Saturday, December 29, 2007

Bumping up 2007-8/#5

Sarah, David and John came by and we continued to bump up and we fixed existing pots. Our plant numbers are at 125% of our goal of 1,100. We would have finished off our list, but a few plants just we not ready. We probably won’t have our final plants ready until a few weeks. David again graciously volunteered to come by and check on things over the next few weeks.
We started this work day later in the day to account for the continued frosty weather; and low-and-behold everyone was very happy about starting later. mmmmm this only took me 4 years to figure out! The seed flats had been under the frost cloth for 2 weeks, and they looked AOK. This looks to be promising technique. (Click any pic to enlarge)

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Frozen Work Day

The Seed flats were frozen, so no “bumping up” to containers was done. Paul, Nanci, Sarah and Ranger Barbara came by. We covered the seed flats with frost cloth, after they had thawed out. According to Ranger Barbara there’s been frost for the past few days. So until the weather breaks, the seed flats will remain covered. We did a mini-restoration in drainage ditch with about 30 mule-fat sticks. (Click any pic to enlarge)

Saturday, December 01, 2007

Bumping up 2007-8/#4

Volunteers today were Sarah, Nanci, John, Paul and David. We bumped up 106% of plant goal, a total of 1,170 restoration plants. These container plants are put in potting soil from Tree of Life Nursery, have slow release Scotts Ocmocote fertilizer added, and are mycorrhizae inoculated. The Nursery is filled with plants for park restoration. See slideshow for more pictures. (Click any pic to enlarge)
The Dec 8 work day was cancelled. How come? Two species have taken longer to mature, and once we bump them up, we're essentially done: Monkey Flower, Mimulus aurantiacus, and Spiny Rush, Juncus acutus. Not included in the restoration count are the 350+ "other" plants we've done.
This may be our most bountiful year, but is unquestionably the record time: 3 months. The work days have been fun and "work" I look forward to. I am reminded that I work best with competent people.

I’m waiting for the frost cloth to get here (long story), as the temperatures in Aliso Viejo are in the 40’s, which means the Nursery is in the 30’s.