The nursery is closed to the public for the duration of the shelter-in-place order, but we hope our volunteers will continue to come in and work because we need your help. We have three essential processes to maintain during this period: potting up seedlings, sterilizing soil, and watering (once the rain stops). There is plenty of space at the nursery to accommodate social distancing. We don’t know when the SIP order will be lifted, but we need healthy, attractive plants to sell to the public when we resume business.
Our soil pile rebuild project has come to a halt for the duration, but we got far enough to reorganize the potting area. Per and Jack have framed the shed and the roof, Steve put down hardware cloth to keep our ever-hungry woodrats out of the shed, John (and maybe others) moved the potting benches into their new positions, and someone has leveled the ground on “potters’ alley” and spread gravel. One immediate benefit of all this progress is that the potting stations are now more than six feet apart, so we can safely accommodate four potters at a time.
And now, here’s a feel-good item. We didn’t offer trillium for sale this year because our bulbs needed a rest and we needed to refresh our stock. Kate, with guidance from John, dug up all the bulbs (see photo) and separated the ones that were large enough into a “head” and a slightly smaller “tail.” Then she replanted them all. Don’t they look great?
Click on the photos to view the full size version.
— March 2020