A Little Yardwork

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May 24, 2024 by Bruce McDonald

A Little Yardwork

The Rock of Southern Gables. The entrance to our Southern Gables neighborhood at Jewell and Estes is meticulously maintained by neighborhood volunteers. The land just east of it is maintained by…

Nobody.

More on that in a minute.

We work together to keep the landscaping on our little lot in good shape, the weeds out, and the night light shining on our big stone slab with the Southern Gables logo.

We have a signup list during the spring and summer for watering the landscaping on our corner. That’s the gravel lot with flowers, low bushes, and the Southern Gables sign in the middle. We love to have it looking pretty! You can sign up for a week at a time to water the plants if and as needed – say once or twice in hot weather, less or none if it’s rainy. If you see a dandelion you can pull it, but the weeding task is usually pretty minor. The Marrujo family graciously lets us get water from their house next to the lot – don’t knock, just use the hose. Pick a convenient week and sign up here: Watering & Weeding, Corner of Jewell & Estes.

The Southern Gables Wetlands. Well, it’s really just a wet ditch, at least wet when the flow is turned on, but the birds like it. Its run through Southern Gables starts right next to our little corner lot with the sign. As a matter of fact we lease the lot from the Agricultural Ditch Company so we can have the sign there. The ditch is an interesting piece of history. The ditch company was founded before Colorado was a state. Along the Ag Ditch, right next to our lot, there is a stand of weeds that we managed to get mowed, as part of a larger job going all the way from there down to Woodard, in 2018. Getting those weeds and brush tamed was a big project and it has not been repeated. The grass has grown a bit since then. The Agricultural Ditch Company prefers not to maintain it. Since their land management is tied to water rights that are senior to the City of Lakewood (not to mention the State of Colorado), the City can’t cite them for not maintaining the property. They mow the east bank of the ditch, once a year, but they don’t do anything about the west side that comes out to Jewell next to our sign.

The ditch is on the left in this picture, and part of the Southern Gables gravel-covered entrance sign lot is on the right.

We’re thinking of getting up a work party to clean up the part of the strip next to our sign. The high grass actually looks kind of nice now (according to some) but we know it will get dry and as it grows further it may become a fire hazard. It will take a few weed-whackers at least.

The wild overgrown tree is pretty ugly too. Whether we decide to trim it or take it out, it will be a big job.