From the Registrar: March 31, 2023

Hello Gardeners,

Due to the snow, many opening day activities last weekend had to be postponed. The carts and tools are now out, and new gardener orientations will begin this weekend. Plot maps and assignments are posted at both Eagle Heights and University Houses. If you are a new gardener, and you have not already, please remember to sign up for an orientation time.

All orientation groups will meet by the garden sheds at the entrances for both garden sites (Eagle Heights and University Houses).

Seed Fair: The Seed Fair will be held at the Community Center on Saturday April 8th from 9 AM to 11 AM. Each plot will be entitled to 12 free packets of seeds. I hope you can join us!

Cancellations and refunds: If you find that you won’t be able to garden this season, or you no longer want to, you can receive a refund if you cancel your plot assignment by May 1st. The gardens are full, and cancelled plots will be reassigned to people on the waitlist.

Plot markers and corner posts: Please don’t move your numbered plot marker or the corner posts of your plot. The markers are not just for the gardeners of the plots. They also help new gardeners find their way around the gardens, and they help the garden juries correctly identify plots. The corner posts are essential for identifying borders.

Plants and fences can extend to the border only in the front of the plot. On all other sides there must be six inches of space left as a path (so there are 12 inches between plots).

Upcoming plant sales: The plant sales at Eagle Heights will be held by Blue Moon Community Farm this year. There will be two sales:

• Cool weather plant sale: Sun 4/30 10 AM-1 pm
• Warm weather plant sale: Sun 5/21 10 AM-1 pm

Kristen from Blue Moon would like two volunteers to help for each sale. Volunteers will need to arrive at 9:30 and stay to close up after. Please let me know if you’d like to help with either plant sale. It will count as a workday, and I will give the spots out to gardeners in the order I receive replies. I’ll send a reminder before each sale, along with any details I get about prices and which plants will be available.

Thanks, and happy gardening,

Lily

From the Registrar: March 17, 2023

Additional new-gardener orientation times: All new gardeners need to sign up for an orientation. Please reply to sign up for a time at the site where your plot is located. If none of the times work for you, please let me know and we can arrange something else:

Eagle Heights orientations:

• Saturday March 25, 9 am
• Saturday March 25, 11 am
• Saturday April 1st, 11 am
• Saturday April 8th 12:30 pm
• Tuesday April 11th 6 pm

University Houses orientation:

• Saturday, March 25, 1 pm
• Sunday April 2nd, 11 am
• Saturday April 8th 12:30 pm
• Tuesday April 11th 6 pm

Water: The water at both gardens will be turned on in late April or early May, when we can be certain there’s no chance of the pipes freezing. If you need water for early planting, bringing jugs of water to your plot is helpful.

Important date reminders:

• Opening day in the gardens will be Saturday, March 25th.
• The Seed Fair will be held at the Community Center on Saturday April 8th from 9 am to 11 am.

Thanks, and happy gardening,

Lily

From the Registrar: March 10, 2023

Hello Gardeners!

Opening day: Opening Day at the gardens will be Saturday, March 25th. There are currently a small number of carts and tools out at both Eagle Heights and University Houses Gardens, but the remainder will be put out on the 25th. The portable toilets will be delivered to both gardens before opening day. The parking signs on Eagle Heights drive will be changed to allow 4-hour parking for Eagle Heights Gardens on the south side of the street.

Planting Season: Even on opening day it will still be too early to do much in the gardens. The ground is still partially frozen right now, and it may snow again before spring. There will also still be a danger of frost into May that will kill many plants. If you are new to gardening, or if you want a reminder about different planting dates, this is good resource:

http://eagleheightsgardens.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/vegetable_planting_guide.pdf

You can find many other useful documents on this page also if you’re interested:

http://eagleheightsgardens.org/gardens/organic-growing/

If you do decide to start cleaning up and preparing your garden before the planting season begins, try not to walk on or disturb the soil too much while it’s still very wet from the snow thawing. This will compact the soil, and that’s not good for your plants. Marking your paths early in the season to avoid walking in the planting areas can help keep your soil healthy. It’s also good to wait to cover your garden beds with mulch to allow the soil time to warm up.

Seed Fair: The annual Seed Fair will be held at the Community Center on Saturday April 8th from 9 AM to 11 AM. Each plot will be entitled to 12 free packets of seeds. We receive the seeds as generous donations from seed companies each year. I hope to see you all there!

If you are interested in volunteering to help at the Seed Fair, please let me know. The volunteering time will be from 8:15 AM to Noon. We’ll need 30 people to help, and it counts as a workday. I will give out spots in the order I receive replies.

There will be a new event at the Seed Fair this year. Please read the following message about the tuber trade:

Hello Dahlia lovers! We would like to start a new tradition of doing a tuber trade. If you have tubers you would like to split to trade and/or share please bring them to the seed fair. The tuber sharing event will occur concurrently with the seed fair. If you know what variety you have please label the tuber with some tape and a sharpie. Hope to see you there!

Some branches of the Madison Public Library are also handing out free seeds if you’re interested. Details can be found here: https://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/collections/dane-county-seed-library

IMPORTANT: No weeds in the dumpsters please!

We have had some dumping of weeds in the dumpsters by the entrance to Eagle Heights already this spring. Please don’t put any plant matter in the dumpsters. They are only for trash. All plant matter must go to the weed piles.

Thanks, and happy gardening,

Lily