Sunshine Community Gardens

12 September 2019

www.sunshinecommunitygardens.org

Gardener's Picture page

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Faces of Sunshine

Jessica Hastings Zone: 1

I would say that I'm pretty new to gardening, being that I've only really been gardening as a full time hobby for two years. A fun fact about me is that three years ago I hiked the Appalachian Trail, and while I was doing that I foraged and discovered edible plants and edible mushrooms - it changed my outlook on how I was eating and how I was thinking about food and plants and all of that so when I got off the trail and came back into normal everyday life I just wanted to have plants. At first I started off on my balcony with herbs and a few other plants and now I have this garden. Seeing how it's done in nature and trying to mirror that when growing food is important. When you drive by these huge farms and it's all corn or soy you know that's not how that plant would actually choose to grow in nature.

Gardening tip from Jessica: The soil is everything that should be the main focus of a garden.

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Thefts at Sunshine

While we cannot control the critter, bird, and bug thefts of what we grow, Walter Kuhl hopes we can do better about controlling the human thefts. The unhappy papaya farmer, Walter Kuhl, reports as follows:

"First papaya of the season! Unfortunately I wasn't the one harvesting. I walked up to my garden last Friday just in time to see a young couple twisting a large papaya (pictured below) off my tree.

I angrily escorted them to their car (also pictured below) and made it clear that they are not welcome at SCG ever again. I encourage everyone to watch out for this car."

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Site Rules Proposed Changes

Hello gardeners! The board is updating and improving the rules on three topics. It is empowered to propose and enact rules as elected representatives of the garden, but we wanted get these ideas out there to get member feedback before taking final action. Because of this, the quarterly meeting has been moved back to October in order to allow for input.

Please contact the president with any suggestions or come to the monthly board meetings which occur at 6:00 pm on the second Tuesday of every month at the garden. The board is proposing changes on the following topics:

The first is topic is fees. Our fee system is complex, a simplification would benefit everyone. The following changes are being proposed:

• Clarifying initial fees for new gardeners based on length of growing season left.
• Eliminating clean up fee- this in practice slows plot turn over by requiring numerous communications to urge the clean-up of plot and decide if a refund is warranted. The tool fee of $20.00 will be kept.
• End refunds to people who pay an annual fee late.
• Remove any fees currently in rule language related to moving to a smaller plot.

The second topic is plot turnover timelines. Many gardeners start with the best of intentions and then just walk away from their plots. Zone Coordinators are tasked with contacting, urging and cajoling compliance or figuring out if a gardener has decided to leave. Often there is no response. Meanwhile the garden drifts into a mess that impacts the neighbors.

• Currently, once the formal process starts, gardeners are given 21 days to get the plot back into compliance.
• We would like to require a response within 7 days, if any contact is made the gardener still gets 21 days to clean up their plot.
• If they do not respond to the formal notices of non-compliance (letter and email) the gardener loses their plot after 7 days.

Finally, we would like to adjust the site rules to allow for secondary gardeners on quarter plots.

• Due to the way the rules are currently written, this is not allowed.
• That is frustrating for someone who has been gardening on these plots and participating in our community to have go to the back of the line, start over and leave a plot they have put sweat equity into.

Thank you!
Steve Uecker

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Fall Workdays Scheduled for Second Saturdays

Organized workdays are a great way to complete your service hours and meet fellow Sunshine gardeners. Workdays have been scheduled for the second Saturday of each month September - December with a second December workday scheduled for Saturday 12/28. A short workday is also tentatively planned in conjunction with the Khaki Weedout and BBQ/Potluck scheduled for Saturday 9/21 5:00pm. Watch future Weeders for additional information about the workdays, times, and tasks to be done. The fall workdays are:

• Saturday 9/14 (morning)
• Saturday 9/21 (afternoon) (tentative)
• Saturday 10/12 (morning)
• Saturday 11/9 (morning)
• Saturday 12/14 (morning)
• Saturday 12/28 (morning)

Work Day Saturday- 9/14 from 8:30am-10:30am

There will be an organized workday this Saturday (9/14) from 8:30-10:30. It will be led by zone coordinators Mary Gifford (Zone 5) and Wayne Kuenstler (Zone 2). Organized workdays are a great way for Sunshine gardeners to complete service hours and meet fellow Sunshine gardeners. Projects and tasks needing to be done have been identified including tasks qualifying for TSBVI service hours. Come out Saturday morning and join your fellow gardeners in this workday.

