Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was our upgrade to the Warren St. entrance. But heck, ours only took ONE year!

Melanie Holcomb masterminded the grant proposal, winning $1,500 from Citizens Committee with a plan that included the rough steps we needed to take. That was last fall.

The grant came through this spring, and we began wrapping our minds around the practicalities — while seeing the garden through an ambitious, highly successful reorganization of its operations.

All the plans were in place by early September. Siena Chrisman laid out a pattern on our September garden day. Last Wednesday, Sarah Westlake accepted the delivery of thousands of pounds of gravel and sand for the entryway and 20 heavy pavers for the base for our new shed (yes, ANOTHER capital project this calendar year).

David Bivins and son Arlo, Keith Rettig, Gabriela Wolf, Parker Fishel, Andy Browne, Melisa Garber and Melanie Holcomb met up Saturday morning and laid several inches of gravel and another couple of inches of sand. Andrea Kannapell dashed around, picking up the compacting machine and other materials. Chloe Abercrombie provided hands, hearts and water! Seven hours later, we suspended work so Communal Spaces lovely, moving plays could go on.

Sunday, our final day, took finesse. We were working with bricks, concrete pavers and stone blocks, and trying to create an even surface that sloped upwards slightly from the sidewalk. That took a lot of discussion and thought experiments, and another trip or two for many more bags of sand and other supplies. And a couple of tries to work the glass bricks in without breaking them.

We are so pleased with the end result. Come take a look! Andy’s making a time-lapse video that we’re all looking forward to seeing. And help us thank the thinkers, planners, laborers, sweepers, providers of cool lemon water, Citizens Committee and everyone who made this possible.

And thanks to Sheri Stein, Mimi Rosenfeld and Pat McCarty, who have been researching native plants for both the Warren and St. Marks sides. We’ll be using the rest of our Citizens Committee grant to make the Warren St. side even more gorgeous.

Next weekend, we’ll be preparingfor the arrival of our fabulous new shed! Stay tuned for details.

Filed under: Events, News, bricks, entrance, volunteer, warren street