Cove Garden Repairs

The Cove Garden, owned and maintained by Chester Garden Club, is a source of pride to members of the Club but it is not looking its best these days. After much discussion between the club's trustees and the municipality's Public Works Department, work has finally begun on remedying the subsidence problem at the site.

The site consists of an open plot of grass bordered by rugosa roses, shrubs and trees. During the excavation and creation of a new drainage system, however, heavy equipment tore up the grass and damaged part of the rose-bed along the rock-wall. To deal with the underground water problem, a large cement "crock" has now been set in the ground on the upper side of the park to act as a temporary reservoir for run-off water, and a trench (with a drainage pipe leading from the crock) has been dug to allow the water to drain toward the sea-wall.

A view of the muddy tracks left after installation of the crock and drainpipe.

The drainage pipe should be able to handle even a heavy run-off.

With construction of the drainage work underway, the Club arranged for removal of three old spruce trees along the eastern boundary of the garden. The Club plans to replace them with several small ornamental fruit-trees as part of a long-range plan to renew the garden.

Another change concerns the magnolia, which had been moved from a private property (in a rescue mission) to the Cove Garden site in mid-winter two years ago. It never did fully adjust to its new location with the result that the Club was obliged to cut it down this fall. Because of the damage to the grass and the rose-beds this past week, the entire garden looks in bad shape now but all will be restored eventually, and a proper path across the grass will be part of the new landscaping, which is expected to be completed next spring.

Looking east across the site, at the edge of the shore, with the stump of the magnolia in the foreground.

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