by Sam Richardson, Timmy Johnson, Elise Goodell, Lottie Johnston, and Francis Brand
Hello! We’re back, with two new members of the Presidio Heritage Garden Intern team from Anacapa School: Timmy and Francis! Welcome, Timmy and Francis. If you see those rowdy boys around, say hi and give them a smile!
Outstanding in their field Sam, Timmy, Elise, Lottie, and Francis.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve done oodles! On October 13th, we built a trellis for Kentucky Wonder green beans. We’ve planted fava beans over at El Cuartel, started pots of garlic, and planted cotton seeds (which we harvested from last year’s cotton).
One of our recent “projects” was planting clippings from the pomegranate and fig trees. First we cut small branches off the tree and peeled a strip of bark from the base of each branch to expose the cambium. Then, we wiped the blade of the pruning shears with alcohol so it’s clean, then again cut the branch bases at a diagonal angle. Finally, we rolled each branch in root hormone powder and potted them individually.
On November 5th, we re-labeled all the plants at the Presidio garden. It may have taken us the whole class time to do it, but Sam and Timmy got to learn how to spell Mediterranean and banana along the way. At last! Starting on the 21st, we denuded/pruned Arbor grapes, which we continued to do until December 10th. It’s a grape big job!
More recently we re-planted the cotton into bigger pots and thinned out our carrots. Some small trees needed to be moved (during which, Silly Sam broke a shovel), and Lottie cut down a large tree branch that was growing in the wrong direction. Go Lottie! Watering hasn’t been a necessity lately, thanks to the much-needed rain these past few weeks.
We’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation these past few months, and will be sad to go after our last few weeks in January, following the Christmas break. Thank you to all the employees and visitors who’ve said hello to us while we’ve been here, and a big thanks to Mike Imwalle. Happy Holidays!
We at SBTHP will miss seeing this group of energetic interns moving en masse around the park with big smiles and arms full of tools. Their work is evident in every garden space. Have you stopped by recently to check it out?