21 April, 2022
www.sunshinecommunitygardens.org
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In this Issue:
- Notice about Weeder publication for next several weeks
- Elections (secretary, directors, Nominating Committee)
- Work Day Saturday April 23
- New Gardener? Participate in Research!
- Free Mushroom Workshop
- Announcing annual meeting May 21
- Reminder that service hours returning to normal process
- List of service hour tasks needed
- Bob Easter squash offer (This week because of planting time)
- Fence replacement revised starts May 4
- Service Hours task list
Temporary Weeder Editors
Kerry Drake and Kristin Phillips will serve as temporary editors of the Weeder for several issues. Gardeners wanting something published in the Weeder or having a question about the Weeder should contact Kerry (kerry@sunshinecommunitygardens.org) or Kristin (phillips.102@gmail.com).
Candidates Sought for SCG Board Elections 2022
The Sunshine Gardens Nominating Committee is seeking candidates for Secretary and 3 Director positions for our spring 2022 elections to take place in May. If you are interested in being a candidate, please submit your name, contact information and position you are interested in to the members of the nominating committee via email by 4/24.
Any member in good standing is welcome to apply for these important positions in our community.
It is important to the future of Sunshine Gardens to have qualified, involved members serving on our board of directors. If you have any questions about the roles, please contact the current role holder or members of the nominating committee:
- Secretary, Kerry Drake, kerry@sunshinecommunitygardens.org
- Director, Kay McMurray, scg.plots@gmail.com
- Director, Marsha Riti, marshariti@gmail.com
- Director, Karl Arcuri, karl.w.arcuri@gmail.com
Nominating Committee:
- Steve Uecker - steven_uecker@hotmail.com
- Ila Falvey - ila.falvey@gmail.com
- Polly Porter - pollymporter@icloud.com
Workday This Saturday 8 am - 10 am
There will be an organized workday this Saturday (4/23) from 8 am to 10 am. Gardeners participating will receive a bonus of one-half hour for each hour worked - work 1.0 and earn 1.5 hours.
Reminder: Service Hour Requirements Back To Normal
Service hours for this spring will return to the normal process. For each of their plots, gardeners must work 1 TSBVI Hour and 4-8 Regular Hours (Full Plot: 8; Half/Qtr Plot: 4). These hours must be completed by June 30 and recorded in the virtual Green Binder by July 7. Bills for unworked hours will be sent out in July. The workday this Saturday will be a great way to get in some spring service hours with its bonus of one-half hour for each hour worked.
Call for New Gardeners to Participate in Research
Students at the Austin Center for Design are conducting research on people who are relatively new to gardening:
"If you're someone who's willing to share your experience of learning how to garden, we'd love the chance to speak with you and learn more about your gardening learning journey. We're particularly interested in connecting with folks who don't own land/property. We want to understand how you got started in gardening, including any barriers or breakthroughs you've had. Our research will be conducted primarily through an interview (approx. 60 min) at a location convenient to you (ideally where you garden), including a brief activity that we'll walk you through. If you or someone you know is interested in participating, please complete this brief questionnaire, and we'll follow up with you shortly."
Free Mushroom Workshop
The Central Texas Mycological Society is hosting a Free mushroom gardening workshop on Thursday, April 28, 2022. Please register for the event here
.Mark Your Calendars All-Gardener Annual Meeting on Saturday, May 21
Sunshine's 2022 annual meeting will be Saturday, May 21. The agenda will include election of the secretary, three directors, and also the Nominating C ommittee. (Election of the secretary and directors will continue online for five days after the meeting). More information abut other agenda items will be provided before the meeting.
Squash Seeds Available
It's squash planting time. Bob Easter has ordered some extra Tatume squash seeds he will share a few with gardeners. Why Tatume? Look at what Texas A&M says about this squash and the added benefit is it tends not to get the squash vine borer.
When planting squash always plant a lot of radishes around the vine and do not pick the radishes when they mature and go to flower. The Squash vine borer hates radishes.
Contact Bob at: bob@easterandeaster.com or 512-346-1692 or catch him in the garden.
