Volunteers Add 250 Plants to Garden
On Saturday morning, December 3rd, over 30 residents of Nipomo responded to the Nipomo Native Garden committee’s call for volunteers to help plant approximately 250 Nipomo native plants in the garden. The volunteers included many recent immigrants to Nipomo, longtime residents and a group from the California Conservation Corps. The plants were grown by Environmental Seed Producers of Lompoc from cuttings of plants taken in the Nipomo Native Garden earlier this year. ESP is owned by Jack and Cynthia Bodger, Nipomo residents.
The volunteers found that planting was very easy this year as another volunteer, Phil Harwick, had previously used his tractor to till the planting area over the Thanksgiving weekend. That, followed by the heavy rains on the Friday morning, December 2nd, made for ideal soil conditions in which to place these new plants. The group managed to place all the plants in just over an hour, so many volunteers spent the rest of the three-hour work day mulching around the new plantings, cleaning and grading the soil around the newly built kiosks and pathway benches, and other general maintenance activities in the garden.
Homemade cookies and hot apple cider were provided by the Nipomo Native Garden committee. All the members of the NNG committee want to extend a “Big Thank You” to the volunteers who helped accomplish this annual planting event.
For those who haven’t visited the Nipomo Native Garden recently, many improvements and investments have occurred. Almost a mile of graded and compacted gravel trails have been installed. Three new information kiosks were built and 22 new benches have been installed on the pathways. Six large display cases are being built which will be installed in the kiosks. These display cases will contain information on local plants and animals, how to use native plants effectively in your landscaping, and other useful information on the plants and garden. New perimeter fencing will be installed sometime in 2006, and the NNG committee is working on additional funding grants to build a visitors and education building in the garden.
For more information on the Nipomo Native Garden or how you can volunteer in its maintenance and development, contact Greg Doudna by phone 929-6649 or e-mail at participate@nipomonativegarden.org
