Maintenance

End of winter check

Check for snowplow damage.  Consult with the custodian if necessary.

Remove marker poles.

Repair snowplow damage

As soon as the ground surface has thawed, look for chunks of grass (usually upside down) pushed into the garden by plows.  Replace whole chunks back in the holes where they came from at the edge of the parking area.  It's important to do this early, before the chunks start to dissolve in the rain.

Spring cleaning

Should be done by about April 21, before most plants emerge from the ground. The goal is to repair damage and tidy up.  Try to minimize trampling of the garden by keeping to the stepping stones.  In order...

• Temporarily mark with poles any especially desirable plants so they aren't stepped on during maintenance
• Remove trash, sticks, and branches
• Trim off old stalks and stems from last year's growth (for tidy appearance)
• Clean out/repair drainage channels
• Evaluate if plantings from previous year survived
• Repair any damage from plows

Weeding

Can be done anytime sufficient labor is available.  Since weeds are hard for inexperienced volunteers to identify, have each person specialize in one weed species.  Have them put the weeds in a small container, then check on them to make sure no mistakes.

• Woody plants--tree saplings & willows.  Highest priority.  Pull up by roots or apply roundup to cut stem.
• Reed canary grass--a large, grass-like, wetland plant.  It's non-native and very invasive.  I suspect we may have it at the east end of the garden.  A priority to eliminate.
• Burdock--a priority, since it's a large plant and easily spreads.
• Dandelion--large, easy to identify and to remove, so is a priority.
• Carrot-like weed with fuzzy foliage.  Can get quite large, so is a priority.
• Creeping Charlie--use an old fork to pull up runners.  Hard to eliminate, so not a priority, except in woodland phlox clumps.

Watering during droughts

You'd think rain gardens would require water-loving plants, but unless the garden is in a low and wet area, this isn't true.  In our garden, many of the plants are drought-resistant.  Nevertheless, the garden does require watering if there's a prolonged drought.  If new plants have been put into the ground, then daily watering is required for several weeks, and especially during drought.

Keep out the jumping worms!

Jumping worms are an invasive species spread by putting in new plants or dirty tools.  You can recognize them because they are smaller than the common night crawlers, and they writhe violently when exposed.  Our garden does not have jumping worms yet.

Winter preps

The biggest threat to the rain garden is damage from snowplows.  They can accidentally fill in the basin, and scrape away the plants.  Fortunately, the people who operate the plows have been very cooperative and almost no damage has occurred at the Toki garden.

• It's essential to mark the edge of the rain garden with poles by Dec. 1.  David Thompson has been doing this in recent years.
• Evaluate if there are any new features in the garden that could be damaged.  If so, mark them, move them back, or consult with school staff or officials.

Damage from a snow plow at Thoreau School's upper rain garden, Jan. 29, 2013.