Sunshine Perimeter Fence Replacement Start Date Set
May 4 is the date for TSBVI to begin work on replacing Sunshine's perimeter fence. The work will start on the TSBVI campus so exact date work will begin on Sunshine fence remains open.
Garden Tasks - By Steve Camp (April 16, 2022)
Howdy! I hope everyone is having a great planting season so far!
Next Scheduled Workday - April 23 from 08:00 until 10:00
Please contact Zone Coordinator Marilyn Landberg on Saturday 23 morning for specific instructions.
Workdays often evolve into social events! SCG is a fantastic place to meet new friends and learn both new and old gardening techniques. There's a wealth of knowledge here and experienced people that love to share it.
New Gardeners
There are several new gardeners at SCG! Please don't hesitate to introduce yourself and y'all get to know each other a little and share garden knowledge and tips. Let's emphasize the Community in Community Gardens.
Hose Connections
Please do not connect hoses with aluminum fixtures to our brass faucets. These two metal alloys will chemically bond, effectively welding them to each other. If you have them connected now, be aware that if there are problems with the faucet, your hose may have to be cut in order to get it off.
Additionally, please read handbook and site rules. Any hardware (hoses, sprayers, nozzles, splitters etc.) attached to garden faucets and maintenance of said items are the responsibility of individual gardeners, not garden staff.
Roads and Parking
- Speed limit is 3 MPH. (Primarily for safety, but also to keep the dust down.)
- Sunshine's roads provide access to plots and common areas. Gardeners should not
- Park on roads except to unload a heavy load from vehicle
- drive on roads when wet
- drive around barriers
- drive into another gardener's plot, or
- put plants or other items in the road.
- Cars may not be left idling while at the garden.
- Park only in the front parking area or your common area. On weekends there are parking spaces on Sunshine and 49th Street.
Handbook and Site rules specifically state that Parking on garden roads is strictly prohibited.. Park in the parking lot or common areas only. When the emergency vehicle enters SCG, they may (I hope not) be coming to assist You. How inconvenient it would be for them to have to wait for folks to move cars.
Sunshine Community Garden was fined a few months ago for the dumpster being over filled. Please help us to avoid this by following a few simple guidelines:
Fill the dumpster from the back (under the hinges and further to the rear) to the front. If you put stuff in the front, it tends to stay there and eventually leads to a large unused gap in the back. It will in effect turn our 4 cubic yard capacity into 3 cubic yards.
If you think the dumpster is full, contact me (Steve Camp, I'm there a lot) or Randy Thompson (he's there a lot). We can usually compact stuff to make more space.
Follow the rules regarding what goes into the dumpster and what does not, there's signage close by.
If the dumpster actually does get full before pick up day, I'm working on finding a spot where we can store a reasonable overage, to be loaded after the dumpster is emptied. Please contact me if this happens.
When you're done with your project, please close the lids.
Priority Tasks
Maintaining common paths and common areas. If you have plants extending into common paths, trim them. The common paths are designed to allow the biggest wheelbarrows that we own to traverse them unimpeded.
TSVBI:
- Weeding paths in TSBVI garden and wood chip areas on west side. (This is normally needed. Try to get out roots. Be sure to smooth out paths after weeding to facilitate TSBVI students moving around garden).
- Picking up trash in compost area and along fence lines.
- Cleaning the street curb gutters of dirt and debris buildup. (At places in the curb gutter along Sunshine Dr. And 49th St. soil has built up and grass is beginning to grow. Scrape off with shovel and put in wheelbarrow. If debris is gravel it can be put in low places in the parking lot, otherwise, destination is dumpster.
Regular:
- Mowing (Please check area around trailer and greenhouses). The mowing season is picking up (if it ever rains, it will pick up exponentially. It's way easier to keep it mowed than try to catch up when it gets overgrown.
- Maintaining common paths. (Gardeners are required to maintain a 2' strip of common paths adjacent to their plot.)
- Mowing and cleaning up overgrown/messy places in common areas.
Note: TSBVI hour tasks can also count as regular hours.
Your Zone Coordinator may have more tasks than are listed here. Contact them if you feel that you have run out of things to do.
