Thank You Volunteers!

Big thanks to each of the 26 volunteers who came out for the first "GROW in the Park" day at Beresford Park yesterday. Our focus for the morning was the adopted beds at 28th & Fernwood.

GROW San Mateo was created as a way to facilitate community interaction. Our projects, while beneficial to the community from a beautification and sustainable landscape perspective, are designed to "GROW" our connections within community - and yesterday we accomplished that in a big way. For the first time in our short history we were joined by student volunteers - with a big group coming from Aragon High School - and a few mother/son & mother/daughter teams participating as well.

Having planted the beds & 28th & Fernwood last March, we set about to get an inventory of the plants, prune some of the old growth and replenish the soil with new layers of compost & wood chips. It's tricky working in the confined space of a bed with delicate plants & drip irrigation lines to avoid.

Five teams each owned a specific section of the beds - their first task being to inventory the existing plants. This was a great opportunity for everyone to get acquainted with all of the different varieties of plants and to see them in their winter/dormant state.

Next, old bark material was removed to make room for new compost & wood chip material. We saw lots of teamwork happening as wheelbarrows & carts trekked across the park to the maintenance yard for supplies. We're very appreciative of the support we've received from the City of San Mateo Parks & Rec Landscape Crew. Special shout-out to Ryan Zuehlsdorf, Parks & Landscape Supervisor - for the supply of compost & wood chips.

In just a few hours the beds @ 28th & Fernwood were made ready for another season of growing.

Our next event will be Saturday, March 7th. Hope to see you out there!

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