DEBS FIRST FRIDAYS
Debs Test Plot
By Cody Porter
Test Plot Volunteer
DATE: June 07 2024
TIME: 8:00am
︎︎WEATHER: Overcast for the first hour and half, then sunshine
︎PLANTS SIGHTINGS: Ripe fruit on Golden Currants - delicious, too ;). Everything is much bigger than when I was last there a couple months back, and certain pathways are now inaccessible and I’m ecstatic about it. It seems several bunches of native needle grasses have propagated on their own along the northeastern-most section of the plot. All the Walnut saplings are developing with little to no die-off as far as I can tell. Redberry fruit developing for summer arrival. Bush Monkey Flower looking great and not quite in dieback mode yet, like the Sages are gearing up to do. Heart Leaved Penstemon all looking healthy.
WEED SIGHTINGS: Lots of tall Italian thistle and robust yellow star thistle amidst the usual bed of now crisp grasses, including some tall wild oats. For as unwieldy and thorny the Italian thistles are, I didn’t notice them having too deep of roots or putting up much of a fight when pulled up.
︎HUMAN ACTIVITY: You’ll encounter the obligatory several piles of dog waste. No trash in the Test Plot itself but there’s always plenty at the trail’s entrance.
GENERAL NOTES: The ground was mostly so forgiving and soft that one could pull lots of weeds with minimal frustration. All the previously planted Bush Sunflower is outlined along the main trail with a carpet of dry grasses that I wish we’d get a handle on, but it’s a lot of tedious effort with stiff, dry soil to contend with. My vision for a fix is to get the grasses gone and then flood the area with native wildflower seeds when the wet season arrives, a la the Rainbow River + Field at Elysian Test Plot. From there I envision delicate pulling of weeds while the wildlflowers develop and in the long run sprout annually ever after. In short, where there were weeds lining the trails and native plants, there’s now wildflowers/perennials - Chia, Whispering Bells, Wild Canterbury Bells, Golden Yarrow, Poppies, Clarkia, Fiesta Flower, Lupine, Chinese Houses, Blue Dicks, Blue-Eyed Grass, Baby Blue Eyes, Cardinal Catchfly, Phacelias, Cryptantha, California Aster…Nothing that can’t be found at Griffith Park… MAXIMALISM.
For me, the secret is simply showing up - being there. Make the time for the land and beauty will follow. And by “beauty,” I mean the realization of positive intent. Appear, and you’ll discover improvements that can be made.
I subscribe to the belief that each weed plucked from the garden liberates vital resources, no matter how small of an amount, that can then be embraced by the chosen plants being raised - those gorgeous, gorgeous California natives! So in my book, no weeds allowed.
And when the ground, the soil, supports you in this endeavor, it’s a divine cooperation. To pinch at the base of a tuft of foreign grass or thistle and a tug brings it up roots and all, it’s a sensation that urges, “again.” So I do it again. Again. Again. Again and again. I become bloodthirsty and I toss the murdered invasives in a pile atop others still living in hopes of their own gradual demise through smothering.
And they’ll call to me, “hey, we didn’t ask to be here. We’re just doing the only thing we know how to do.” In a flash I respond, “yes, I hear you. Please try to see things my way. This is an act of love. The plants I’m supporting are much more in line with those that have served their vast evolutionary time and have the right to exist here, with those that fulfill their obligations to the other historic living beings that should also prosper here. You all take so much more than you give. Your understanding is sincerely appreciated.”
Then before I know it, the vision is complete and we have immaculate, clean ground to work with. Clean ground to cover with mulch until fresh natives can expand into it. But there must be vigilance. Weeds know how to revive and thrive. But if you can be there and you can disrupt their programming again and again, they’ll get the hint and vanish. Then you’ll be left with land that knows how to give, and does so with serious style.
Debs Test Plot
By Cody Porter
Test Plot Volunteer
DATE: June 07 2024
TIME: 8:00am
︎︎WEATHER: Overcast for the first hour and half, then sunshine
︎PLANTS SIGHTINGS: Ripe fruit on Golden Currants - delicious, too ;). Everything is much bigger than when I was last there a couple months back, and certain pathways are now inaccessible and I’m ecstatic about it. It seems several bunches of native needle grasses have propagated on their own along the northeastern-most section of the plot. All the Walnut saplings are developing with little to no die-off as far as I can tell. Redberry fruit developing for summer arrival. Bush Monkey Flower looking great and not quite in dieback mode yet, like the Sages are gearing up to do. Heart Leaved Penstemon all looking healthy.
WEED SIGHTINGS: Lots of tall Italian thistle and robust yellow star thistle amidst the usual bed of now crisp grasses, including some tall wild oats. For as unwieldy and thorny the Italian thistles are, I didn’t notice them having too deep of roots or putting up much of a fight when pulled up.
︎HUMAN ACTIVITY: You’ll encounter the obligatory several piles of dog waste. No trash in the Test Plot itself but there’s always plenty at the trail’s entrance.
GENERAL NOTES: The ground was mostly so forgiving and soft that one could pull lots of weeds with minimal frustration. All the previously planted Bush Sunflower is outlined along the main trail with a carpet of dry grasses that I wish we’d get a handle on, but it’s a lot of tedious effort with stiff, dry soil to contend with. My vision for a fix is to get the grasses gone and then flood the area with native wildflower seeds when the wet season arrives, a la the Rainbow River + Field at Elysian Test Plot. From there I envision delicate pulling of weeds while the wildlflowers develop and in the long run sprout annually ever after. In short, where there were weeds lining the trails and native plants, there’s now wildflowers/perennials - Chia, Whispering Bells, Wild Canterbury Bells, Golden Yarrow, Poppies, Clarkia, Fiesta Flower, Lupine, Chinese Houses, Blue Dicks, Blue-Eyed Grass, Baby Blue Eyes, Cardinal Catchfly, Phacelias, Cryptantha, California Aster…Nothing that can’t be found at Griffith Park… MAXIMALISM.
For me, the secret is simply showing up - being there. Make the time for the land and beauty will follow. And by “beauty,” I mean the realization of positive intent. Appear, and you’ll discover improvements that can be made.
I subscribe to the belief that each weed plucked from the garden liberates vital resources, no matter how small of an amount, that can then be embraced by the chosen plants being raised - those gorgeous, gorgeous California natives! So in my book, no weeds allowed.
And when the ground, the soil, supports you in this endeavor, it’s a divine cooperation. To pinch at the base of a tuft of foreign grass or thistle and a tug brings it up roots and all, it’s a sensation that urges, “again.” So I do it again. Again. Again. Again and again. I become bloodthirsty and I toss the murdered invasives in a pile atop others still living in hopes of their own gradual demise through smothering.
And they’ll call to me, “hey, we didn’t ask to be here. We’re just doing the only thing we know how to do.” In a flash I respond, “yes, I hear you. Please try to see things my way. This is an act of love. The plants I’m supporting are much more in line with those that have served their vast evolutionary time and have the right to exist here, with those that fulfill their obligations to the other historic living beings that should also prosper here. You all take so much more than you give. Your understanding is sincerely appreciated.”
Then before I know it, the vision is complete and we have immaculate, clean ground to work with. Clean ground to cover with mulch until fresh natives can expand into it. But there must be vigilance. Weeds know how to revive and thrive. But if you can be there and you can disrupt their programming again and again, they’ll get the hint and vanish. Then you’ll be left with land that knows how to give, and does so with serious style.
