Spencer Adams Park - Santa Barbara, CA

• Date: Mar 13 2013 Time: 21:43
• Description:
  Designer - Pamela Berstler with G3/The Green Gardens Group. Design and planting changes were made by the City of Santa Barbara Parks Department. Installation - community Garden Assistance Parties (GAP), led by G3, and sponsored by a Whale Tail License Plate Grant from the California Coastal Commission. The turf grass in front of the Park's building was not well-used, used lots of (drinking) water, generated polluted runoff, and required regular maintenance by City Parks Department staff. Here are the steps taken to prep the site and install the garden: 1. A Hands-On Workshop on Site Evaluation - to evaluate existing conditions and come up with design ideas; 2. Sheet mulching the turfgrass - the turfgrass was removed by the Park's Dept.; The first of two GAPs focused on contouring the site to absorb rainwater as well as sheet mulching, using G3's sheet mulching guide (re-building healthy soil, then layering paper and mulch). All soil was retained on site and bermed, enabling the planting of local native plants into soil that was free-draining; 3. Installing the beautiful dry streambed and redirecting the raingutter downspout into it - both done by the Parks Dept. Rainwater will be the primary source of irrigation. See the photo of the streambed filled with water right after a rainstorm! Every inch of rain directs 2,350 gallons of water into the landscape. 4. Install plants and drip irrigation - done through a second GAP. The irrigation sprayheads were either converted to drip irrigation (or capped), and helps get the plants established. We realized an 80% reduction in water use and eliminating dry-weather runoff. Native or just climate appropriate plants were used (some came from the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden). We followed G3's planting guide to ensure plants and soil were well saturated. Irrigation equipment was donated by All Around Irrigation (www.allaroundirrigation.com) A great City of Santa Barbara webpage on creating a more sustainable landscape and qualifying for landscape retrofit rebates: http://www.sbwater.org/ Learn more about the OFG Class, HOW and GAP here: - Class - http://www.surfrider.org/coastal-blog/entry/santa-barbara-ofg-kicks-off-with-basics-class - HOW - http://www.surfrider.org/coastal-blog/entry/big-turnout-in-santa-barbara-ca-for-hands-on-workshop-on-site-evaluation - GAP - http://www.surfrider.org/coastal-blog/entry/multi-city-departments-collaborate-with-chapter-at-ofg-workday City of Santa Barbara, Goleta Water District and Santa Barbara County Water Agency were partners on Whale Tail Grant: writing letters of support to get the grant, promoting all the activities, and participating in the activities.