GROW San Mateo

Have you noticed any of these in the park recently? The move away from RoundUp in the park was certainly a positive move toward more sustainable landscaping practices and we've been slowly chipping away at cleaning up the landscaped beds, but the weeds received an extra drink from the unexpected (but welcomed) May showers. The plan is to meet early on Saturday morning - 8am - so that folks will have plenty of time to make it up to the farmer's market and the rest of their Saturday activities.  We'll meet at the 28th & Fernwood flower beds so we can check out how the beds are growing.  Feel free to bring a breakfast snack - word is that the positive response to the breakfast burritos will see them back again. Please bring your favorite weeding tool and a kneeling mat/pad if you have one. In terms of future events, Mike Blondino and Mark Cooper from City Parks & Rec are looking to source free wood chips from local arborists which will greatly help retain m

A huge thank you to everyone who participated in the Beresford Park Plant It Day:  Renee, Howard, Phuong, Greg, Jo Ann, Amy, Susan, Jackie, Rita.  135 plants in 3 hours - well done! Greg & Howard took on the 5 gallon "big ones".  And there's a rumor that the left bed had a particularly hard soil composition than the other beds: Howard, Renee & Jo Ann - thanks for your tenacity.  It was fun to see Amy bring her design to life.  Huge thanks to Phuong for giving our most novice gardener, Rita, a transplanting lesson - many plants were saved as a result.  Susan & Jackie -thanks for helping to bring the right bed to life! Three weeks ago we started by moving a dump truck full of dirt out of the beds in what turned into a two day wheelbarrow relay.  A week later we wrestled with reused cardboard and moved 5 cubic yards of compost and 8 cubic yards of wood chips back into the beds.  Now with Plant It Day behind us, the transformation is complete.    You did it

Today we made our way over to the nursery to pick up all the plants that will find a new home in the Beresford Park flower beds this weekend.  It was sure nice to have the guys help us unload.  16 different plant varieties and 135 plants in total.  Very exciting!   Pictured:  Ernie, Ron & Greg of Parks & Rec. & Amy, a Grow San Mateo volunteer Plant It Day is this Saturday, May 4th.  Looking forward to seeing everyone out at the flower beds.