From the Gardens Registrar: How This Place Works; Volunteer Opportunity; Don’t Take the  Bricks; Birdhouses; Reminder About Opening Day March 20

Hello Gardeners,

 HOW THIS PLACE WORKS – Who runs these gardens, anyway? (No, not the Registrar – I just assign plots, answer questions from gardeners, and make feeble attempts to enforce the rules.) Surprise – you do! These gardens are actually run by the gardeners. Since our gardens are on University property, the UW does have some say in what we do and how we do it, but primarily our policies and projects are created by the gardeners. We have a Garden Committee that meets the second Wednesday of every month (currently via Zoom), and we have an email discussion list – every gardener is allowed and encouraged to participate in both of these things. The Garden Committee is led by two Co-Chairs, who run meetings and lead the group in planning and decision-making. Which leads me to:

 VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY – We currently need a Co-Chair for the Garden Committee. This involves very little work other than attending the monthly one-hour meeting and putting together an agenda every month. (There are occasional crisis situations that may involve more, but that’s unusual.) New gardeners, as well as long-term gardeners, are welcome to apply. We would especially appreciate having a Co-Chair to represent University Houses Gardens. To apply, please send me an email, explaining why you would like the position, and telling us a little about your background. If you have any experience herding cats, that would be helpful. We will accept these emails for two weeks, and then invite candidates to our next meeting, April 14, to meet the committee.

 THOSE BRICKS AND BLOCKS BY THE WEED PILE AT EH– Please do not take these bricks and blocks to your plots for your own personal building projects. We will be using these to shore up the 900 row as soon as the current pandemic allows us to have workdays. We also do not encourage people to put bricks and blocks in their plots, because they don’t stay on the surface – they sink, and make problems for future gardeners. (There are bricks buried in my plot, for instance, which are a nuisance.)

 BIRDHOUSES – We have received a request from the volunteers who monitor the bluebird boxes that are part of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve. The Biocore Bluebird Trail consists of eight Bluebird boxes located along the edges of the Biocore prairie, which is above the Eagle Heights Gardens. They also take care of the Purple Martin House at the northeast corner of the gardens. Their mission is to provide, preserve and protect habitat and nesting sites for song and migratory birds. (A number of our gardeners are part of this group, and thank you.)

There are about 25 birdhouses in the Eagle Heights Gardens, mostly very old and in bad shape. They have asked that our gardeners take them down. Although it’s nice to think of attracting birds to our gardens, the only birds that use these houses are English sparrows, starlings, and other invasives which compete with bluebirds and other native species. The native birds we enjoy in our gardens, such as robins, finches, warblers, cardinals, blackbirds, and native sparrows, do not use these birdhouses. If you have a birdhouse at Eagle Heights, please take it down. If you have questions or need help removing the house, please let me know. The English sparrows don’t need any help from us, but the bluebirds do.

OPENING DAY MARCH 20 – A reminder that our Opening Day will be Saturday, March 20. On that day, the tools and carts that have been stored in the garden sheds for the winter will be brought out. We will also have some free plant pots and trays available at both gardens. More of these will come out in the next few weeks, so you don’t have to be there on Saturday to get some. As I mentioned last week, we have lots of free seeds to distribute, and those will start appearing on the share shelves at both gardens beginning next week, depending on the weather. Just keep an eye out.

 Happy Gardening,

Kathryn