This is our third summer returning to Luther Burbank Park with the Mountain to Sound Greenway Trust. It was a warm day, but we knew swimming awaited and the tall Oregon ash provided dappled shade as we hauled buckets for sheet mulching. The area we worked used to be a trashy thicket but has been transformed by Squad and many others into a young native planting. The wood chips cover the cardboard, which helps significantly to suppress perennial noxious weeds such as blackberry & reed canary grass / Phalaris arundinacea. In the areas that sheet mulching hasn't been accomplished yet, we created 'rings of life' around the little natives simply by pulling away weeds & flattening or ripping them down. For plants only 24" high, a little goes a long way until they have time to get taller. Of course we dug blackberry too. And of course we played and swam on the gorgeous sparkling lake! We will be back in September on the 4th Tuesday.