From the Gardens Registrar: CORONAVIRUS PRECAUTIONS; Seeds; Know Your Boundaries

Hello Gardeners,

VIRUS PRECAUTIONS – More safety suggestions from gardeners:  Carry a plastic ziplock bag with you, with a washcloth and soapy water in it – you can use it to clean your hands when there’s no running water handy. You can also add rubbing alcohol to your bag, and then you have a wipe. We were able to bring some more free tools to the gardens, but of course, they were gone in 30 seconds. If any of you have extra tools you could donate, please bring them to either garden and leave them leaning against the share shelves. The more people who have their own tools, the fewer of us there are sharing them. Wearing garden gloves when you use tools is better than nothing, but the best practice is for all gardeners to sanitize their hands and everything they touch, including tools and carts. We want to keep tools and carts available to everybody, but there is a real risk of spreading disease, so we all have to take this seriously.

SEEDS – Our free spring seeds are almost gone now. If you need to buy seeds, you can get them at grocery stores, hardware stores, and garden centers. (Call ahead to make sure they’re open.)  If you want to order over the Internet, I would recommend the seed companies that donate seeds to us, such as Seed Savers, Renee’s Garden, Territorial, Baker Creek, Johnny’s, and Agway. The best source for Asian vegetables is Kitazawa Seeds in California, although we haven’t been able to get them to donate….

WHAT TO PLANT NOW – It’s still early in the season for spring planting. But, unless your soil is very muddy, you can go ahead and plant peas, lettuce, radishes, kale, Swiss chard, cabbage, broccoli, spinach, and root crops such as beets, turnips, and carrots. These are plants that can stand cool weather and even a little frost. The ground is still cold, so plants won’t grow very quickly at first. But there are so many seeds in a packet that you might as well try planting – if you lose an early crop, you can plant again.

Don’t plant bean seeds now – wait until May. They can be damaged by frost, and they also require warm soil to germinate.

If you have seeds for tomatoes, peppers, or eggplants, these should be started now, inside your house. You will have best results if you buy some seed-starting soil mixture – this is lighter than normal soil, and your seedlings will grow better in it. (You can buy this at hardware stores and garden centers.) If you don’t have regular plant pots, you can use plastic food containers. Put some holes in the bottom for drainage. Get the soil thoroughly wet, then put a few seeds on top, and sprinkle a little more soil over the seeds. Place the pot in a warm, sunny window sill, and keep it moist (but not soggy.) Once the seedlings come up, be sure to give them as much light as you can.  Starting seeds in the house can be tricky. Here’s a link to a website with more detailed instructions: https://www.gardeners.com/how-to/how-to-start-seeds/5062.html

KNOW YOUR BOUNDARIES – If you’re a new gardener, be sure to figure out your boundaries first thing. Each plot has a metal sign in front of it with the plot number. (If it’s a small plot, there is a metal piece under the number with A and B on it at Eagle Heights, or N and S on it at University Houses. (I admit, some of these are missing right now.) There should also be two yellow (or red) posts at the front of the plot – these mark the corners. Your plot extends from one yellow or red marker to the other. BUT every gardener must allow six inches on each side of the plot, including the back, for access. Since your neighbor also must allow six inches, this means there is one foot of empty space between each plot. This space is necessary for you and your neighbors to be able to work, push carts, and connect hoses to water. You are not allowed to plant anything in this space, and you should not have big plants next to it that will grow into it or hang over it. If you put up a fence or trellis, it CANNOT be placed on the boundary – it must be at least six inches into your plot – 12 inches would be better. 

Happy Gardening, and Stay Safe, 

Kathryn

From the Gardens Registrar: CORONOVIRUS PRECAUTIONS; How to Throw Things Away; Bricks and Blocks; More Seeds; Garden Manual; Spring Plant Sale

Hello Gardeners,

CORONAVIRUS PRECAUTIONS – The Garden Committee continues to discuss how we can keep our gardens open and our gardeners safe. Everybody’s being really good about social distancing, and thank you! But the shared tools and carts are a problem. I have already recommended that gardeners bring hand sanitizer and use it to wipe down handles before and after gardening. Wearing gloves of any sort is also helpful, although they do not give complete protection from viruses. If we can find (or make) sanitizer, we will have some at the Gardens, but it’s unlikely we’ll be able to keep it refilled. If you have sanitizer, please bring it with you. If you have extra that you don’t need, please bring some to share.

Hand sanitizer is not as effective against the virus as washing your hands with soap and water, but until our water is turned on for the season, it won’t be possible to do this in the gardens. We can’t get the water turned on until the UW Plumbers can fit us into their schedule, and they are very understaffed at this time. Also, if water is turned on  too early, the pipes could freeze, and be heavily damaged.

