From the Gardens Registrar: Workday This Sunday; Timebanking; Got Burdock?; Weed Juries

Hello Gardeners,

WORKDAY THIS SUNDAY – We will have a workday on Sunday, May 26, at Eagle Heights, from 9am – Noon. The task will be general clean-up and maintenance. Garden gloves would be helpful. Here’s the link to sign up: https://doodle.com/poll/3mntue68qxxpwa9k

TIMEBANKING – One of our gardeners suggested that this might be useful to our gardens, and so I am sharing the information. Timebanking is an exchange system in which people help each other and receive time credits for their service. Anyone who helps another member earns one TimeBank Hour for each hour of help given, which they can then spend on an hour of service from anyone else in the network. Within the garden, possible service activities include watering, hauling leaf mulch, and pulling weeds. The hope is that gardeners can be more successful if they can easily get help when they need it. (This is a completely voluntary program, and has no connection with our workday requirements.)

If you are interested in learning more, take a look at the Dane County TimeBank’s website: https://www.danecountytimebank.org/ We decided to go through them rather than trying to set up our own system. So, if you want to participate, you will start by signing up with the DCTB. Doing this doesn’t obligate you to do any work, and you can stop your participation at any time. You do not need to participate in the DCTB beyond activities in our gardens. Please note that to sign up, you will need to take a half-hour training, and also submit to a background check. Please let me know if you are interested in trying this or have more questions about how this would work at Eagle Heights.

NOXIOUS WEEDS – We have a number of noxious and invasive weeds in our gardens, including Canada Thistle and Common Burdock. Both of these plants get very tall, have deep roots, are difficult to get rid of, and spread widely through seeds as well as their roots. This is a link to a picture of Canada Thistle: http://www.msuturfweeds.net/details/_/canada_thistle_18/  This is a link to information on Burdock: https://www.ediblewildfood.com/burdock.aspx  If you have these weeds in your garden plot, you’ll want to get rid of them. Try one of the new weed poppers to sever the roots. But burdock actually is edible and has some medicinal uses. If you have burdock in your plot, please let me know – one of our gardeners actually wants these plants, and will come dig it out for you. As for thistles, nobody wants them, so just get rid of them as soon as you can. And you’ll probably have to dig them out a number of times before they’re finally all gone.

TURKEYS REVISITED – One gardener wrote in to say that turkeys ate everything they planted until they put up a low fence. She says they can fly, but they’re lazy and not very smart, and haven’t made the effort since their fence went up.

WEED JURIES - We will be starting Weed Juries in June, and we’re looking for volunteers. The purpose of Weed Juries is to find garden plots that are extremely weedy, particularly with invasive plants such as thistles. (Jurors can also take note of very well-managed gardens.) After a jury meets, they send me their notes, and I contact the owners of the problem gardens. Some gardeners are able to improve their plots; other gardeners realize they don’t really want to garden any more, and their plots are assigned to new gardeners. 

Each jury has three people, and is responsible for one section of the garden. The jurors will inspect their section three times over the summer - in June, July, and August. Each jury will set their own schedule. The total amount of time should about equal three hours, and it’s a workday equivalent. The areas at Eagle Heights are 100’s – 300’s, 500’s – 700’s, 800’s – 1000’s, and 1100’s – 1300’s. So we’re looking for 12 people altogether. You’re welcome to apply for the jury in your garden area, or a different area, if you prefer. People who served on juries in previous years and want to do so again are welcome, and I hope that some new people will also want to sign up. It’s also good to have a mixture of experienced gardeners and new gardeners. At University Houses Gardens, the three jurors from the last two years are returning again this year, and they do a fantastic job, so we won’t need any new volunteers there.

I will get more specific instructions to jury members before jurying starts. Let me know if you are interested, and if so, which section of the garden you would want to inspect.

Happy Gardening,

Kathryn