Sunshine Weekly Weeder Newsletter
27 November 2013
www.sunshinecommunitygarden.org
4 Workdays over the next 3 Weeks
Remember Service Hours are due by December 31, 2013.
- 1. & 2. Saturday 30 November and Sun 1 December, 10:00 am - 12:00 pm.
All gardeners are invited to come help clean up the community flower gardens on Saturday and Sunday. The weather should be pleasant and the ground easy to work. Work coordinator: Ila Falvey - 3. Saturday 14th December 9:00 - 11:00 am. For information contact work coordinators: Charlotte Jernigan and Jing Li.
- 4. Sunday 15th December 1:00 - 5:00 pm, For information contact work coordinator: Cheryl Hazeltine
Come out and meet your fellow gardeners and get your work hours done.
Mark your calendars
Sunshine's Annual Holiday Potluck
Sunday December 8th - Sunshine's annual potluck holiday party will be held at 5 o'clock followed by a brief meeting.
There will be door prizes and an opportunity to buy Sunshine T-shirts and Cobra head tools, meet your fellow gardeners, and eat delicious food.
TSBVI Tasks
What counts for TSBVI service hours has not changed much recently.
- We need to continually remove weeds in the paths of the TSBVI garden. If you don't know where their garden is, please see your Zone Coordinator.
- We need to keep the fence cleared of most vegetation the exception being one vine that produces red berries that the birds like. If you need help identifying that, let me know. I am happy to come out and meet people interested in getting their service hours done.
- We need to mow on both sides of the fence that surrounds Sunshine all the way to the streets (49th and Sunshine).
- Pick up trash on both sides of the fence including rocks to avoid mowing them. And pick up trash in the compost area. There are lots of pieces of plastic out there.
- Keep both bus stops we have adopted clean and litter free reporting any graffiti you may discover.
That's the list for now. Please remind everyone that watering DOES NOT count as TSBVI service hours.
Thank you
Janet Adams
512-808-7994
Enhancing our compost operations:
We have started a new compost pile to the south of the existing one. Please put your compostables in the small pile and do not add anything to the large pile or take away any compost. It needs to cook. Also, please take all the inorganic material to the dumpster when screening and taking compost for your plot.
East Side Compost Pedallers (ESCP) has been delivering several hundred pounds of green material to our compost piles on a weekly basis. Additionally they provided the compost signs. Again thanks to ESCP.
Sunshine's Board would like to form a Compost Committee to solicit more ingredients for our pile and to establish a relationship with arborists and landscapers to provide wood chips and leaves. Is anyone interested in being involved in this activity? Please contact Ila.
Recycling/reuse
Any item that is recyclable should be recycled. Additionally gardeners put excess useful items to the left of the tool shed door to be used by Sunshine gardeners - so help yourself.
Which Vegetables Tolerate Frost and Which Don't?
Cold tolerance depends somewhat on preconditioning. For instance, if broccoli has been growing in warm conditions and temperatures drop below 22 degrees F., it will probably be killed. If these same broccoli plants had already experienced cool weather, they would probably survive the sudden cold.
A frost (31-33 degrees F.) will kill beans, cantaloupe, corn, cucumber, eggplant, okra, peas, pepper, potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, tomatoes and watermelon.
Colder temperatures (26-31 degrees F.) may burn foliage but will not kill: broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, chard, lettuce, mustard, onion, radish, and turnip.
The real cold weather champs are beets, Brussel Sprouts, carrots, collards, kale, parsley, and spinach.
Some Useful Sites for Organic Vegetable Gardening:
- organic-center.org -- The Organic Center bringing y0u the science behind organic
- dirtdoctor.com -- Howard Garret's site about Texas organic gardening
- gardeninglaunchpad.com -- A list of sites for the home gardener
- aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu -- Texas A & M horticulture site
- fadr.msu.ru/rodale -- The Rodale Institute and Organic Gardening Magazine
- texasgardener.com -- A magazine for Texas gardeners
- acresusa.com -- A voice for Eco-Agriculture
Have a Very Happy Thanksgiving!
Officer and Zone Coordinator Contacts - Sunshine Garden
Officers
- President - Ila Falvey ila.falvey@gmail.com
- Vice-President - Janet Adams jartdaht@gmail.com
- Secretary - Berk Bettis dolrsdad@aol.com
- Treasurer - Jack Reynolds scgtreasurer1@gmail.com
- Director - Michael Hall fibercable@austin.rr.com
- Director - Kay McMurry scg.plots@gmail.com
- Director - Emily Tisinger etisinger@gmail.com
Zone Coordinators
- Zone 1, Jody Trendler jody.trendler@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 jingli.80@yahoo.com
- Zone 8, Irina Kaducova irina@austinshrooms.com
- Zone 9, Cheryl Hazeltine cph@austin.rr.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@gmailcom
- Plot Rental - Kay McMurry scg.plots@gmail.com
- Carpentry & Repairs - Robert Jarry r.jarry@sbcglobal.net
- Water Leak Repairs - Stewart Nichols sgwater@math.austin.tx.us
- Tools & Wheelbarrows - Bob Easter beaster1@austin.rr.com
- Website Coordinator - Sharon Rempert scgardenweb@gmail.com
Record Service Hours Online - the Virtual Green Binder
