Thirty six volunteers helped us spread mulch around our oak trees and weeded 360 gallons of stinkwort (Dittrichia graveolens) from the Stanley Reach today, thank you! We also celebrated the season with costumes and a scavenger hunt for pumpkins! Mulching is a great way to build soil by introducing organic matter and beneficial organism to the soil; it also suppresses weeds that would shade our oak trees and compete for water and nutrients.

Stinkwort (Dittrichia graveolens) is an incredibly voracious weed, the article at UC Davis explains the expanding range of this invasive species. Stinkwort loves to grow in areas that have been disturbed by human development and will quickly take over an area, crowding out the native species that are trying to gain a foothold. Invasive species often do not have predators that eat them or pathogens that plague them, it is up to us to control their population.