It is going to be very cold tomorrow morning (like today with the likelihood of frost) – so we are going to start late!  09:30 – 12:30 .  This is the first time we’ve needed to do this in my 13 years volunteering in the park.  It “felt like” -3 yesterday morning (3/7) at 07:00 (actual temp was 0).

We’re back in Black(‘s Walk) for the fourth of July – tackling weeding in BW-32 and also BW-31 depending on time and resources.

We plan to start in BW-32 (adjacent the playground) where a maintenance weed is needed.  Our mulching undertaken last year seems to be working quite well in the eastern side of the bed and the new plants seem to be going well.

Panic Veldt is also the primary bad guy in BW-31 (Alan’s old patch) where it is coming up everywhere along with chick weed etc. 

Last Week

Last week we finished weeding and sheet mulching the next stage of our Panic Veldt roll-back. Great work by the team and no-one was bitten by the bullies despite them being on full alert again. Special thanks to everyone for the hard yakka, to Nicky and Harvey Norman for the sheets and to Nicky and Megan acting as barrow (sic) girls…

Conditions (last updated 07:00 4/7/2024)

Weather

General: Possibly foggy and frosty morning clearing to a cold partly cloudy morning.

Rain: There’s a 5% chance of rain on Thursday (4/7) morning.
Storms/Weather warnings: Frost warning.
Temperature: It should be very cold start at 09:30 (about 1 degrees feeling like -1) rising to about 8 degrees (feeling like 6) while we work. Temperature was -1.5 degrees at 07:00.

Wind: very light NE winds becoming NNE and then SSE!.
UV: rising to 1 if the sun ever gets through the cloud.
EPA Air Quality: Good.

Risks to highlight

• Please bring water to maintain your hydration.
• Wear appropriate clothes for the conditions – including an extra layer or two in view of the cold, a hat, long sleeves and closed-toe shoes.
• Staying dry helps staying warm.  Here are some suggestions:
  • Hands:  We do have multi-use nitrile gloves which you can wear under work gloves.  Size L only though…
  • Feet/legs:  Consider waterproof pants.
• Please also consider wearing the following cold-weather gear:  
  • thermals, beanies, warm jumper/jacket, thick socks.
• Keep moving:
  • It’s a lot easier to warm up on the colder days than cool down on the hotter ones – so that’s in our favour.
  • Hand weeding in the one spot for an hour is likely not ideal when the temperatures are very low – but OK later.  Best thing is to mix things around as much as you can – especially earlier on.
• Hi-vis clothes/vests are recommended – particularly when working around the Garie Street entrance.
• There are stumps, branches, lumps and underground water courses etc that may present trip hazards and eye-hazards under twiggy shrubs etc. We have some safety glasses in the PPE bag if you feel you need them.
• COVID, flu and RSV are still around again in a fairly big way it seems.  Please don’t come if you have any symptoms.
• Bull-ant bites have been recorded BW-31 but not BW-32 – but ant tunnels/colonies can travel a long way… Please be extra vigilant given the warmer temperatures.