Tag Archives: pollinator garden

Pollinator Garden Reno

Finally the shagbark hickory trees get some attention in Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard! And while some of us were caring for the trees, another group were giving our pollinator garden an overhaul…(Photo Credit: Alex Kent)

What a summer it’s been! A number of the volunteers of the Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard have had some “health adventures” but does that stop the group from continuing to maintain, and transform, our beautiful park? No way!

This August Sherry took the lead in giving our pollinator garden a bit of an overhaul. It looked beautiful this year, but the Black Eyed Susans and Purple Coneflower had started to take over – so much so that you couldn’t even see the daylillies, autumn joy sedums, and our other plants and herbs.  Continue reading →

Getting into the flow

Cooling off at the harvest table

The volunteers at Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard are finally getting into the flow…of our new irrigation system that is.  We raised money for it’s installation in 2009 and it was installed in October that year. But due to various circumstances we haven’t been able to use it since then. No longer! Thanks to Tom Feeney from Parks and Recreation the system is now working perfectly. Instead of dragging buckets across the park from Lynn’s house, we’ll be stretching a hose across the park to water our 14 fruit trees and we can set  a sprinkler up near the pollinator garden to water that perennial bed.

Today was also a special day because we welcomed two wonderful new volunteers. Newcomers Hani and Michael joined our regulars: Lynn, Sherry, Susan, Cliff, Alex, Ildie (who came by for moral support), Debra and Rocko the dog (or is it Franco) who barked his encouragement from under a nearby shade tree. We completed the mulching of the pollinator garden and cut down any thistle as a way to weaken the plants. It is looking great and we’ll meet up next Sunday for more of the same.

Black Eyed Susan

So what’s up and out in the perennial bed? Black Eyed Susans are now blooming along with the Bee Balm and Daylillies. The sage is thriving and the lavender and thyme are digging in their little roots. Come and join us next Sunday for more stewardship. For more information look at our stewardship calender on this website.

The Happy Hoers (and mulchers)

The Mulching Team

Some folks pay $90 a month for a gym membership. Why waste the money when you can come to Ben Nobleman Park on a weekend morning and do some hoeing, mulching, weeding, weed bag shlepping, and other fitness activities?  Working in the orchard is great for core strength, muscle toning, cardio-fitness and other great stuff and it makes our little park look so much more beautiful. Or so says Sherry, our garden fitness trainer du jour!

After at least a month focusing on the pollinator garden, we now have some time to lavish attention on our fruit trees and the patch around the pears and plums was ripe for a serious weeding session. Instead of pulling the thistle this time, we took our Fiskar’s hoes and hoed them down making it quick and easy work and preventing the weeds from going to seed. We’ll need to do that on a regular basis. Our hope is at some point Parks and Rec will put sod down in that area, which will look great and make our work easier.

After hoeing, we used our remaining mulch, donated by Parks, Forestry and Recreation, to mulch around the fruit trees. The rings of mulch will help retain moisture around the roots of the trees and prevent weeds from popping up.

And in other news from Ben Nobleman Park: We now have evidence that pollinators have indeed found the pollinator bed. Butterflies and bees have already started fluttering around the new plants and they look happy indeed.

Pollinators have found the pollinator garden