Sequoia Park Garden Eureka, California
~ Getting Started ~ The Challenge
Garden quad near wishing well ~ our project
We didn't start out looking for a project, our lives are pretty full already. We went to the Sequoia Park Zoo Snackbar for lunch on March 25th (Thursday) then walked though the gardens before we left. We were shocked at the bare ground and the lack of color. We began discussing what had happened and what we could do to help.
We decided we would volunteer to do the four quad areas around the wishing well. They looked like the easiest for two amateur gardeners. Next we called the zoo regarding our idea and we were referred to the parks director, Tom. Happily, Tom was very enthused and encouraging. After he asked what we had in mind we outlined the type of flowers and how we would lay them out in the gardens. We felt quite a few of the rocks in the rock garden needed to be dug out and placed above the soil again. New rock garden plants would be planted amongst them.
Tom said they would really welcome the help and told us to pick up the volunteer forms at their office. He told us very frankly the Eureka Parks would only be able to provide us with hoses, water and soil. We would need to do the rest on our own. We are "can do" people so we are up to the challenge.
One of the most difficult tasks was to figure how many plants and what type. We measured and drew garden plans detailing the flowers, inches apart to plant and flower height. The least amount we would need for each quarter would be 15 large pony packs (6 to a pack: so 90 plants per quarter). We priced the packs and figured the total flower cost would be aproximately 35 dollars per quarter or around $140.00.
We have decided to ask the nurseries and stores in the area for a donation of five large pony packs or two larger plants (approximately $12.00 per store) During these hard economic times we didn't want to stress the budget of the stores with a large donation.... We feel the response will be positive as it is a much loved garden we are trying to restore.
So..... That's where we are .... tomorrow we are going over to the garden to dig and arrange the rocks. We would have done it today but one of our goats kidded triplets. One of them was weak and it took us most of the afternoon to get it stablized.... (three more are pregnant... cross your fingers)
We decided we would volunteer to do the four quad areas around the wishing well. They looked like the easiest for two amateur gardeners. Next we called the zoo regarding our idea and we were referred to the parks director, Tom. Happily, Tom was very enthused and encouraging. After he asked what we had in mind we outlined the type of flowers and how we would lay them out in the gardens. We felt quite a few of the rocks in the rock garden needed to be dug out and placed above the soil again. New rock garden plants would be planted amongst them.
Tom said they would really welcome the help and told us to pick up the volunteer forms at their office. He told us very frankly the Eureka Parks would only be able to provide us with hoses, water and soil. We would need to do the rest on our own. We are "can do" people so we are up to the challenge.
One of the most difficult tasks was to figure how many plants and what type. We measured and drew garden plans detailing the flowers, inches apart to plant and flower height. The least amount we would need for each quarter would be 15 large pony packs (6 to a pack: so 90 plants per quarter). We priced the packs and figured the total flower cost would be aproximately 35 dollars per quarter or around $140.00.
We have decided to ask the nurseries and stores in the area for a donation of five large pony packs or two larger plants (approximately $12.00 per store) During these hard economic times we didn't want to stress the budget of the stores with a large donation.... We feel the response will be positive as it is a much loved garden we are trying to restore.
So..... That's where we are .... tomorrow we are going over to the garden to dig and arrange the rocks. We would have done it today but one of our goats kidded triplets. One of them was weak and it took us most of the afternoon to get it stablized.... (three more are pregnant... cross your fingers)
Asking for donations...
Sunday, March 28th, 2010
I am horrible at asking for donations. Period. I am so terrible that when our daughters were in school and I was tasked with requesting donations; I would buy the items myself rather than calling people.
We agonized on the best way to ask for flower donations: we decided to write a letter outlining who we are, what we want to achieve and the donations requested. On the back of the letter we did a drawing that showed the flowerbeds, number and size of plants, and the website so people can refer to it. It was our hope that people would see we do have a "plan" so their donations would not be wasted. We printed the letters front and back and put them into envelopes.