At this point, we recommend, for greater safety, that you provide your own tools, if at all possible. At Eagle Heights, we have a couple dozen tools that were donated to us last fall – I have left them at the Share Shelves, and  gardeners may take and keep them in their plots for the time being. (Please do not keep any of the garden tools, with pink handles, in your plot.) However, we will have to continue to share carts and wheelbarrows – there’s no way around this.

During the next few weeks, particularly until the water is turned on, there is only so much that garden management can do – it will be up to each individual gardener to keep safe, and keep from spreading infection. Please do not come to the gardens if you are sick. And be as careful as you can.

HOW TO THROW THINGS AWAY AT EAGLE HEIGHTS/UNIVERSITY HOUSES – If you have cleared a garden plot of weeds and old vegetation, please bring that material to the weed pile – the concrete slab next to the leaf pile at EH, and the concrete holding area at the entrance to UH. If you are throwing away trash, such as old garden fabric, wire, broken pots, etc., please put it in the dumpster near the entrance. (The UH dumpster is by the parking lot.) If you have long sturdy sticks in good shape for trellises, please leave them in the blue stick barrels at both gardens. If you have plant pots, tomato cages, and other garden items in decent shape, bring them to the share shelves for other gardeners to reuse.

BRICKS AND BLOCKS – The bricks and blocks piled up near the weed pile at Eagle Heights are for a project to shore up the 900 row, which we hope to work on this spring. Please do not take them for your plots, and if you have taken some, please bring them back. I’m sorry – we didn’t have a sign up, and most material available at the garden is for gardeners to take, but these are not.

MORE SEEDS – I’m continuing to bring more spring seeds, plus seeds for tomatoes, to both gardens, so keep checking out the share shelves.

GARDEN MANUAL – If you are a new gardener, I suggest you take a look at this page on our website: https://eagleheightsgardens.org/gardens/organic-growing/ It includes a Garden Manual, with very detailed information on gardening, which was written specifically for our gardens.

GARDENS TO BE SPRING PLANT SALE – We still hope to have our annual cool weather plant sale at the end of April. Scott at Gardens To Be is growing lots of vegetables he hopes to sell to us. However, due to the virus, it probably won’t be possible to hold the sale in our usual way. One possibility is gardeners pre-ordering and paying on-line, and then picking up their orders at the Gardens. I’ll let gardeners know when we have the details worked out.

Happy Gardening, and Stay Safe,

Kathryn

Hello Gardeners,

I'm not surprised to be writing you again with a change of plans. On the advice of the UW, we are cancelling the garden orientations for new gardeners that were planned for this weekend. Face to face interactions are being discouraged.

But spring seeds will still be available for gardeners to pick up at both gardens on Saturday morning.

Thank you, and good luck with these seeds when you get them.

Kathryn

From the Gardens Registrar: Seed Give-Away March 28; Garden Orientations; Coronovirus Precautions

Hello Gardeners,

SPRING SEED GIVE-AWAY – On Saturday, March 28, we will have free seeds available to gardeners at both Eagle Heights, and University Houses Gardens. I hope you all understand that our usual Seed Fair had to be cancelled this year, due to health concerns. So, unfortunately, it will not be possible for gardeners to pick out their own seeds this year. A group of volunteers put together collections of mostly spring seeds, and these collections will be at the gardens for gardeners to take. Most collections contain 15 packets of seeds – every packet has at least 2 varieties of beans, 2 varieties of peas, and 2 varieties of lettuce. Many of  the packets also have spinach, basil, green onions, carrots, radishes,and cilantro. Other seeds in some collections are: chard, kale, turnips, cabbage, mustard greens, beets, and kohlrabi. If you get a packet of  something you’re not interested in growing, please leave it on the share shelf, and somebody else will want it.

The seeds will be at Eagle Heights by 9:30 a.m., and at University Houses around 10am.

Most of these seeds can be planted outside now. But the beans should wait until the ground is warm – those shouldn’t be planted until May. Also, the basil should either be started soon in your house, or else you can plant it in the ground in May, after risk of frost is over.

We will also have a small number of packets of seeds for tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants that gardeners will be able to choose from. To grow these, you need to start them in your house in the next few weeks. It’s rewarding to grow these plants from seed, but it can be tricky. Next week, I’ll send information on starting plants in the house.

In May, we will give away seeds for other vegetables, such as squash, cucumbers, melons, and others, including flowers.

