Maintenance

End of winter check

Check for snowplow damage.  Consult with the custodian if necessary.

Remove marker poles.

Spring cleaning

The goal is to repair damage, thin out the leaf litter, and tidy up.  Native woodland plants can emerge from under old leaves, but this garden receives excess leaves because in fall school staff blow leaves from the lawn into the garden.  The goal is to thin out the leaves by hand (no rakes!) so plants can emerge.  Leave some old leaves for nourishment, protection from erosion, and preservation of soil moisture.  Try to minimize trampling of the garden.  (There are some black plastic "stepping stones" in the middle of the garden.)  In order...

• Temporarily mark with poles sensitive plants so they aren't stepped on (bloodroot, woodland phlox, trillium, woodland poppy)
• Remove fallen branches, twigs, and trash.  Place on terrace for collection.
• Thin leaf litter.  Move it to compost pile in bushes downhill to the left.
• Clip old stalks and stems (for tidy appearance)
• Trim dead growth of Pennsylvania sedge with hand shears (appearance)
• Clean out/repair drainage channels
• Evaluate if plantings from previous year survived
• Fill in holes if plants were removed last year
• Look for and repair any erosion in the big downhill berm
• Repair any rock borders damaged by plows

Weeding

Can be done anytime sufficient labor is available.  Since weeds are hard for inexperienced volunteers to identify, have each person specialize in one weed species.  Have them put the weeds in a small container, then check on them to make sure no mistakes.

• Woody plants--tree saplings.  Highest priority.  Pull up by roots or apply roundup to cut stem.
• Dandelion--large, easy to identify and to remove, so is a priority.
• Carrot-like weed with fuzzy foliage.  Can get quite large, so is a priority.
• Creeping Charlie--use an old fork to pull up runners.  Hard to eliminate, so not a priority, except in woodland phlox clumps.

Adding new plants

We try to add new species when we can get leftovers from other people's gardens.  Many leftovers come from my own shade garden.  These usually go to the bare areas uphill and next to the school building.  In 2023, we added about 70 plants--more than half survived.

Needed: Trillium.  Woodland poppy.  Bellwort.  Redbud saplings (tree).  Dutchman's breeches.  Woodland phlox.  Maidenhair fern.  Hepatica.

Watering during droughts

You'd think rain gardens would require water-loving plants, but unless the garden is in a low and wet area, this isn't true.  Our garden--in an upland area--can get very dry, so many of the plants in our garden are drought-resistant.  Nevertheless, the garden does require watering if there's a prolonged drought.  If new plants have been put into the ground, then daily watering is required for several weeks, and especially during drought.  You need a "key" to turn on the water at the uphill spigot.

Keep out the jumping worms!

Jumping worms are an invasive species spread by putting in new plants or dirty tools.  You can recognize them because they are smaller than the common night crawlers, and they writhe violently when exposed.  Our garden does not have jumping worms yet, but they have infested the compost pile in the bushes nearby behind the school.  So don't use compost from that pile.  And if you bring in new plants from gardens that are infested (or you don't know the garden), clean soil off the roots first and soak the roots for half a day.

Winter preps

The biggest threat to the garden is damage from plows.

• Place marking poles around all edges of garden.  At least 11 are needed.
• Evaluate if any new additions to garden are vulnerable.  Mark, move back, or consult with school staff.  The staff ask for 7-8 feet clear of obstacles behind the walkways they clear of snow.

Damage to the upper garden from a snowplow, Jan. 29, 2013.