21 February 2019
www.sunshinecommunitygardens.org
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Plant Lists - 2019
Tomatoes
Peppers
Eggplants/Tomatillos
Herbs
pdf
Work day this Sunday 2/24/19, 9:30 - 11:30 AM
Phil Wiley and Kay McMurry will be heading up a workday to prepare quarter plot for rental on Sunday from 9:30-11:30. Please come and help us clear the plots so we can get them set up for new gardeners for spring planting.
Plant Sale Reminders: It's only one week away from this Saturday!
- Sign up to volunteer on the sign-up genius. Link shown above.
- Let Kristin know what you will be bringing for the potluck. phillips.102@gmail.com
- If you are contributing to the silent auction, let Mary Drake know what you will be providing. rkdrake@comcast.net
- Clean up your plot and your area.
- Keep reading the Weeder, the chalkboard, and the website for the latest information.
- Look at the plant lists, available on the website so you can plan what you want to buy for your garden. Link shown above.
- Come to the workdays. Starting at 8:30. Saturday, the 23rd.
- Bring boxes for the shoppers. The best are the bottoms of boxes from the grocery store. Put those in the trailer under the tables.
- Friday, March 1st All Gardeners Meeting 4:45 followed by sale for plant sale volunteers at 5:00.
- Tell your friends, neighbors, coworkers, businesses you go to, everyone, about the plant sale.
Wanted: Any Pass-alongs for the Plant Sale
If you have Plants to Pass Along for our Spring Sale, please leave them under the bench in the greenhouse. There are some extra pots and soil under the greenhouse bench or in the green and white gardenport. Thank you for your contributions! Susan Prosperie
Tomato Trial Garden News by Jeff Taylor
The Tomato Trial Garden, located near the Sunshine Community Garden entrance, was started to evaluate the production or yield of tomato varieties grown in Central Texas. Since 2011, eight tomato varieties have been grown each spring in the tomato garden. Of the 58 varieties evaluated to date, Amish Gold, Viva Italia, Stupice, and Early Girl have been the most prolific producers producing an average of 201, 164, 131, and 107, tomatoes per plant, respectively. Over 8,000 tomatoes from the tomato trial garden have been donated to Micah 6 or other food pantries.
Spring of 2018 was the eighth year of evaluating tomatoes. Four plants of each variety were planted on March 15, 2018. The varieties planted in 2018 were: 1) Boar's Tooth, 2) Celebrity, 3) Cherokee Carbon, 4) Mortgage Lifter, 5) Pink Furry Boar, 6) Polish Linguisa, 7) Rutgers, and 8) Spot Yellow. Mortgage Lifter, Rutgers and Polish Linguisa are considered heirlooms. The other varieties are hybrids. Boars Tooth, Pink Furry Boar, and Spot Yellow are varieties released from Wild Boar Farms in California. Cherokee Carbon is a cross between Carbon and Cherokee Purple.
By May 24th, 70 days after planting, tomatoes were being harvested from all varieties except Mortgage Lifter. Cherokee Carbon was the more prolific early producer. By the 70th day, the Cherokee Carbon plants had produced an average of eight tomatoes per plant.
Overall, Spot Yellow and Celebrity both produced over 40 tomatoes per plant; averaging 46 tomatoes for Spot Yellow and 41 tomatoes for Celebrity. Spot Yellow produces yellow globe tomatoes with small spots while Celebrity are red globe tomatoes.
Three of the Boar's Tooth plants died. The remaining plant produced seven tomatoes. Similarly, one Cherokee Carbon died. The remaining three Cherokee Carbon plants produced an average of 19 tomatoes per plant. The average number of tomatoes produced by Polish Linguisa was only two while the average number for Mortgage Lifter was eight. Rutgers yield was 11 tomatoes per plant. Pink Furry Boar yielded an average of 26 tomatoes per plant.
For the Spring of 2019, five new tomato varieties will be grown. The new varieties to be evaluated include Afghan, Garden Gem, Garden Treasure, Lila Sari, and W Hybrid. Afghan and Lila Sari are heirlooms. The other varieties are hybrids. In addition to these five varieties, Viva Italia, which was grown in 2012, and Lemon Boy, which was grown in 2017, will be retested. Celebrity will be the 8th variety grown and is grown as a "control" variety. Celebrity yields are fairly consistent ranging from 40 to 70 tomatoes per plant. Weather conditions that would adversely impact Celebrity yields would be relevant in assessing the yields of the other varieties.
During the coming months, please visit the tomato trial garden to observe the varieties being grown. Cages in the rows are labeled with the variety name. Jim Willmann, Jeff Taylor, or Randy Thompson will be glad to answer any questions you have about the Tomato Trial Garden.
Weeder Content
Please email your article or suggestion to Holly Gilman by end of day Wednesday.
Officer and Zone Coordinator Contacts - Sunshine Gardens
Officers
- President - Marilyn Landberg scgpres2019@gmail.com
- Vice President - vacant
- Secretary - Noelle Letteri - nletteri@yahoo.com
- Treasurer - Caroline Limaye scgtreasurer1@gmail.com
- Director - Linda Booker - lindaruthbooker@gmail.com
- Director - Jeff Taylor - kscjtaylor@prodigy.net
- Director - Randy Thompson jartdaht@gmail.com
Email the board.
Zone Coordinators
- Zone 1, Susan Wallar swallar@gmail.com
- Zone 2, Wayne Kuenstler wckuenstler@gmail.com
- Zone 3, Ludmila Voskov lvoskov@austin.rr.com
- Zone 4, Ila Falvey ila.falvey@gmail.com
- Zone 5, Mary Gifford mgifford@austin.rr.com
- Zone 6, Charlotte Jernigan charlotte@cybermesa.com
- Zone 7, Maria and Philip Wiley m.stroeva@gmail.com, philip9wiley@gmail.com
- Zone 8, Shannon Posern sposern@hotmail.com
- Zone 9, Kerry Howell casonhowell@gmail.com
- Zone 10, Christopher Schroder
christopher.s.schroder@gmail.com &
Karl Arcuri karl.w.arcuri@gmail.com
Other Personnel
- Weekly Weeder Newsletter - Holly Gilman hollyjgilman@gmail.com
- Plant Sale - Randy Thompson & Janet Adams jartdaht@gmailcom
- TSBVI Liaison & Volunteer Coordinator - Janet Adams jartdaht@gmailcom
- Plot Assignment - Kay McMurry scg.plots@gmail.com
- Compost Coordinator - Janet Adams jartdaht@gmail.com
- Carpentry & Repairs - Robert Jarry r.jarry@sbcglobal.net
- Water Leak Repairs - Steve Schulz sschulz784@aol.com
- Tools & Wheelbarrows - Bob Easter beaster1@austin.rr.com
- Kitchen Supplies - Anita Keese
anodekraft1@msn.com
(If supplies are needed for events, contact by email or at 512-773-2178) - Compost Tea - Jennifer Woertz jen@enjeneer.com
- Micah 6 - Dana Kuykendall kuykendall@austin.rr.com
- Micah 6 - Mary Gifford mgifford@austin.rr.com
- Website Coordinator - Sharon Rempert scgardenweb@gmail.com
- Spanish language contact - Andriana Prioleau gabp8dec65@hotmail.com
Record Service Hours Online - Green Binder
