This week as a busy week. We worked on park maintenance as well as working more on the website and beginning event planning processes.

At the Park

1. Hugelkultur
   1. We pulled snakeroot (an invasive weed that was crowding out other plants) from the Hugelkultur and put the snakeroot in compost. With more space in the Hugelkultur, we were able to plant more pumpkin seeds, so the pumpkin will be ready to harvest before the first frost in the fall.
2. Tool shed
   1. Finishing the tool shed, it became increasingly difficult to hammer in the nails into solid wood.  We have decided to switch to screws and drill the remaining wood planks. Also to finish the shed, a facia (piece of wood) is needed to protect the exposed beams and prevent water/rain from blowing inside the shed. Isabelle’s uncle will be able to provide a single, solid wood piece long enough.
3. Annual Bed
   1. Three Sisters
      1. The Three Sisters garden finally is showing all three sisters! The corn is beginning to pop up after last week’s planting. However, it may be too late for it to yield any corn when harvesting season approaches.
   2. Tomatoes
      1. This week, we pruned the tomatoes and have seen a lot of new and growing fruit. We hope that in the next 2 weeks we will be harvest-ready!
   3. Tomatillos
      1. Scattered throughout the annual bed, we have noticed a lot of growth of (we think) tomatillo plants. Back in June, we planted the tiny seedlings thinking that not much would happen, but we have seen tremendous growth. The other possibility is that these plants are all ground cherry plants, which are known to be an edible weed. Due to both looking so similar and planting the tomatillo seedlings that were in the greenhouse, we will be waiting it out.
4. General maintenance and planning
   1. Weeding
      1. Throughout the week, we have been consistent with weeding all throughout the park. Emma also began to weed out the troughs that are along the concrete ledge of the park which we intend to fill with plants soon.
   2. Laying Compost Down
      1. With so much new rich compost, we decided to immediately put it to use. We added compost in the orchard, annual bed, and hugelkultur to help enhance plant growth.
5. Pathway
   1. This week, we began making headway on the pathway. We will be starting it by building the path around the herb spiral. After that is complete, we will carve our full path down to the sidewalk. To prevent weeds from popping up, we are using cardboard and layering it with fresh mulch. This is an all natural and permaculture-friendly design to enhance the park. Next week, we will continue to work on the path and hopefully be nearly done with it before the MTSE program ends.
6. Meeting with Master Gardener
   1. Meeting with Jennifer Mack from the Penn State Extension’s Master Garnder Program was productive, and it was refreshing to see the park through someone else’s eyes and to talk to someone who sees the potential for the SSPP to become a productive greenspace.  After talking with Jen, we decided to focus on cleaning the existing space rather than adding to or completely redesigning park.  Along these lines, we are working on putting in a pathway up to the herb spiral, and in the fall, we will work to reshape and merge the petal beds, turning them into flower beds.  Our priority, overall, will be to clean up the space because we have a lot of plants to work with and just need to feature them more prominently.  We are looking forward to working with Jen, especially in the fall, and connecting with any volunteers she may have contacts to that are interested in helping out at the park.

9. Virtual work
   1. Website
      1. Emma had a conference call with a web analyst, Dave, from Ohana Digital to help navigate the website. There have been numerous issues with the site and continues to be. Both Emma and Dave will continue to update the website and look into the long list of issues that are in dire need of being resolved.
   2. Ice House Event
      1. Julie met with Doug from the Ice House and connected with different people from the Ice House regarding their Rock N Grow event on August 27th. This was a great opportunity to meet other people in the Lehigh Valley that are not just interested in environmental health and community greenspaces, but also music and art!

 

These last two weeks, I hope to get a lot done at the permaculture park and prepare for the following semester.