We drove into town and delivered them to 14 local stores and nurseries. Some places were closed so we left the envelopes at their doors. The managers were not available at the stores that were open. We are hoping for telephone calls tomorrow with donations. (update: Kathy @ Sherwood called and gave me some great advice on the rock garden, offered her huge wheelbarrel and offered some flowers.... I'm so happy!!! ..... waiting for other calls ..... or I'll have to make the dreaded solicitation calls...... ) Rite Aid called also.... they said to come by and I can pick out $25.00 of whatever I need.... Hooray! Nilson's Feed left a message on my Cell phone ..... they actually had flowers brought in from their ferndale store... Also, Piersons called with a generous donation.... Huge smiles here!!!
The ongoing expense of fertilizer and slug killer is of concern. We are going to post a request on Craigs list to see if we can get a response. We actually got some free bluebells on Craigs list from a lady named Ruth, for this project. Small world: it comes out her aunt, Luva Wendt, donated dahlias to the park and she knew quite a bit about them. She e-mailed us later to explain the care of dahlias. Apparently they need to be dug up periodically and separated then replanted. We hope to do this after the flower beds are planted. First we'll do what we committed to do.... then we'll branch out....
I am horrible at asking for donations. Period. I am so terrible that when our daughters were in school and I was tasked with requesting donations; I would buy the items myself rather than calling people.
We agonized on the best way to ask for flower donations: we decided to write a letter outlining who we are, what we want to achieve and the donations requested. On the back of the letter we did a drawing that showed the flowerbeds, number and size of plants, and the website so people can refer to it. It was our hope that people would see we do have a "plan" so their donations would not be wasted. We printed the letters front and back and put them into envelopes.
We drove into town and delivered them to 14 local stores and nurseries. Some places were closed so we left the envelopes at their doors. The managers were not available at the stores that were open. We are hoping for telephone calls tomorrow with donations. (update: Kathy @ Sherwood called and gave me some great advice on the rock garden, offered her huge wheelbarrel and offered some flowers.... I'm so happy!!! ..... waiting for other calls ..... or I'll have to make the dreaded solicitation calls...... ) Rite Aid called also.... they said to come by and I can pick out $25.00 of whatever I need.... Hooray! Nilson's Feed left a message on my Cell phone ..... they actually had flowers brought in from their ferndale store... Also, Piersons called with a generous donation.... Huge smiles here!!!
The ongoing expense of fertilizer and slug killer is of concern. We are going to post a request on Craigs list to see if we can get a response. We actually got some free bluebells on Craigs list from a lady named Ruth, for this project. Small world: it comes out her aunt, Luva Wendt, donated dahlias to the park and she knew quite a bit about them. She e-mailed us later to explain the care of dahlias. Apparently they need to be dug up periodically and separated then replanted. We hope to do this after the flower beds are planted. First we'll do what we committed to do.... then we'll branch out....
Day one ~ cleaning up the flower beds..
Monday, March 29, 2010
David had appointments so I worked on the flower beds by myself. It was a good long day of work: about 5 hours. It poured rain most of the day so I got completely soaked. My mom and dad stopped by: Mom was afraid I would get a cold from being wet. I told her I've had worse taking care of the goats and I didn't get a cold. Still, she was concerned and wanted me to take her coat.. Then my dad wanted me to take his coat. I really must have looked like a drowned rat. They are going to come again later this week. My mom is pretty good at coordinating plant colors so hopefully she can help me with that.
I finished one flower bed: The soil had been sprayed with a weed and seed inhibitor. Before we could plant we needed to take the top two to three inches off. So I stripped off the top soil and took it by wheelbarrels full to the parks department. Then I got the soil worked up, put a layer of Zoo Poo (recycled compost ), dug up, cleaned and rearranged the rock border. It looked pretty good. I was disappointed that I hadn't done more but each element took quite a while. There is always tomorrow. When I was finishing up around 4:30 the weather cleared.... I was covered with mud but at least something was accomplished! And I didn't have to drive home in the rain.
David had appointments so I worked on the flower beds by myself. It was a good long day of work: about 5 hours. It poured rain most of the day so I got completely soaked. My mom and dad stopped by: Mom was afraid I would get a cold from being wet. I told her I've had worse taking care of the goats and I didn't get a cold. Still, she was concerned and wanted me to take her coat.. Then my dad wanted me to take his coat. I really must have looked like a drowned rat. They are going to come again later this week. My mom is pretty good at coordinating plant colors so hopefully she can help me with that.