GARDEN ORIENTATIONS – We will also offer garden orientations to new gardeners, on both March 28 and March 29, at both gardens. Meet at the garden shed. Here is the schedule:

Eagle Heights          Saturday, March 28          10:30 – Noon – 20 minute orientations in small groups

University Houses   Saturday, March 28                      10:30am – one orientation

Eagle Heights          Sunday, March 29                         1pm – 3pm – 20 minute orientations in small groups

University Houses    Sunday, March 29 – If you want to attend a Sunday orientation at UH, please email me by Saturday afternoon, and we’ll schedule one – at Noon or later.

CORONAVIRUS PRECAUTIONS – We hope to keep our gardens open through this period of restrictions. Since our gardens are large, we can easily practice social distancing, and work together without being close to each other. But please be aware that we share tools and carts. I would recommend that every gardener bring sanitizer to the garden to use on tool handles before and after working with them. Gloves are also a good idea. You may want to bring your own tools, and keep them in your plot. We are currently considering whether or not to keep the portable toilets.

These last few weeks have been full of surprises (mostly unpleasant)  – I will keep you updated as much as I can.

Happy Gardening,

Kathryn

From the Gardens Registrar: Opening Day; Seed Fair is CANCELLED; Garden Orientations; Organic Gardening Class

Hello Gardeners,

OPENING DAY - First, some good news: Opening Day will be this weekend. That means that most of the carts, wheelbarrows, and tools will come out of winter storage and be available to gardeners, by this Sunday, March 15. It's probably too muddy to do any digging, but you can certainly start clearing last year's vegetation and making other preparations for gardening. For Eagle Heights Gardens gardeners, the parking signs are back up on Eagle Heights Drive - this means that gardeners can now park there.

The water in both gardens is still off for the season. We expect to be able to have it on around the middle of April, depending on the weather.

SEED FAIR CANCELLED - The bad news: the Seed Fair, originally scheduled for March 28, has been cancelled, due to concerns about the Coronavirus. We do not plan to reschedule. However, we still want to get seeds to everybody, so it has been decided to hand out collections of spring vegetable seeds to gardeners IN THE GARDENS on March 28. I will get back to you with exact times and more details on that. We will also be putting seeds out on the share shelves at both gardens. We will not sell row cover on March 28 – we won’t do that until our cool-weather plant sale, on April 26.

GARDEN ORIENTATIONS - We are still planning to have Garden Orientations for new gardeners at both gardens on March 28 and possibly March 29. We strongly recommend that new gardeners attend an orientation to learn some of the basics about our gardens, and have an opportunity to ask questions. I'll get you a schedule for those next week. 

FREE ORGANIC GARDENING CLASS AT SEQUOYA LIBRARY -  MARCH 14

On Saturday, March 14, former EH gardener Gary Kuzynski, will teach a free class on Organic Gardening at Sequoya Library, which is at 4340 Tokay Boulevard, from 9:00am – 12:30pm. If you're new to gardening, and have time to stop in, this is a great opportunity to learn from a master. 

I’m sorry about the Seed Fair, but the decision was made for us, and I really hope that taking precautions now will keep more people safe and healthy. And ready to garden!

Happy Gardening,

Kathryn

Hello Gardeners,

WORKDAY – Given the fact that it is ridiculously cold, and everything is covered with several inches of snow, our workdays are at an end for this season. When weather allows, we will be closing down the gardens, and putting away most of the carts and tools for the winter. No, we will not put them all away – we will leave some tools and a few carts out for gardeners who still have work to do.

GARDEN CALENDAR – DATES TO KEEP IN MIND:

December 1        Deadline for paying the no-workday fee if you did not do a workday. (Please note – gardeners who received plots this fall are not required to do a workday.)

If you are paying the no-workday fee, please write a check for $32, payable to Division of University Housing, and drop it off at the Community Center, or mail it to Eagle Heights Gardens c/o Community Center, 611 Eagle Heights, Madison, WI 53705. If you use the drop box, please put your check in a green envelope, or else write “gardens” on your own envelope, so it doesn’t get mixed up with rent payments.

If you’re not sure whether or not you did a workday this year, or are required to, or already paid for the no-workday, send me an email, and I’ll check for you. About 200 gardeners have not done workdays or paid, so far.

December 15        First day to apply for a garden for 2020. The new applications will be available on our website (http://eagleheightsgardens.org), and can also be picked up in paper form, in English and in Chinese, at the Community Center. They will look suspiciously like the 2019 forms, although I hope someone has the presence of mind to change the date….

February 15        Deadline for returning gardeners to apply to renew the gardens they had in 2019. (New gardeners may apply for gardens at any time.) If you get your renewal application in after the deadline, I will renew your plot if it’s still available. But you’re taking your chances. After February 15, I will start assigning plots that have not been renewed to new gardeners, so if you’re late, your plot might be gone already. If you want to garden again next year, but you want to move to a different plot, you should still get me your application by the deadline – you have priority over new applicants, and I’ll get you settled in a plot you like before I start on the new applications. Also, I cannot renew your plot if you have not taken care of this year’s workday.