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Save the Date -- Saturday 9/21/19

The Khaki Weedout and Barbecue/Pot Luck will be held on Saturday September 21, 2019 at 5:00pm at Sunshine. It should be cooler by then. Please join your fellow gardeners as we make a concerted effort in our battle to control Khaki Weed. (Wear Gloves). Martin Morales gardener and barbecue master will have his rig at Sunshine for the carnivores. Please bring a side dish or dessert to add to the feast. A "survey monkey" will be sent out shortly so we can plan accordingly for attendance.

It should be cooler by then.

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A Useful Recycling Guide

http://apps.npr.org/plastics-recycling/

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A Friendly Reminder

These 10 buckets are part of the trash from the harvest here pile of compost from last weekend. Tuesday, there were six more buckets collected. Please remember everything done at the garden is done by a volunteer. The debris needs to end up in the dumpster, not on the ground or in any of the piles. Trash needs to be picked up, not left in the compost pile. The buckets also should be returned to where they came from for the next gardener to use (just the like the fire ant solution buckets and the delivered compost buckets).

Thanks, Randy

Central Texas Horticulture

Join Us for Earth-Kind Gardening Field Day September 28th

Posted: 04 Sep 2019 03:14 PM PDT

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and Travis County Master Gardeners invite you to visit the Earth-Kind Demonstration Garden on September 28th, 9 am to 2 pm at the Travis County AgriLife Extension Service, 1600 Smith Road, Austin TX 78721.

Free and open to the public, this fun, hands-on field day involves community members in creative, low-cost ways to grow vegetables, herbs, and fruit to improve the family diet, as well as information about Earth-Kind landscaping.

The field day features an assortment of DIY and demonstration activities, including tool sharpening, composting, grow boxes, and garden art, and information about drip irrigation methods, water conservation, rainwater harvesting, vegetable gardening, Texas Superstar plants and Integrated Pest Management. There are several activities for kids, including an insect identification scavenger hunt. Travis County Master Gardeners are on hand to answer questions and identify plants in the garden. A limited supply of Earth-Kind plants and fall vegetable starts will be available for purchase. Field Day participants also get the chance to sign up for a free rain barrel giveaway.

Workshop Schedule

• 9 am. Compost Bin Construction. Participants will assemble a 3-bin wood and wire composting system on site. Sign up here.
• 11 am. Build a Grow Box. This will be a demonstration on how to construct a grow box, and a hands-on workshop for those wanting to make a smaller grow bucket. Grow Boxes are self-watering, low maintenance gardening containers for small spaces. They are reusable, last for 5 years or more, and are great for vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers. Sign up here.
• 1 pm. Plant a tree with Tom Spencer, Executive Director of TreeFolks. Sign up here.
• 9 am - 1 pm - Bring a gardening hand tool & learn how to clean and sharpen it (no RSVP required)
• 9 am - 1 pm - Construct a bee house (no RSVP required)

Be sure to meet your Travis County AgriLife Extension Agents: Daphne Richards County Extension Agent - Horticulture (and Augie too); Noel Troxclair County Extension Agent - Agriculture and Natural Resources; bring your bug questions to Wizzie Brown Extension Program Specialist- IPM.

For more information, visit our website or call 512-854-9600.

Note about Highway 183 construction. We suggest Airport Boulevard or 7th Street as preferred routes to the AgriLife office.

Visit the Central Texas Horticulture website.

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Upcoming Events at Zilker Botanical Garden

September 9, 2019 - Austin Organic Gardeners' Monthly Meeting - "Growing Food for Our Communities" Panel - 6:00am - 9:00pm

Check out the Austin Organic Gardeners' website.

For more info, check out our Facebook event.

September 14, 2019 - "Selection, Planting and Care of Your Trees" Gardening Seminar - 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Cost: Free with garden admission

Check out the Travis County Master Gardener's website.

For more info, check out our Facebook event.

September 21st & 22nd - The 26th Annual Texas Bamboo Festival - 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Cost: Free with garden admission

Check out the Austin Bamboo Society's website.

For more info, check out our Facebook event.

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Weeder Content

Please email your article or suggestion to Holly Gilman by end of day Wednesday.

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