Garden Meeting Today! To Do List

Reminder: There's a half-hour garden meeting today, May 19, at 11:30 am, followed by a work day. Following is a list of tasks from Claire Merlino.
Some mid-spring tasks for the garden. (Heavy weight scissors are good to bring.)
 Irises - Continue to dead-head. Either cut the flowering stalk close to the ground if finished or just cut / snap off the blooms that are finished.
Roses – They started blooming so early this year, they’re starting to need dead-heading also.
Bricks around small “circle” garden by Columbia gate – Weed these so the bricks show again. Makes it look neater and easier to mow the grass there.
Patio next to the pergola – For folks who like less greenery there, the bricks can be weeded. If there are some columbines in the bricks, please leave them alone. We may plant them elsewhere.
Carpenter bees – We’re home to some big, beautiful, buzzing bees that are in love with our wooden pegola! They love that type of wood, especially in the sun and they make perfect bullet sized holes to start making a nest. To discourage them from nesting in the wood, if you see any holes, please plug them up with steel wool. But they are excellent pollinators. The males cannot sting and the females rarely do. So, let’s try to leave them alone. Their buzzing is off putting but not a sign of aggression
Behind the tool shed – The dirt on the blue pergola can find a home over at Icke Park if anyone’s inclined to cart it over there. If not, Amy with others will handle it in the near future. Per Amy, “it can go in the stoned off area along the fence (not the area by the tree) or in any of the many divots/holes in the park (many are near the entrances.” For those who don’t know the name, Icke Park is the asphalt handball, baseball park along the south side of Hamilton Street towards Van Brunt. The mesh contractor bags of stone gravel and rubble are up for grabs. Sara, did you say you might have a use for that material or an idea of where it could go outside the garden? If not, are there any other takers or ideas?
Compost – per Amy, again thank you – “If people want to sift compost tomorrow, it is in the same place (under the greens in the leftmost bin). They can feel free to crank or turn and water the other piles.”
Border plants getting trampled – Could everyone kindly re-visit our guidelines viv-a-vis balls and toys that “accidentally” go in the border? The idea is that an adult is supposed to retrieve the occasional errant ball or toy. Most times there’s not too much damage but this spring we’ve had a few areas that’ve been trampled such that they need re-planting.
Autumn clematis vine – continues to need pruning back , most of it to the ground, if you know what and where it is.
Grapevines – The leaves are pretty sparse this year compared to last, so we’re going to leave them alone for now unless there are some wild stems sticking out over the sidewalk.
Two or three shrubs at the Summit corner – Now that the big tree is gone, that corner’s going to be sunny and hot! We’ve been transplanting many of the smaller shade loving plants over the last 6 months. So don’t be surprised when some of the medium sized shrubs get moved out. We don’t want them to fry. See you in the garden!