March 21         Opening Day for 2020 (approximate date) – tools and carts will come back out of the sheds for the season. (Water will not be turned on until April or May, depending on the weather.)

March 28          Seed Fair at the Community Center – each garden plot will be allowed 15 free packets of seeds. Row cover will also be for sale.

This will be my last weekly message for this season. (Don’t look so happy!) However, I will send an email out next month to remind people when the 2020 applications come out. And please email me if you have any questions about anything. I’ll still be around.

THANK YOU! – Thank you to everybody who had a garden this year, and especially to everybody who did a workday. The workday crews worked hard, and did a lot of great work. Thanks also to Will and Megan, and our other garden workers. Thank you to our Co-Chairs, members of the Garden Committee, and the many members of our garden community who take care of common areas and do many many other extra tasks to keep the garden going. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.

Have a good winter.

Kathryn                                                                                              

From the Gardens Registrar: Where’s the Mulch?; Cleaning Up; Glass in Plots; Sprouting Seeds; Lakeshore Nature Preserve Draft Strategic Plan; Workday To Be Determined

Hello Gardeners,

LEAF MULCH AT UNIVERSITY HOUSES – The last several years have been rainy, and we have had great difficulty in getting soil amenities to the University Houses Gardens. Leaf mulch and wood chips have often not been available at that garden for long stretches of time, to say nothing of compost and manure. Meanwhile, the Eagle Heights gardeners have been rolling in the stuff. (Literally, at times.) This is not because we don’t like you. It’s because the EH gardens have graveled roads and the UH garden does not. UH is somewhat low to start with, and the “road” that goes to the parking lot is barely a road at all. Plus, past the parking lot, the ground is soft and turns to mud easily, particularly under heavy machinery. This year, in desperation, we have tried using space in the parking lot for chips and mulch, and it’s been in other people’s way.

HOWEVER, Housing is going to do us a big favor and dump some leaves on the UH parking lot this week, on the understanding that they need to be picked up by gardeners right away. If they get used up quickly, Housing will bring more. But they don’t want the leaves sitting there for a long time. So, when they appear, grab them as fast as you can. Once the ground is frozen (which, unfortunately, might be soon), we’ll be able to get large loads of leaves over there, hopefully enough to last you into next summer.

CLEANING UP – When you’re cleaning your plot, is it okay to leave equipment there over the winter? Yes, if you know you will be renewing your garden plot next year, you may certainly leave tomato cages, fencing, hose, furniture, etc. in your plot. But it is best not to leave anything nice behind – it might be damaged by weather, or be taken by somebody who likes it and assumes it’s abandoned. So it’s safer to take home anything you value and keep it in your garage or basement until spring.

GLASS IN PLOTS – As our rules state, we do not allow glass in the gardens. It breaks easily, and then pieces get mixed into the soil, where gardeners long into the future may continue to find them unexpectedly and hurt themselves. If you have any glass containers in your plot, take them home now. Even if they’re in good shape now, they won’t be after the snow and winter have had their way with them.

SEED SPROUTING – If you already miss fresh, just-picked vegetables, maybe you should try growing sprouts at home. Unlike growing herbs inside, this really is easy. Here’s some basic information: https://harvesttotable.com/seed_sprouts_for_eating/

LAKESHORE NATURE PRESERVE STRATEGIC PLAN – Our gardens (both locations) are part of the UW’s Lakeshore Nature Preserve, and the Preserve Staff has extended the following invitation to all our gardeners: We want your feedback on the Lakeshore Nature Preserve Draft Strategic Plan! Join us Tuesday November 12 from 7:00-9:00 p.m. at Memorial Union. Refreshments will be served. Check Today in the Union for room location.

The draft plan was created with input from over 650 campus and community members through a series of focus groups and an online survey conducted last spring. Lakeshore Nature Preserve Director, Gary Brown, will present the common themes from the focus groups and the key takeaways from the public survey along with the strategic priorities that came out of those findings. The presentation will be followed by time for discussion, comments, and questions from the public. The strategic plan will establish the basis for a 2020 Lakeshore Nature Preserve Facilities Master Plan.

For more information about the strategic plan public comment meeting please contact Preserve Program Manager Laura Wyatt at 608-265-9275 or laura.wyatt@wisc.edu. 

WORKDAY – If we schedule a workday this weekend, I’ll send out a separate message.

Happy gardening, Kathryn