Cyndi Smith's Garden Cleanup Experience

On a Saturday morning, I went to the garden at the school to help pick out weeds and generally clean it up. It was a mess when I got there, with weeds poking from every possible place and dead matter clogging up the pathways.

The Garden before we started.

It looked like a nightmare waiting to be fixed!

I knew when I started pulling the weeds out of the boxes that it’d be lots of fun. There were many large weeds that had roots that burrowed deep into the ground, and those took a lot of power and digging to get out. It was honestly very enjoyable to watch the garden transform into something more manageable. I got really into it about 5 minutes through. I worked alone on my own patch of land for a while, though I eventually joined the others during some tough weed pulling.

A worker is picking up some weeds to put into compost.

A large pile of weeds that we pulled!

We made a huge pile of weeds that had to be carried out by the wheelbarrow-full and had a few groups come in and help out. There was a constant stream of plant debris being carried out and new weeds to hate as we got closer to finishing.

The garden is looking much better!

Everyone is starting to put stuff away. A job well done.

I had a lot of fun cleaning up the garden and getting to see it tidy up as time went on. We ended up actually finding two small mice living in the weeds of the garden, and my friend caught one before letting it go. There were a lot of interesting things that happened during the experience, and it is something that I didn’t expect to be as interesting as it was.

-Cyndi Smith

Jacob Sweet's Garden Cleanup Experience

Jacob Sweet

Period 5

5/28/15

Part 1

     For the first part of this project, I was assigned to help weed the main garden next to the Z-wing on Saturday, May 23. Since people had began working on the project previously, this task was quicker and easier. To my surprise, this job was more enjoyable than I thought yet it still proved to be difficult at points.

     The before and after change of the garden's quality was momentous and should help to keep the remaining plants alive and healthy. However, some of the older plants had to be removed with the weeds because they had become to overgrown, turned unattractive, or were simply about to die anyway. Since many people enter and exit this general area throughout the school year, I think it can make others think better of the people in charge of maintaining the garden (us) and could give off an overall good vibe to them too. This part of the project took about two hours and truly gave me a better appreciation for what it takes to have a prime garden.

The nearly consistent amount of overgrowth present in the garden

The part of the garden I mostly worked on

Part 2

     This part of the project was mulching three of the native gardens on the high school campus. Everyone in the garden cleanup group was working on this project on the same day, which helped speed up the process, but it still took much longer than I expected. To mulch the three gardens, we took from the large compost pile, moved it with two wheelbarrows to one of the gardens, and proceeded to spread that mulch around the soil. We also were in charge of creating a small area on the outside of the garden in parking lot where there was a drop in soil, somewhat like an empty moat. This was there to prevent as much dirt from being kicked out into the parking lot.

Us loading the wheelbarrow with completely natural mulch

The garden in the parking lot after being mulched

A close-up of the "moat" we created

The second and smallest garden we mulched nicknamed "Alicia's garden" (picture taken after mulching)

The last and largest garden by the L-wing and near the middle school (picture taken after mulching)

More coverage of the largest garden

     The before and after effects of the mulching we did was not very visible, but will help the plants survive and prosper. This is especially effective in a school environment since some of the plants have been damaged from students walking on them. Once again, it took two hours to completely finish this part of the project. The last garden probably contributed most of the time since it was the farthest away and, unfortunately, the largest. This was the last section of our garden cleanup work, and because of the work we have done, it will be easier for it to survive through the long and most likely dry summer break.

Nathan Verdonk's Experience

I had a great time cleaning our gardens and being close to the amazing plants we have planted throughout the year. We worked two different two hour days cleaning and maintaing the main, parking lot, Varsity Lane, and Butterfly gardens.  After pulling weeds, clearing paths, and mulching the gardens, the group really got to appreciate the work they had accomplished.  I hope that the gardens will remain up kept and looking great for weeks to come.

Matthew Anthony's Garden Clean up Experience

 My experience cleaning up was really cool. First we went on Friday after school to pull out dead plants and weeds to make the garden look nicer. Then we all came in on Saturday morning so we were able to finish what we started. On Friday we went to the garden at around 2:30 and we were cleaning until around 4 o'clock. Then on Saturday morning we came at around 8 am and we worked on what we didn't finish on friday like pulling out dead plants that we missed and pulled out weeds that we didn't get to finish pulling.

This is the end result of it all. After we were done cleaning

This is the sombrero clean up SQUAD

Evan Florio's Garden Clean up Experience

During the clean up I tided up the gardening beds by pulling out plants and weeds that did not need to be in the planter. I also cut the weeds that were growing onto the path and we swept up all the pant scraps and added them to the compost piles. seeing how the garden looked before we started and how it looked after we finished was very rewarding. I also enjoyed being able to do this with my friends. I really enjoyed the experience of cleaning up the garden

Picture of The Sombrero Squad

Clarence Hoang's Garden Cleanup Experience

During the garden clean up, I placed mulch around the campus, pull plants from the ground and placed most of the plants into the compost pile. The best part about this was the sombreros that we were able to wear. Looking at the garden from start to finish felt really accomplishing showing that if there's a goal, it can be done. I got to hang out with friends and meet new people. I think the experience with the clean up was really fun. 

 90% of the garden cleaned with some loose scraps of plants.

Picture of some of the cool people I got to hang out with during the clean up.

How the WGHS GOLD Main Garden Looked at the End of April 2015

It was definitely starting to look rather overgrown out there in the main garden.

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