Sunshine Weekly Weeder Newsletter
12 May 2016
www.sunshinecommunitygardens.org
NEW Feature - Gardener's Picture page
If you are signed up to receive the Weekly Weeder and have not been receiving it, please let Sharon at scgardenweb@gmail.com know. Thanks.
Quarterly All Gardeners Meeting, & Board Elections
Saturday, May 14th
Will met at the trailer at 10 a.m.
Breakfast tacos will be served
Agenda:
- Plant sale results - Present check to TSBVI
- Financial Report
- Tomato tasting
Reminders:
- Services hours due at the end of June
- Locking garden doors and gate
- Proper tool care
- Common pathways
Board Election:
- Introduce candidates
- Voting
- Director Nominees
- Bill Cason
- Lori Dobbin
- Randy Thompson
- Kurt Mitschke
- Steve Uecker
- Secretary Nominee - Shannon Posern
2017 Nominating Committee members will also be elected. See below.
Nominations can be made from the floor at the meeting and there will be anonymous absentee voting from Sunday through Thursday. An email will be sent out to the absentees on Sunday with a link to the ballot.
See the Sunshine website for Job Descriptions and nominee bios. We'll be serving breakfast tacos, so show up and vote!
2017 Board Nominations
In 2017 we will vote in a new President, Vice President and Treasurer. The gardeners currently nominated for Nominating Committee are Marianne Mulray, Jennifer Woertz, Margaret Powis, Susan Prosperie, and Ila Falvey. If you would like to be on this committee, please let Ila know. Ila.falvey@gmail.com. Nominating Committee members serve for one year. The membership of the Initiative shall elect the Nominations Committee at the Annual Meeting of the Initiative for one year terms.
Visit from A&M
On May 4th two Texas A&M plant pathologists, Kim Cochran and Kevin Ong, conducted a workshop on plant diseases at the garden. It was a joint project with the Master Gardeners. Sunshine wants to thank both of them for traveling to Austin for the field study. Participants (both Travis Country Master Gardeners and Sunshine Gardeners) enjoyed learning about and identifying plant diseases. Thanks also to Patty Leander who arranged this event.
Below is some information to keep in mind.
- Tomatoes are affected by a variety of fungal diseases that are difficult to identify in the field. To properly identify them, an expert needs to examine the spores under the microscope. Tomato diseases can also be caused by bacteria and viruses
- Removing infected leaves can slow the spread of blight.
- Spent plants from other seasons are hosting lots of insects and disease organisms. Removing them slows the transfer to other plants.
- Mulching and watering from below slow the spread of fungal spores from soil.
- Cleaning tools each time they are used prevents the spread of pathogens from plot to plot.
- Crowding plants fosters conditions that favor disease.
- Standing water is providing a home for mosquitoes.
- A new problem for basil to look out for is Basil Downy Mildew
Bulk Compost Sale Continues!
We still have plenty of compost for purchase and use by Sunshine gardeners. We are selling it at our cost, not as a fund-raiser. To simplify the process, we are using five-gallon buckets as the unit of measure. One bucket will cost one dollar. Buckets and shovels will be available, but we ask that you leave the buckets at the pile and use a wheelbarrow to transport the compost - just fill up as many buckets as you want to buy and dump them into the wheelbarrow. Since there is plenty of compost left you can take as much as you need. There is a cash-box in the greenhouse for you to leave payment in cash or check. The compost is "Dr. Gobbler" brand turkey compost, a product that has produced good results for the gardeners who have been using it so far at Sunshine.
If you have any questions, please contact Jeff Monks (garden@jeffmonks.com).
Herb Garden Request
Hi Fellow Gardeners! Do you have hidden arts and crafts talents that you are looking to share? The new herb garden is starting to fill in, and we would love if you have any ideas for decorative markers for the different herbs. The little plastic markers are utilitarian, but they tend to fade and break over time.
Please contact Jen Woertz at jen@enjeneer.com if you would like to help with this project.
Obituary
Square Foot Gardener - Mel Bartholomew - Obituary
YES, WE CAN: TOMATOES
Where: Sustainable Food Center, 2921 E 17th St, 78702
Date: Saturday, June 11th
Time: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Website
Community gardeners are welcome to attend the demonstration part of the class and then have open access to our kitchen for canning. We will provide burners and some shared canning gear; bring your own tomatoes, jars, lids and canning gear if you want to have a dedicated station.
The class is $40 and the open access for canning your own tomatoes is $15. Community Gardeners who want to put up their harvests can pay just the $15 and observe the canning class.
If you plan to attend this class, please let Shannon Posern know so that she can track how many Sunshine gardeners will attend and possibly setup a carpool from our community garden.
Officer and Zone Coordinator Contacts - Sunshine Garden
Officers
- President - Jeff Monks garden@jeffmonks.com
- Vice President - Jim Willmann jhwillmann@gmail.com
- Secretary - Shannon Posern shannonposern@gmail.com
- Treasurer - Caroline Limaye scgtreasurer1@gmail.com
- Director - Vacant
- Director - Kay McMurry scg.plots@gmail.com
- Director - Katy Davis katydavis@austin.rr.com
Zone Coordinators
- Zone 1, Martin Morales marmoral512@gmail.com
- Zone 2, Katy Davis katydavis@austin.rr.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, Jing Li jingli80@yahoo.com
- Zone 8, Irina Kadukova irina@austinshrooms.com
- Zone 9, Kerry Howell casonhowell@gmail.com
- Zone 10, Christopher Schroder christopher.s.schroder@gmail.com
Other Coordinators
- Weekly Weeder Newsletter - Margaret Powis purslane2013@gmail.com
- Plant Sale - Michael Hall fibercable@austin.rr.com
- TSBVI Liason & Volunteer Coordinator - Janet Adams jartdaht@gmail.com
- Plot Rental - Kay McMurry scg.plots@gmail.com
- Compost Coordinator - Janet Adams jartdaht@gmail.com
- Compost Tea - Jennifer Woertz jennifer.woertz@urs.com
- Education Committee - Shannon Posern shannonposern@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
- Compost Tea - Jennifer Woertz jennifer.woertz@urs.com
- Website Coordinator - Sharon Rempert scgardenweb@gmail.com
Record Service Hours Online - the Virtual Green Binder
