Site Preparation and Planting

Twenty-two cubic yards of mulch were applied to hold moisture in the soil and to reduce weed growth. Bob remembers every cubic yard of it.

Planting Plugs
Plugs were planted through the mulch. To avoid planting in rows, three to six plants of the same species were grouped together with a spacing of eighteen inches between plants.

As Bob describes it, deciding what plants will go where can be a process of negotiation. Planting is the most labor intensive shoreland restoration approach. The Streetars property required over 240 hours to plant all the plugs.

Weed control became a challenge in identifying good plants from unwanted weeds and turfgrass. Before herbicide was applied, the Streetar's lawn was very healthy, and later in the summer, lawn continued to sprout in the project area.