Garden in the Parks Field Day at North Park

Saturday, August 16 was a festive day at North Park.  Allegheny County Penn State Master Gardeners organizes this fun and educational day annually.

The flower gardens were in full bloom and the potato bed was ready to dig. Free ice cream was a big attraction, as always. The tomato tasting table created a line too. Plant Q&A by the master gardeners was a great idea. I asked about my viburnum’s eaten leaves (it turns out the pest is viburnum leaf beetle). I got a Lyme disease brochure. Many native plants were for sale, which were hard to resist.

There were other tables and tents of environmental organizations, and Pittsburgh Sakura Project was one of them! Many people stopped by and asked about us. We had 2 volunteers, Alexandra and Frederica who were good at talking to people. They even attracted a woman who made a donation! People admire our project and many promised to come to the planting day on November 8.

Volunteers: Alexandra and Frederica

Board Members: Reiko and Yoko

Free ice cream (I did not pay attention to which organization was offering)

Mulching Day on August 14, 2014

When I got there, mulch was already delivered. The mound was steaming against the sun. Donnie, manager of North Park, and I took out buckets and shovels from the storage and started to work. Donnie brought a can of white paint and marked where mulch should be applied. One of the reasons for today’s mulching was to make some islands to bundle a few trees together so that the lawnmower doesn’t knock down the stakes and trees. Donnie also removed weathered “caution tape” from the stakes, improving the landscape.

Around 9 o’clock volunteers arrived. We worked with 2 wheelbarrows and 5 buckets and shovels. We worked hard, and the mulch mound was used up around 11, as expected. Reiko wanted to mulch the memorial tree near the boathouse, so we brought 5 buckets of mulch there. Barbara rushed over after a red eye flight, arriving too late for the mulch spreading. But there was another job:  she and others pulled and dug out the stakes where dead pines had been removed. They struggled with some stubborn stakes, but all looked very clean after the removal. Hard work prevailed. Thank you all!

Volunteers: Loren and son Alex, Fumie, Takuma, Ritsu, Takako

Board Members: Reiko, Atsumi, Barbara and Yoko

Weeding Work Party Sunday Afternoon:
The young trees we planted in past years need weeding. The ground is moist, but not terribly muddy, so it’s the perfect season for weeding! We also need to cut down 2 pine trees that did not make it. Please come work with us.

Time: Sunday June 29 2-4pm
Place: On the slope above the Latrobe shelter
Bring: Your own weeding tools, gloves and water bottle.

Please let us know if you will attend (see Contact Us, under the About Us tab).