Hello Gardeners,
Welcome to the Gardens for the 2024 gardening season!
Opening day: Opening day in the gardens will be Saturday, March 30th. The portable toilets will be delivered to both gardens before opening day. The parking signs on Eagle Heights drive have been changed to allow 4-hour parking for Eagle Heights Gardens on the south side of the street. Parking is available in the small lot by University Houses Gardens.
*Orientations for new gardeners will begin on opening day. I will send out a schedule soon with dates and times.
Seed Fair: The annual Seed Fair will be held at the Community Center on Saturday April 6th from 9 AM to 11 AM. Each plot will be entitled to some 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 and it counts as a workday. I will assign available volunteer spots in the order I receive replies.
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
Where does waste go in the Gardens? We would like to start this season by making sure that everyone knows where to put different kinds of waste in the Gardens. This is extremely important for keeping the Gardens operating. Partly due to incorrect dumping in the past, we now have some large weed piles that must be sorted by hand before they can be taken away.
WEEDS/PLANT MATTER: Go in the weed piles. Only plant matter can be dumped in these piles. Dirt must be removed from roots. If there is dirt, trash, or sticks in the weed piles they cannot be taken away to a composting site. Sorting the piles is time consuming, and paying for removal can be costly.
TRASH: Goes in the trash dumpsters. If weeds and plants are put in the dumpsters, we may receive a fine.
STICKS: Go in the stick barrels/piles. These piles are for gardeners to take sticks as plant supports. Please do not take sticks out of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve outside the Gardens.
Planting Season: Most years, on opening day it is still too early to do much in the gardens. This year is very warm and may be an exception. However, it could still snow again before spring is here. Even if it is warm in general, there will still be a danger of frost into May that could 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 wet from the snow thawing. This will compact the soil, which is not good for plants. Marking your paths early in the season to avoid walking in the planting areas can help keep your soil healthy.
If you are interested in more information about preparing your garden, please start on page 38 of the garden manual: https://www.eagleheightsgardens.org/tips/garden_manual_v_1.12.pdf
Thanks, and happy gardening,
Lily
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