Political Commentary

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

From the Gardens Registrar: Last Compost Sale; Workday; Plant Swap; Seed Give-away; Share Shelves; Wood Chips for University Houses; Water Problems; Garden Talk; Radishes


Hello Gardeners,

COMPOST SALE AT EAGLE HEIGHTS - We need to use up the compost, and many gardeners have inquired about it, so we are going to hold a final (for this year) compost sale at Eagle Heights this Sunday, June 9, from 10am – 11am ONLY. Get here early if you want some – it won’t last long. Workday volunteers will again fill carts about 2/3 full, and deliver them to your garden plot, for the low low price of $5 per load – cash and exact change preferred.

WORKDAY AT EAGLE HEIGHTS – We will also hold a workday this Sunday, June 9, from 9am – Noon. Part of the workday will consist of filling and delivering carts of compost to gardeners, but the other part of the task will be path maintenance. Gloves are recommended. Here’s the link to sign up: https://doodle.com/poll/z69apm3d9ycfvt5h

PLANT SWAP AND SEED GIVE-AWAY – If you have extra garden plants to share, bring them to the Garden Arbor Sunday morning. And stop by if you want to pick up a few more plants for your plot. Also, we will have seeds for beans, summer and winter squash, cucumbers, melons, and pumpkins to give away.

THE SHARE SHELVES ARE A MESS – Both gardens have share shelves near their entrances. These are places you can leave extra plant pots, seeds, plants, and vegetables. Also…..odd things. Bits of wire, broken tomato cages, single gardening gloves, old toys, etc. It’s true that many of us gardeners are scroungers, and one person’s junk may be just the thing someone else is looking for to complete a project. But frankly, the share shelves are often filled with junk that everyone considers junk. If you’re getting rid of something, and think it might be of use to someone else, sure, go ahead and leave it on the share shelf. But, if that object is still there a couple of days later, please toss it into the dumpster.

WOOD CHIPS FOR UNIVERSITY HOUSES – We have not forgotten that the U Houses Gardens have been out of wood chips for months. The road is firm enough that delivery is no longer a problem. But we can’t control when one of our sources for chips will have some to deliver to us. However, a plan is now underway to get a delivery from Accurate Tree Service, hopefully in the next week or so.

WATER PROBLEMS – At Eagle Heights, there has been very little water pressure in the 1300’s. There is probably a seep from the plumbing, so the water has been turned off until the problem can be fixed, we hope by this weekend. Meanwhile, gardeners in the lower parts of the garden are struggling with standing water in their gardens. Our previous Registrar has made some suggestions: raised beds can help with soil drainage, as will poking holes deep in the clay in the paths between the beds. You can add leaves and other organic materials to the beds before planting them, and then don’t walk on them, so they will retain some aeration. All of this is work, and it takes time to improve drainage. But as she says, every part of the garden has different challenges.

GOOD SOURCE OF GARDEN INFORMATION:  GARDEN TALK – Every Friday morning, Larry Meiller has a special feature called “Garden Talk” on his talk show on Wisconsin Public Radio. Larry has a garden expert as his guest, and they take calls from listeners with garden questions. The show is on from 11am – 12:30pm, and the local WPR ideas station is 970AM.

RADISHES – What can you do with radishes besides carving them into exquisite flowers for garnishes? You can actually eat them! Here are some unusual ideas: https://www.epicurious.com/archive/blogs/editor/2014/04/the-tk-best-ways-to-eat-radishes.html


Happy Gardening,
Kathryn

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