An easy project — not so easy.
Los Osos Oaks State Natural Reserve, on Los Osos Valley Road, features ancient sand dunes covered with centuries-old coast live oak trees. It’s a popular place to hike, picnic and take photos.
In 2008, the entrance had a median adjacent to the parking lot that was covered with dead weeds but full of potential. Celebrate Los Osos looked at it and thought — naively it turned out — that it would make a great project for volunteers to do! We thought it would be an excellent opportunity to beautify the median with native plants because all we’d have to do would be to add some topsoil, mulch, plants and water. Right? Well, not quite.
When the County and/or State Parks developed the parking lot and added the median they built it directly over the asphalt. The soil was about 8-10” deep and then came to an abrupt stop at the asphalt. For us to plant anything we’d have to rethink this project.
Josh Carmichael of Carmichael Environment, Los Osos came to the rescue not only from his knowledge but with his jackhammer which combined the force necessary to break through the asphalt to get down to the sand and soil below.
When planting California native plants from 1 gallon pots, we needed to have a hole as deep as the root ball, around 10” deep and twice as wide as the pot in order to create a watering trough. So we knew right away that we had our work cut out for us.
A Rain Bird gel product was used that immediately increased the survival rate of plants by providing continuous moisture needed to reduce the stress of planting and relocation. 98% water is combined with 2% food grade vegetable gum to form a gel that is 100 percent biodegradable. The gel is placed into the ground, in a biodegradable carton near the plant. The enzymes naturally found in soil gradually break down the food grade ingredients and convert the supplement back into liquid. The capillary action in the soil then carries and maintains the moisture throughout the root zone for up to 90 days.
Volunteers gathered, cleared off the weeds, prepared the soil for amendments, Josh punctured holes to provide plants the ability to grow, a black plastic mat was laid down to discourage weed growth, and by the end of the day the median had been planted.
Volunteers were joined by members of the Bay-Osos Kiwanis Club and the Rotary Club of Los Osos.
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