Seed Collecting

Jason and I went collecting today at the south part of the park looking for plants in the maritime chaparral. We found 2 of the 3 I was looking for: red berry and bush rue. Lemonade berry was a brilliant orange, so we couldn’t pass that up. On the way back to Willow, Mr Rattlesnake, Southern Pacfic, was laying across Bommer. See video of snake: click here. (Click any pic to enlarge)

Seed Collecting

I went seed collecting today with Jason. We collected 1-2 years worth of purple needle grass, N. pulchra, at Big Bend and near entrance. We also scored Juncus Textiles, pictured; and Juncus acutus, which was a real find as the only other source was at the end of Emerald Canyon. This looks to be a good seed collecting year: variety and quantity. LOTS of ticks and poison ivy.

Work Day #12/13: bumping up

Drew and Kellan potted 40 plants on April 5. Weeded… this get out of hand under the benching… only to have Ceanothus eaten by slugs/snails. That problem is now resolved.
Beth bumped up Dudleya into 20 give-away pots. John and Drew bumped up 70 tree-shrubs into 5 gallon pots, with 9-month slow release fertilizer and mycorrhizae inoculated. David and I fixed the plumbing bib to accommodate a 2nd line for the irrigation system.
To make it all fun, it was very hot day. 101F in the Nursery shade structure. Bette, as she does many times, supplied tasty pastries.

Work Day, 2009#11 Final!!

Today was our final Nursery work day for the 2008-9 plant year. John helped Drew and Kellan pot up the big-pod Ceanothus into 5 gallon pots (hah! we ran out of soil..). Beth and Anne weeded and got pots and trays organized for next year. Nanci worked with Robert Hamersley and wife Tina weed and clean up. Also Robert fixed the little red wagon. David also weeded. So we got the place in great shape for our next plant year, which starts in July this year.
Good news is we now have city water in both structures. Thank you Ranger Barbara and plumber Bert

Work Day, 2009#10 Bumping Up

Stephanie, Beth, Drew and John. Finished regular seed flats. This will make total plants at about 1,800 (see inventory list).

Plant Inventory 2008/9

Notes
- List is sorted by “Plant/Tree”, botanical name
- All plants are in TOLN potting soil, 9 month slow release fertilizer and mycorrhizae inoculated.
- What’s ready now: bladder pod, milk weed, CA fuchsia, Mustang mint
- The remaining plants will take at least 1 month to be ready to plant
- The tree’s will be over-summered in 5 gallon pots
- Estimate of additional plants: rose (90 more), mountain mahogany (40 more), elderberry (20 more), white sage (30 more).

Work Day, 2009#10 Bumping Up

Nanci, Linda, John, Sarah, David and try-it-out volunteer from Soka University: Megan Tan. Bumped up remainder of plants: CA rose, Monkey Flower, purple needle grass, bedding plant, elderberry, mountain mahogany, and white sage.
There is enough work for 1 more work day to bump up tree-shrubs. It will take at least another month until we can bump up the tree-shrubs to 5 gallon pots…. size of plant and/or time of year that critters don’t eat the tops of them.
We’re starting to see fungal (fungus) gnats on the seed flats. These guys promote “damping off”. Search finds that common source is over-watering.. also if you are using peat-based media, consider switching to one that only contains perlite and vermiculite. Good air circulation is also a deterrent.
The automated irrigation project is making good headway. Ranger Laura worked with Eagle scout group, which donated $600 to the Nursery for the automated irrigation system. Ranger Barbara has gotten the County work started to lay bibs to both structures.
Beth is going to do various testing on the prickly pear cactus seeds. This will save us trial-and-error. However I have not given up on flat we have.

Weather: raining during week and another storm coming. 160 gallons of rain water.