I finished one flower bed: The soil had been sprayed with a weed and seed inhibitor. Before we could plant we needed to take the top two to three inches off. So I stripped off the top soil and took it by wheelbarrels full to the parks department. Then I got the soil worked up, put a layer of Zoo Poo (recycled compost ), dug up, cleaned and rearranged the rock border. It looked pretty good. I was disappointed that I hadn't done more but each element took quite a while. There is always tomorrow. When I was finishing up around 4:30 the weather cleared.... I was covered with mud but at least something was accomplished! And I didn't have to drive home in the rain.
Bench at the end of the path ~ we'll clean this up...
MOVING FORWARD....
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
We took our huge two wheel wheel barrel into the gardens today. We'll leave it and use it. The parks department had one but I'm a really wobbly wheeler and I had a terrible time using it. We picked up some of the flowers from stores. Too late to catch all of them. I do have to make calls (picture sad face here) and follow up on people who didn't respond. I'm definitely not a smooth talker so they have to patiently wait while I stutter through what I am saying.
The hardest thing is keeping organized so that all of the levels of flowers are purchased. I have to check them off as I get them and keep the colors coordinated. We have four beds to plant so we are making them different color schemes. Yellow/orange/red. Purple/pink/yellow. Maroon/yellow/white. Plus a cottage garden that will have a mixture of flower colors. Not all pony packs are one color so we are doing the cottage garden so we don't waste any of our generous donations.
We went to dinner last night with my parents. When we got home we went out to check the goats and found one was getting ready to kid. We ran to the house for supplies and when we got back two were getting ready! It was freezing in the barn! We finally brought out a portable heater to defrost our hands and noses. But.... soon we turned the warm air to the new, wet kids. So we have three new kids! One goat had twins and the other had an absolutely enormous buck. So lucky we were there as she could not have kidded it herself. He is one of the biggest we have ever seen. We got everyone situated with heating pads and took care of the moms. We finally got into the house at 2:30 AM and went to bed around 3 after we put our wet, muddy clothes into the washer. We have one more goat to kid so we got up at 6:30 AM to check her.... she was fine but looked annoyed with us.... to bed until 8:30....
Back to the garden:..... this morning I am finishing the dreaded solitation calls. I found everyone was very nice .... some were prevented from contributing by their corporation but they are going to submit our letter to see if they might be able to donate later. We are picking up flowers and getting to the gardens to work up the beds. Hopefully we'll plant and finish them by tomorrow night. Crossing fingers for no rain... that would be lovely. But.... we'll be there rain or shine! Looking forward to seeing how beautiful this will be in a month when the flowers get their growth and blossoms .... maybe people will get married by the wishing well again! ! ! (Thinking good thoughts for this!!)
We took our huge two wheel wheel barrel into the gardens today. We'll leave it and use it. The parks department had one but I'm a really wobbly wheeler and I had a terrible time using it. We picked up some of the flowers from stores. Too late to catch all of them. I do have to make calls (picture sad face here) and follow up on people who didn't respond. I'm definitely not a smooth talker so they have to patiently wait while I stutter through what I am saying.
The hardest thing is keeping organized so that all of the levels of flowers are purchased. I have to check them off as I get them and keep the colors coordinated. We have four beds to plant so we are making them different color schemes. Yellow/orange/red. Purple/pink/yellow. Maroon/yellow/white. Plus a cottage garden that will have a mixture of flower colors. Not all pony packs are one color so we are doing the cottage garden so we don't waste any of our generous donations.
We went to dinner last night with my parents. When we got home we went out to check the goats and found one was getting ready to kid. We ran to the house for supplies and when we got back two were getting ready! It was freezing in the barn! We finally brought out a portable heater to defrost our hands and noses. But.... soon we turned the warm air to the new, wet kids. So we have three new kids! One goat had twins and the other had an absolutely enormous buck. So lucky we were there as she could not have kidded it herself. He is one of the biggest we have ever seen. We got everyone situated with heating pads and took care of the moms. We finally got into the house at 2:30 AM and went to bed around 3 after we put our wet, muddy clothes into the washer. We have one more goat to kid so we got up at 6:30 AM to check her.... she was fine but looked annoyed with us.... to bed until 8:30....
