Sunny summer work day in the garden!

Our summer work day turned out to be a big success thanks to a great turn out by members of the garden and beautiful sunny weather throughout the afternoon. Everyone pitched in and we got a lot done, including a thorough weeding of the footpaths and common area gardens, spreading new wood chips throughout the garden, repairing the compost bins and some damaged garden plots, and reorganizing the work space by the tool shed. Thanks to all who came out and lent a hand last Saturday!

After a few hours of work, we took a break for a brief meeting and to talk about some ideas for the garden. Here’s a brief rundown of what we discussed:

New Bulletin Board: The city recently installed a new bulletin board at the front of the garden. Bulletin boards are being installed at all community gardens throughout the city and are designed to serve as a spot for posting notices about the garden (left side) and the community (right side) for the neighborhood. We deliberately chose a shady spot in the front of the garden for the bulletin board so that it wouldn’t block too much sun.

Open Garden Days: The city is encouraging community gardens, especially those like ours that are locked, to look for opportunities to provide greater public access. This summer, we’re going to host Open Garden Days on the second and fourth Saturday of every month from 10am to 2pm. Volunteers are needed for 2 hour shifts during these days to welcome visitors to the garden. You’ll find a volunteer sign up sheet posted on the bulletin board on the tool shed.

Bamboo Fence: Gabriel is leading a project to construct a bamboo fence along the west side of the front of the garden to replace the damaged chain link fence in that area. The fence is based on a traditional Japanese design and will be built in the coming weeks. Marina and Darrow volunteered to help him with the construction.

Tool Shed Inventory: We’re going to do an inventory of the tool shed later this month to identify what tools we have on hand, which ones might need to be replaced, and what other supplies are needed. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Annual Garden Barbecue: We made plans to organize our annual garden barbecue and party on Saturday, September 13. Volunteers are needed to help plan and organize the event. This event is open to all and inlcudes live music, great food, and other fun in the garden! Please let me know if you are interested in helping out.

Movies in the Garden: Lynn has been exploring the idea of hosting a movie night at the garden. She has a friend who is a film collector and the idea is to show some films (cartoons and other family-friendly movies) on the outside walls of one of the buildings bordering the garden. Stay tuned for more details.

Other ideas for improving the garden: We ended the meeting by having a discussion about other ideas people had for how we can continue to improve the garden and make it a real gathering place and focal point for the neighborhood. Mang talked about a garden art project he is interested in doing at our garden his interest in plantings that attract butterflies. Other art projects like mosaic and stencil work on the walls were discussed. We also talked about hosting potlucks at the garden and organizing workshops on composting, making jam from the garden plums, and other gardening subjects. We're looking into ways to expand the garden beyond our front gate, including the idea of creating sidewalk gardens along our block of Page Street. Finally, we're interested in adding some additional sitting areas along the sides of the patio and reconfiguring the compost bins to make room for a larger upper patio and stage for performances.

Ever since the garden was saved from development a few years ago, we’ve put a lot of effort into making it an even more special place for the neighborhood. It’s undergone a wonderful transformation since then thanks to the creative energy and talent of a growing core of gardeners who have volunteered for special projects like the ones above. I’m excited about all we’ve accomplished these past few years and look forward to building on this success.

If you are interested in helping out with any of these projects or have other ideas, please let me know!

Summer Work Day Coming Up: Saturday, June 14

Mark your calendars for our next garden work day, which will take place on Saturday, June 14 from 10am to 1pm. Summer is approaching and we've got a few projects to tackle to help get the garden ready for the new season. Join us on the 14th to help with weeding, repairing some of the garden plots, spreading another layer of wood chips on the footpaths, and some work on the compost bins.

Everyone is encouraged to come to each work day, but please keep in mind that all gardeners are required to help out on at least one work day every year.

I hope to see you at the garden on the 14th!

Community Hero Honored: Barbara Wenger

A couple of weekends ago I attended a very inspiring event organized by the Chrissy Field Center to recognize Bay Area residents who have worked to improve their local environment. Among the Community Heroes honored this year was Barbara Wenger, a longtime neighborhood activist who founded the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group and headed up the effort to clean up Koshland Park right down the street from our garden.

In the 1990s, Koshland Park was a magnet for drug dealing and prostitution in the Lower Haight. Barbara volunteered to lead a committee to reclaim the park for the community. She organized a "Take Back Your Park Day" and the response from the neighborhood was tremendous. Hundreds of neighbors turned out and spent the day removing trash and other debris from the park and began working to restore it as a safe place for kids to play.

Today, Koshland Park has a new playground, beautiful landscaping, and a vibrant community garden that serves as an outdoor classroom for children at nearby John Muir Elementary School. Check out the video posted below and you'll be amazed at how this organizing effort transformed a derelict park into neighborhood jewel.



The Hayes Valley Neighborhood Parks Group has restored play structures, replanted three parks, rejuvenated two community gardens, and enriched the neighborhood with art projects, including the Peace Wall that surrounds Koshland Park.

The work of Barbara and all of those who came together to restore Koshland and the other nearby green spaces has made such a difference in our neighborhood. It inspires me to continue working to improve our garden and to look for more opportunities to build community and beautify the neighborhood.

Gabriel and I have been tossing around a few project ideas for extending our gardening efforts beyond the Page Street Garden's front gate. Stay tuned for more details and to find out how you can get involved.

John Muir School gardening project on Saturday

This Saturday, April 26th, from 9am to 4pm, volunteers will be working to help beautify the area around John Muir Elementary School. The school has received a grant from Rebuilding Together SF to plant new California native plants in the garden along the Webster Street side of the building and to repair some of the planter boxes for the trees that surround the school on Page and Webster Streets. You can help support this effort by lending a hand for a couple of hours on Saturday.

