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