Back to the garden:..... this morning I am finishing the dreaded solitation calls. I found everyone was very nice .... some were prevented from contributing by their corporation but they are going to submit our letter to see if they might be able to donate later. We are picking up flowers and getting to the gardens to work up the beds. Hopefully we'll plant and finish them by tomorrow night. Crossing fingers for no rain... that would be lovely. But.... we'll be there rain or shine! Looking forward to seeing how beautiful this will be in a month when the flowers get their growth and blossoms .... maybe people will get married by the wishing well again! ! ! (Thinking good thoughts for this!!)
Preparing the flower beds
Wednesday March 31th 2010
David and I picked up flowers from the contributers today. We feel like we have a majority of flowers to start. We need to buy alyssums in white and purple. Alyssums come in different colors in seeds so we may get some in yellow or apricot colors later ... They would fill in nicely as the others are fading out.
Today we worked the soil on the last three gardens. We took out the top three inches of soil and put it into the bin in the back area. Then we took out all of the rocks, cleaned them and restacked them. They were buried and their beauty was hidden. We are so happy with how great they look now. Tomorrow we'll be putting in the top soil and planting. All four of the quads will be finished by tomorrow night. We are going to plant some daffodil bulbs and some of the gladiola bulbs. Next spring we should have freesia, daffodils, gladiolas and ranuculous.
Our new baby goats are doing well. The last goat still hasn't kidded. We continue checking her every 4 hours but so far no babies and we are annoying the heck out of her by waking her up. We would love her to kid at a convenient time: maybe before midnight or at 9 in the morning but goats don't work like that..... they choose the most difficult time and place to kid. We know that: and know it will be in the middle of the night in a snow storm :)
David and I picked up flowers from the contributers today. We feel like we have a majority of flowers to start. We need to buy alyssums in white and purple. Alyssums come in different colors in seeds so we may get some in yellow or apricot colors later ... They would fill in nicely as the others are fading out.
Today we worked the soil on the last three gardens. We took out the top three inches of soil and put it into the bin in the back area. Then we took out all of the rocks, cleaned them and restacked them. They were buried and their beauty was hidden. We are so happy with how great they look now. Tomorrow we'll be putting in the top soil and planting. All four of the quads will be finished by tomorrow night. We are going to plant some daffodil bulbs and some of the gladiola bulbs. Next spring we should have freesia, daffodils, gladiolas and ranuculous.
Our new baby goats are doing well. The last goat still hasn't kidded. We continue checking her every 4 hours but so far no babies and we are annoying the heck out of her by waking her up. We would love her to kid at a convenient time: maybe before midnight or at 9 in the morning but goats don't work like that..... they choose the most difficult time and place to kid. We know that: and know it will be in the middle of the night in a snow storm :)
Day four ~ Still clearing the beds
Thursday April 1, 2010
David, Erin and I started in to town to do the gardening. As we passed the small barn in the driveway we saw the last goat was showing signs of being in labor. Yeah, we knew the timing would be inconvenient. David and Erin went into the gardens and I stayed home to kid the goat out. She had problems and we had to call Dr Branch to pull the last one. So we have two darling little kids .... I do have to say it's always nice to see Dr Branch. He's low key and fun to talk to. He always has amusing stories and interesting insight into things...
David and Erin almost finished the garden beds. Tomorrow (sadly a day behind our original schedule) we will plant. It will be great to get it done. Really too bad I missed this day of gardening as the weather was sunny and brisk. No telling what the weather will be tomorrow...
David, Erin and I started in to town to do the gardening. As we passed the small barn in the driveway we saw the last goat was showing signs of being in labor. Yeah, we knew the timing would be inconvenient. David and Erin went into the gardens and I stayed home to kid the goat out. She had problems and we had to call Dr Branch to pull the last one. So we have two darling little kids .... I do have to say it's always nice to see Dr Branch. He's low key and fun to talk to. He always has amusing stories and interesting insight into things...
David and Erin almost finished the garden beds. Tomorrow (sadly a day behind our original schedule) we will plant. It will be great to get it done. Really too bad I missed this day of gardening as the weather was sunny and brisk. No telling what the weather will be tomorrow...
Pictured on April 1, 2010
The flower beds: rocks dug out, restacked and new soil in: it's been raining here!!
April 1, 2010
The flower bed quad... waiting to be raked & planted. We cleaned the pathways