As you may recall from the Spring workday announcements, a group of Page Street gardeners had begun working with the Tse Chen Ling Buddhist Center to raise money to replace the planter boxes for each of the trees surrounding the elementary school. But then I learned recently that a similar project was already in the works with Rebuilding Together SF and scheduled for this Saturday.

This is a great opportunity to help support John Muir Elementary and to improve the garden used by educators to introduce young students to nature and gardening. The volunteer crew will be working most of the day, but if you have a couple of hours to spare, be sure to stop by.

Spring work day update

Chancellor and Lynn plant a protea and some succulents in a new wine barrel planter in front of the garden.

If there's one thing you can count on in San Francisco, it's that the weather forecast will be wrong.

Despite earlier concerns about rain, Saturday turned out to be nice after all and we ended up having a very productive workday. Thanks to Brent, Celeste, Chancellor, June, Kevin, Lynn, Michael L., Stephanie, and Zo for helping to get the garden in good shape. We spent the morning weeding the footpaths and some of the common area garden plots, spreading new woodchips throughout the garden, and planting some new plants in the succulent garden and in another wine barrel planter out front.

After a couple of hours of work, we took a break for lunch and to have a brief meeting. Here are a few garden reminders and updates we discussed:

Regularly weed around your plot: Gardeners are expected to keep the area around the front, back, and sides of their plots free of weeds. Be sure to keep this area weeded throughout the year, including the winter.

Keep invasive weeds out of the compost: You can compost most garden waste in our compost bins, but there are three invasive weeds that should stay put of the bins: oxallys with yellow flowers, knot weed (sometimes called "sticky weed"), and crab grass. You'll find pictures of all three weeds on top of the compost bin. These three weeds should go in the green city compost trash can instead.

Hang front lock on the trellis: To help prevent the front lock from being stolen or lost, please hang it on the trellis when you enter the garden. The lock has been stolen a number of times when it has been left unlocked by the front gate.

Check with Michael about planting in common area gardens: Over the past few years, we've spent a lot of time trying to improve the common area gardens by slecting plants that are appropriate for each location. If you have a plant that you'd like to move out of your plot, please check in with me first to see if it might be approproate for one of the common area gardens.

Respect your neighbor's plot: A few gardeners have reported that produce has been removed from their plots. Some gardeners have taken it upon themselves to weed their neighbor's plot when weeds have gotten overgrown. Please refrain from disturbing anyone else's plot unless you've made arrangements with them to help them maintain it. We'll update the garden plot map tacked on the inside toolshed door with phone numbers in case you need to contact your garden neighbor about any issues that may arise.

Clean tools before putting them away: Please remove any dirt from the tools you use before putting them away in the toolshed.

Help maintain the garden hose: Be sure the yellow valve on the hose is open when you turn off the faucet so all the water can drain out. If the valve is closed and water is left in the hose after the faucet is turned off, then the build-up can create leaks in the hose. Also, be sure you wrap the hose into the coil after using it.

New compost plans: Brent reported on a new compost bin we'd like to get for the garden. The Compost Tumbler2 is a more efficient composting system that will be easier for everyone to use. It costs around $500, so we have approached the manufacturer to see if we can get a donation or significant discount. If that effort fails, we'll consider other fundraising options.

John Muir Tree Box Project: Stephanie was recently contacted by the director of the Tse Chen Ling Buddhist Center about the possibility of collaborating with the garden on creating new planter boxes for the trees that surround John Muir Elementary School on Webster and Page Streets. Gabriel and I have since met with the director to discuss this in more detail. The hope is to raise funds for the new planter boxes from local businesses and foundations and to begin construction sometime this summer. If you are interested in getting involved, please contact me.

Volunteers needed: Finally, we need volunteers to take a more active role in helping to maintain the garden. Volunteers are needed to maintain the herb garden, compost bins, plan work days, and help with the common area gardens. If you'd like to lend your time and skills to any of these projects, please let me know. Thanks!

Reminder: Spring work day this Saturday, 3/29

Spring has finally arrived and that means it's time for our first work day of the year. I hope to see you at the garden work day on Saturday, March 29, from 10am and 2pm.

The current weather forecast calls for a slight chance of rain on Saturday, but we'll just have to wait and see what kind of weather we're dealing with that morning. In the event of rain, I’ll send out an email letting everyone know the work day has been cancelled and we’ll re-schedule.

You can also call me at 902-9537 on Saturday morning in case the weather is looking questionable and you want to find out whether the work day is still on. Hopefully, the weather forecasters will be wrong and we’ll have a nice sunny day to enjoy working in the garden.

We'll spend our time on Saturday weeding the footpaths and the common area gardens, planting another wine barrel planter for out front, replacing some of the rotten garden plot boards, and spreading new woodchips throughout the garden. At around noon or so, we'll take a break to enjoy a potluck lunch and have a group meeting. Please bring a snack or dish to share with your fellow gardeners.

During the meeting, we'll go over some garden reminders and make plans for the year. I'm anxious to talk to everyone about opportunities for getting more involved in the garden and a new project that is just getting underway to create new planter boxes around the trees surrounding John Muir Elementary. And I want to hear your ideas about how we can continue to improve the garden. What's on your garden wish list for this year?

I hope to see you on Saturday!

Love & Lemons at the Page Street Garden

Gardener Heather O'Neill has started a blog on Hayes Valley as part of a new web site that aims to cover every ZIP code in the nation. Heather says she expects the web site will function as a nationwide Yelp, with reviews and comments about different neighborhoods.

One of her first posts was on the Page Street Garden and tells the story of how she was introduced to the garden by her new boyfriend Byron, whose been a gardener for the past few years. It's a great story with some nice photos of the garden. Check it out here.