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This month we had the opportunity to work with Mike Long, Director of Stewardship for the Mercer County Park Commission, to restore the Meadow at Mercer Educational Gardens. Before COVID, the Meadow was full of natives, which is an example of an alternative to lawns and a way to support biodiversity in our community. After some time away, many invasive plants found their way into this space and began taking over. Now that we are back in action at our lovely educational gardens near the Mercer County Stables, we are working on restoring it in collaboration with the stewardship team.
On August 6th, we gathered a group of Rutgers Master Gardener volunteers and got to work removing the invasive plant Purple Loosestrife from the Meadow. The best way to remove it is to hand pull, so that’s what we did! After an hour, there was no more Purple Loosestrife to be found. It was a great morning of teamwork and just one of many steps to get the Meadow back to its earlier glory, where it can be a place of biodiversity for the wildlife in the park and an example to all of the meadows you can create in your backyard.