It
began to rain shortly before our working bee so the six
Stationeers who braved the weather concentrated on the area under the station,
which is sheltered. We pruned and cleaned up the overgrowth of the salt bushes
and Plectranthus plants and Ian Smith managed to dig some holes in the
compacted soil which we filled with water and hydrated water crystals prior to
planting aspidistras in the dark areas towards the back of the bed. Meanwhile
Thomas planted additional Rhagodia salt bushes at the other end of the
embankment under the peppercorn tree and Jennie and Ed did the litter round. Ed
continued on to the other side of the station and gathered more litter from the
children's play area. At John's suggestion, I emailed Gary Mogford from KABV
and Peter Watson from Metro Trains to ask if the disused safety meshing left by
contractors could now be removed. It has been there since last year and work on
the station has officially been completed.
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| Aspidistras-just planted |
Since the
station landing was upgraded in 2013, there has been no rainfall penetration to
that part of the station garden; the floor of the old landing used to leak when
it rained. There appears to have been quite a bit of foot traffic through the garden too. Recently hardy Myoporum parvifolium ground cover
plants have died and Pig-face has been attacked by mealy bug. The once-healthy
Dianella plants are also struggling. We should consider installing a heavy duty
watering system under the landing using part of our grant.
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| Evidence of garden being used as a short-cut |
There will be another
working be on Tuesday June 16th or 23rd. The date chosen will depend on the
weather forecast. We will be planting a small MVCC consignment of indigenous
plants plus more aspidistras and salt bushes as well as reluctantly cutting
down the self-seeded River Red Gum that sprang up where the old ramp used to
start. Ros
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| Self-seeded River Red Gum |
