Mulching the fruit trees

Hot enough for ya? It’s surprising we didn’t hear this more on our stewardship day on May 20, 2012.  With the temperature forecast to soar to 28 degrees and a smog warning, we decided to start earlier than usual – at 8 a.m. And despite the fact that it was a long weekend, 11 committed volunteers showed up…and we had plenty to do!

It was our annual mulching day and Gro-Bark, a high quality producer of bulk organic landscape materials, generously donated 20 yards of Live Mulch to our orchard! A thick layer of quality mulch applied each year helps the trees retain moisture, prevent weeds and gives essential nutrients to our fruit trees. Gro-Bark has a selection of mulches but they said their Live Mulch application would be best for our purposes.

By the end of the Stewardship event at 11.00 a.m., we were all a little bedraggled. Some of us had weeded the pollinator garden, others mulched the trees by dragging buckets and or wheelbarrows full of mulch across the park. The park now looks great! And the job will be continued this Wednesday, 23 May at 6 p.m. when we will use the remaining mulch on our pollinator garden. Come and join us if you can!

Usually, when we pose for our end of stewardship picture, we say “cheese”. This time, with the energy that remained after 3 hours of wonderful hard work we said something else:  “Thank you Gro-Bark!”

Alex and Terry pose with their new Ben Nobleman Park T-shirts

The Stewardship Team