Work at 8th & Gilmer Garden by St. Joseph’s University Students

03/17/23: On a chilly Friday afternoon threatening rain, a group of 14 SJU students spent part of their spring break helping prepare our new garden site. The students energetically learned about the garden and One Valley’s history, and then jumped into a variety of tasks in preparing the site, including scavenging bricks and debris from the tilled site, and smoothing the edges of the plot near the sidewalks. Landscape fabric was then laid along the edges, and silage tarps placed over the remaining tilled area in order to “solarize” the area and kill all weeds and grass over the next 6-8 weeks. The landscape fabric was attached with sod staples, sand bags filled with sand, and the sandbags distributed to hold the silage tarps in place. Finally, all roots, vines and assorted debris was cleaned off the perimeter of the site and loaded up for transport to the solid waste disposal facility.