The garden is clearly more than a one-person job. When Wendy slid down the side of a cliff, cutting herself on broken glass and thorns, she hired her first strong helper, Corrado Camuglia, a cheerful, pragmatic Sicilian pizza chef, who happened to be walking by. Corrado was in for the long haul, and is still working in Wendy’s Garden.
Wendy then hired Ruben Gardiol, a kind-hearted, multi-skilled house painter from Uruguay, who became a natural gardener. Ruben still works in Wendy’s Garden, and he and Corrado are the Secret Garden’s two devoted long-term gardeners, who’ve seen it all creating, incrementally, one tree and shrub and object at a time, up the hill and along the flat, a joyous guerrilla garden. Part time gardeners work with them.
In addition, there are the local volunteer gardeners who gather in the garden on the first Saturday of each month to lend a hand with spreading mulch, weeding and generally helping to care for the garden. The volunteer gardeners are coordinated by Lavender Bay Precinct (lavenderbayprecinct@gmail.com) and it is a unique opportunity for local residents and newcomers to enjoy the camaraderie of a diverse group bound together by their love of the garden.
