We did a variety of things this week, starting with a check on the trees we planted last time. There’s been barely any rain, so we hauled buckets of water and gave them all a drink. Most things have done fairly well despite the hot dry weather. Bruce put a nice layer of mulch around the trees on flat ground ...

... while Justin, Norah and I secured plastic under the ones on the sloping banks of the pond.

Meanwhile, Jenny and Leigh worked on mapping some of the invasive plants at the site. Finally the group tackled a stand of garlic mustard. This is another of the invasives we'd like to eradicate before it takes over completely. It's a biennial; in its first year it forms a rosette of leaves like this:

In its second year it grows a tall stalk that bears a little white flower. (Sorry, I neglected to get a photo at that stage.) Once it's finished flowering it gets busy producing seed pods:

Here's a patch of it growing across the path from the site:

We cut the stalks off and stuffed them into a giant garbage bag ...

... leaving a scene of devastation:

In other news, the cup plants are doing their thing and retaining water:

Wildlife:

Some of the Japanese knotweed is going all spotty. I'm hoping it's a terrible knotweed blight that will wipe out the population.

Finally, the scene on the way home: