12 May, 2022
www.sunshinecommunitygardens.org
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In this Issue:
- Purple Martins at Sunshine
- Meet a Very Young Gardener!
- Goal: Let's Eliminate Khaki Weed This Year!
- More Weeder on Weeds
- Next Workday & Meeting: May 21st, 8am
- Annual All-Gardener Meeting Topics
- Additional Bios for the Upcoming Board Election
- Service Hours Task List from Steve Camp
Purple Martins at Sunshine
In February and March, the first Purple Martins arrived in Austin from their winter home in the Amazon Rainforest. I know many gardeners are excited when these large swallows return to Sunshine Gardens and delight us with their loud chirps, burbles and amazing flight patterns.
Denise Dailey has overseen the care of the colony of martins at the garden for several years, along with the help of other volunteers. She provided us with a recent update and reports that the European Starlings which killed several adult martins in the North Pole gourds last season have been eliminated. Sadly, this does not mean the problem is entirely solved. They have moved to the Compost Rack on the other side of the garden. Denise has been removing starling nests and replacing the gourds with a more resistant opening. It is a slow process and she will be observing if the Martins accept the new gourds at the Compost pole. She expects that this will force the starlings to go elsewhere for housing.
Already, there are quite a few martin nests with eggs now. Stay tuned and I will pass information from Denise as it comes along. -- Written by Dana Kuykendall
Meet one of our youngest gardeners!
One of Sunshine's youngest gardeners, Wilhelmina, likes to look for ????, pull ????, and "help" mulch (on this day, pine needles). Here she is having a snack break with her dad, Sam, who has been a Sunshiner since September 2019.
Sam hails from the UK and very much enjoys Fall gardening. Asked about what he enjoys about Sunshine, Sam said: "Man, that's tough. It's a magical place, but I'd have to say winding up my neighbors Bob Easter and Kay McMurray is one of my favorite things. lol. We love those guys :)' -- Photo by Walter Kuhl
Goal: Let's Eliminate Khaki Weed This Year!!!
To encourage gardeners to make khaki weed removal a priority, the board has designated it a TSBVI service hour task. Khaki weed is starting to grow and removing before it sets burrs will help control it. All gardeners are strongly encouraged to look for khaki weed growing near their plot and remove it now. The area around tool shed and the front lawn also have khaki weed.
Gardeners are reminded that spring service hours must be completed by June 30, or they will be billed for unworked hours. Every gardener must work at least 1 TSBVI hour for each plot assigned regardless of plot size. Unworked TSBVI hours are billed at $50 per unworked hour.
More from the Weeder on Weeds
There are many reasons to keep weeds out of your garden. Weeds not only compete for water, nutrients, and growing space but also provide a haven and hiding place for disease and pests. Weeds controlled early in the season can help prevent these issues and slow the spread of the nuisance plants.
By pulling weeds when they're small, they're not only simpler to remove, but they also don't get a chance to bloom and go to seed, which significantly increases weed problems In your garden and your neighbors.
Also if a Plot becomes overrun by weeds it becomes a compliance issue.
Compliance includes:
- harvesting vegetables and/or fruits regularly
- keeping the plot from becoming overrun with weeds
- removing plants at the end of their productive life
- keeping a two-feet strip of any common path and common area bordering the plot clear of encumbrances from the plot, weed free and passable
- keeping a one-foot strip inside plot along common borders with adjoining plots free of weeds
Now that it is warm and we have had some rain it is time to get ahead of the weed problem. We have an abundance of leaves at this time and they are a wonderful soil cover to keep weeds down. -- Written by Kerry Howell, Zone Coordinator
Next Workday & All-Gardener Meeting
The next Workday will conveniently take place just before the All-Gardeners Meeting on May 21st.
When: Saturday, May 21 from 8am to
10am followed by meeting from 10am to 11am
Where: Lawn in front of the trailer
Annual All-Gardener Meeting Topics
As stated above, the annual all-gardeners meeting will be Saturday 5/21 at 10:00 in the front lawn area. The board has recently made, or is in process of making, decisions on several topics on which it will seek member feedback at the meeting.
The monthly cost of the dumpster has increased to $520/mo. or more than $6,000/yr. The board has decided it needs to get this cost down by reducing either the frequency of pickups or the size of dumpster used or ideally both. The only way to do this is reduce the amount of waste disposed of in the dumpster. As the first step in doing this, the board has decided to limit what is disposed of in dumpster to non-plant waste. All plant waste will be disposed of in compost area in one of two piles. One pile will be for plant materials used for composting operations. The other pile will be for any plant material including khaki weed, diseased plants, woody plants, etc. (i.e., the plants gardeners are currently putting in dumpster) which Sunshine will periodically have hauled off. No plant waste of any kind will go into /dumpster.
Replacing of the Sunshine perimeter fence is almost complete. The Sunshine board will need to decide if the new fence will be kept cleared or whether vines will be allowed to grow on the fence. Some gardeners liked the vines on the old fence and the privacy they provided. Other gardeners prefer a clear fence. A clear fence is also easier to maintain since hackberries and other weeds are easier to remove. The new fence is 8' high which means the top can be reached only with a ladder which may make managing any vines more difficult.
Last fall, the board arranged to have Squeaky Frog Farm sell plants to Sunshine gardeners and deliver them to the Sunshine greenhouse. If gardeners would like to have such arrangements for this fall, the board will need to start making the arrangements.
In addition to these "member feedback needed" topics, the annual meeting will include the annual reports of the president and treasurer, voting on secretary, directors and Nominating Committee and an opportunity for members to raise any concerns they may have.
Additional Bios for Board Elections
** Note that all bios - from each week in the Weeder - can be seen on the website.
Juan Pedro Maestre (Director)
I have been a gardener in community gardens for ~11 years. Nevertheless, my passion for plants comes from my mum. We always had our patio with plenty of pots and beautiful plants. I even remember my grandma's patio all green and with beautiful flowers and a grape vine that produced delicious fruits. At some point my mum included some veggies and that was so much fun and instructive. When I came to Austin in 2011 I joined Alamo Community Garden (~30 gardeners) thanks to my roommate who was already gardening there. There, not only did I learn a variety of veggie gardening techniques and a lot about the plants and the seasonal cycles, but also I learned the importance of the community when gardening. ACG has a consensus-based system and that led to plenty of instructive discussions. Thanks to that organization, my passion for gardening strengthened so much that I now would not know how to have fully meaningful life without all the benefits the activity brings to my life.
After I moved from my neighborhood, I joined the UT Community garden at Colorado Apartments. There, the system was different, with a more hierarchical structure. That experience showed me that there are different structures that can work, all with pros and cons. I still found my community there and I gardened happily for 2 years. Two years ago, after I moved to the North Loop, I joined Sunshine Community Gardens, famous for its large size and kind community. Certainly, I quickly saw that larger communities can also provide huge benefits, from resources, to the large amount of knowledge and caring that they can provide. SCGs has another governance system I had not seen yet, with a very organized and a more classical democratic structure. In all community gardens I have participated in the past, I engaged actively in their governance, no matter their structure, always participating in meetings and decision-making processes that moved the community forward.
I cannot finish this bio without mentioning what gardening and community gardens have brought to my life. These experiences have taught me the importance of community, caring and time. In a world where the fortunate can order something and have it within hours, I feel I had lost the appreciation for the real value of things. Gardening showed me the importance of patience, how things need to be cared for, prepared appropriately, and allow nature to take its course. It also taught me that what belongs to nature, nature can take it anytime, to be grateful for anything we have everyday, and to accept gracefully the loss when nature takes a turn and our plants die (i.e. polar vortexes or hail). Finally, I've learned to appreciate the knowledge and advice of our senior gardeners and our responsibility to help keep them safe. I am looking forward to contributing to help the organization, and ultimately give more people the opportunity to have community garden experience in their lives.
Iris Slevin (Director)
My earliest memories include farming and gardening. I grew up on a farm in the Hill Country on the property my family has owned since they settled in Texas. My grandparents were share-croppers, and my grandmother always had a garden to add more ingredients to the pantry. The largest crops included corn, cantaloupe, green beans and potatoes.
I found Sunshine Community Garden at the start of the pandemic when I was out for a drive alone. I took a stroll through the many plots and found comfort in the familiarity when the rest of the world was changing so quickly. My next step was to read up on the website and ask for some opportunities to volunteer while I waited for my name to come up for an available plot.
My goal in serving on the board would be to give back to a place that brings me so much.
Warm Regards,
Iris
Garden Tasks - By Steve Camp
Howdy! I hope everyone is enjoying the weather!
Next Scheduled Workday
Saturday 5/21/22 8am - 10am (before All Gardeners Meeting at 10:05)
Please contact Zone Coordinator Mary Gifford (mgifford513@gmail.com) on Saturday 21 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 Garden.
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.
Priority Tasks
Khaki Weed Season is Upon Us! For the uninitiated, Khaki weed is an invasive plant that infects the garden in late spring, summer, and fall. We are determined every year to eradicate it as much as possible. To this end, we are allowing digging up khaki weed to be counted as TSVBI hours until further notice.
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).
Mowing between fence and street along 49th St. and Sunshine Dr. along and 10' inside fence.
Picking up trash in compost area and along fencelines.
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.
Note: TSVBI hours can also count as regular hours.
Regular:
Mowing, edging (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.
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.
Slow Down (3 MPH!) You're on Garden Time! Enjoy!
Weeder Content
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) by the end of Wednesday preceding publication.
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