth one, and may remove it or replace it.

The grass on the berms is coming in nicely, and the swales will be planted with wildflower seed mix this week. Those should both need little maintenance apart from watering.

It is a little ironic to hire a watering company for a rain garden. Typical DC summer weather--with regular afternoon thunderstorms--will hopefully return soon and take care of things for us. If you're in the neighborhood and have any questions or concerns about how things are looking, please feel free to email us.