From the Registrar: May 27, 2025

 Hello Gardeners,  

Weeds to remove from your garden: Now that the gardening season is underway, many plants are starting to do very well in the gardens. Unfortunately, this also includes weeds and invasive plants. These are easier to remove when they are small, and if they are left to grow, they will produce seeds and spread.  

Here are some photos of a couple of weeds to look out for and remove from your plot. These photos are from today, so they show the current stage of growth of the plants: 

Artemisia Annua: 

 

Canada Thistle: 

 

 

Tree trimming at EH Gardens: This Thursday UW Physical Plant arborists will be removing two limbs from the mulberry tree in the path of the 1200s row at EH Gardens. They will not be entering any garden plots to do this work.  

 

Thanks, and happy gardening,   

Lily   

Maintenance request form:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScyjHBH_xBH229AVwmqTE-2L3znGrLwn3TNJfw2ri9T01MMfA/viewform 

Previous emails:  https://eagleheightsgardens.blogspot.com/  

Gardening resources: https://eagleheightsgardens.org/gardens/organic-growing/ 

From the Registrar: May 22

 Hello Gardeners,  

Workday opportunities: There are two upcoming workday opportunities: 

•  There will be a workday at Eagle Heights Gardens this Saturday, May 24th from 8:30-11:30 am. Five volunteers are needed. The group will meet at the EH garden shed at 8:30 am.  

• There will be a workday at University Houses Gardens on Monday, May 26th from 9am to 12pm. Five volunteers are needed. The group will meet at the UH garden shed at 9 am.  

 

Both workdays will be for digging comfrey and other weeds in common areas. Volunteers should wear long sleeves and bring gloves. Please email me if you’re interested in one of these workdays and I will assign the spots in the order I receive replies.   

 

Thistles: Please look around your plot for Canada Thistle and pull up any plants you see. They have not started to bloom yet, but they will soon. Once they bloom, they will go to seed and spread. Canada Thistles are very invasive here and are not only a problem for the Community Gardens, but for the neighboring Nature Preserve and Biocore Prairie. Organic methods must be used to remove thistles. This means no chemical herbicides are allowed for control. There are some photos of Canada Thistles here to help with identification:  

https://blogs.cornell.edu/weedid/canada-thistle/ 

For the last couple of years, we have had a few people act as “thistle monitors” to keep the Canada Thistle at bay in the communal areas between weeding workdays. Let me know if you’re interested in doing this for your workday. Volunteers work independently to pull thistle from areas like the blackberry patch and borders.   

Standing water: Please turn containers upside down in your plot so they don’t collect rain. Standing water in plots will increase the mosquito population in the gardens by providing a place for them to lay eggs. With all the recent rain, there are many containers full of water throughout the gardens.   

Thanks, and happy gardening,   

Lily   

Maintenance request form:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScyjHBH_xBH229AVwmqTE-2L3znGrLwn3TNJfw2ri9T01MMfA/viewform 

Previous emails:  https://eagleheightsgardens.blogspot.com/  

Gardening resources: https://eagleheightsgardens.org/gardens/organic-growing/ 

From the Registrar: May 14, 2025

Hello Gardeners,  

Plant sale this Sunday! The warm weather plant sale with Blue Moon Community Farm will be this Sunday, May 18th. Here is their plant list: 

https://www.bluemooncommunityfarm.com/media/site/030c761af7-1738416830/2025-blue-moon-seedlings.pdf 

• The plant sale will be at Eagle Heights Gardens by the entrance from 10 am to 12 pm. 
• They accept Cash, Checks, Credit Cards, and Venmo 
• Pricing is the same as the cool weather plant sale: Plants are $4.00 per unit (pot or 4-pack) Volume discount (mix and match): 6 for $22.00, flat of 18 for $60.00 

 

Workday opportunity: There will be a workday at University Houses Gardens on Sunday, May 18th from 2-5 pm. Three volunteers are needed. The work will be cleaning up the weed pile area. Volunteers should wear long sleeves and bring gloves. The group will meet at the UH garden shed at 2 pm. Please email me if you’re interested and I will assign the spots in the order I receive replies.   

 

Cancellations: You can receive a refund if you cancel your plot assignment by the third Friday in May, which is this Friday 5/16. Cancelled plots will be reassigned to new gardeners.     

Garden juries: The garden juries are small groups of gardeners who walk through the gardens and report plots that appear weedy or abandoned (or especially nice). There will be one garden jury for each site (Eagle Heights and University Houses). Eagle Heights will also have a second jury group that does a follow up walkthrough midway between the first group’s visits. There will be four gardeners on each jury.   

 

The juries will meet four times total: in May, June, July, and August. The weed juries will report on specific noxious weeds, like thistles and artemisia, and will remove communal tools and carts from plots. If you’re interested in being on the garden jury, please let me know. 

 

Thanks, and happy gardening,   

Lily   

Maintenance request form:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScyjHBH_xBH229AVwmqTE-2L3znGrLwn3TNJfw2ri9T01MMfA/viewform 

Previous emails:  https://eagleheightsgardens.blogspot.com/  

Gardening resources: https://eagleheightsgardens.org/gardens/organic-growing/ 

From the Registrar: May 7, 2025

Hello Gardeners,  

Workday opportunity: There will be a workday on Monday 5/12 from 10 am to 1 pm at Eagle Heights Gardens. Three volunteers are needed. The work will be digging a ditch for water drainage. Volunteers should wear long sleeves and bring gloves. The group will meet at the EH garden shed at 10 am. Please email me if you’re interested and I will assign the spots in the order I receive replies.  

Borders and fences: Every gardening season there are often questions about border locations and fence placement. Please remember that a six-inch unplanted and weeded border must be maintained on the edges of all plots. Any fence must be six inches inside the plot on sides the plot borders another plot. On a side that a plot borders a path, the fence can be right on the edge but no further. Nothing may be planted outside of the plot borders in the paths. If you have any questions about your borders, please contact me.   

  

Row cover still available: Please let me know if you would like to purchase some row cover. We have a limited supply left. The pieces are approximately 7 ft x 20 ft and they are $5 each, cash only.   

Warm weather plant sale reminder: The warm weather plant sale will be held by Blue Moon Community Farm Sunday 5/18 from 10 am to 12 pm at Eagle Heights Gardens.   

  

Thanks, and happy gardening,    

Lily    

  

Maintenance request form:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScyjHBH_xBH229AVwmqTE-2L3znGrLwn3TNJfw2ri9T01MMfA/viewform  

Previous emails:  https://eagleheightsgardens.blogspot.com/   

Gardening resources: https://eagleheightsgardens.org/gardens/organic-growing/