Garden Tasks - By Steve Camp (April 16, 2022)
Howdy! I hope everyone is having a great planting season so far!
Next Scheduled Workday - April 23 from 08:00 until 10:00
Please contact Zone Coordinator Marilyn Landberg on Saturday 23 morning for specific instructions.
Workdays often evolve into social events! SCG is a fantastic place to meet new friends and learn both new and old gardening techniques. There's a wealth of knowledge here and experienced people that love to share it.
New Gardeners
There are several new gardeners at SCG! Please don't hesitate to introduce yourself and y'all get to know each other a little and share garden knowledge and tips. Let's emphasize the Community in Community Gardens.
Hose Connections
Please do not connect hoses with aluminum fixtures to our brass faucets. These two metal alloys will chemically bond, effectively welding them to each other. If you have them connected now, be aware that if there are problems with the faucet, your hose may have to be cut in order to get it off.
Additionally, please read handbook and site rules. Any hardware (hoses, sprayers, nozzles, splitters etc.) attached to garden faucets and maintenance of said items are the responsibility of individual gardeners, not garden staff.
Roads and Parking
- Speed limit is 3 MPH. (Primarily for safety, but also to keep the dust down.)
- Sunshine's roads provide access to plots and common areas. Gardeners should not
- Park on roads except to unload a heavy load from vehicle
- drive on roads when wet
- drive around barriers
- drive into another gardener's plot, or
- put plants or other items in the road.
- Cars may not be left idling while at the garden.
- Park only in the front parking area or your common area. On weekends there are parking spaces on Sunshine and 49th Street.
Handbook and Site rules specifically state that Parking on garden roads is strictly prohibited.. Park in the parking lot or common areas only. When the emergency vehicle enters SCG, they may (I hope not) be coming to assist You. How inconvenient it would be for them to have to wait for folks to move cars.
Sunshine Community Garden was fined a few months ago for the dumpster being over filled. Please help us to avoid this by following a few simple guidelines:
Fill the dumpster from the back (under the hinges and further to the rear) to the front. If you put stuff in the front, it tends to stay there and eventually leads to a large unused gap in the back. It will in effect turn our 4 cubic yard capacity into 3 cubic yards.
If you think the dumpster is full, contact me (Steve Camp, I'm there a lot) or Randy Thompson (he's there a lot). We can usually compact stuff to make more space.
Follow the rules regarding what goes into the dumpster and what does not, there's signage close by.
If the dumpster actually does get full before pick up day, I'm working on finding a spot where we can store a reasonable overage, to be loaded after the dumpster is emptied. Please contact me if this happens.
When you're done with your project, please close the lids.
Priority Tasks
Maintaining common paths and common areas. If you have plants extending into common paths, trim them. The common paths are designed to allow the biggest wheelbarrows that we own to traverse them unimpeded.
TSVBI:
- Weeding paths in TSBVI garden and wood chip areas on west side. (This is normally needed. Try to get out roots. Be sure to smooth out paths after weeding to facilitate TSBVI students moving around garden).
- Picking up trash in compost area and along fence lines.
- Cleaning the street curb gutters of dirt and debris buildup. (At places in the curb gutter along Sunshine Dr. And 49th St. soil has built up and grass is beginning to grow. Scrape off with shovel and put in wheelbarrow. If debris is gravel it can be put in low places in the parking lot, otherwise, destination is dumpster.
Regular:
- Mowing (Please check area around trailer and greenhouses). The mowing season is picking up (if it ever rains, it will pick up exponentially. It's way easier to keep it mowed than try to catch up when it gets overgrown.
- Maintaining common paths. (Gardeners are required to maintain a 2' strip of common paths adjacent to their plot.)
- Mowing and cleaning up overgrown/messy places in common areas.
Note: TSBVI hour tasks can also count as regular hours.
Your Zone Coordinator may have more tasks than are listed here. Contact them if you feel that you have run out of things to do.
Weeder Content
Please submit
weekly weeder articles, photos, and recipes by Wednesday to both Co-Editors:
Maria Beach at dr.maria.beach@gmail.com
Garden Thoughts
Calendar
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Second Tuesday of every month.
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