Sunshine Weekly Weeder Newsletter
16 January 2014
www.sunshinecommunitygarden.org
Spring Plant Sale
Sunshine is gearing up for the annual plant sale which will be held on March 1st this year. This event allows the Gardens to cover associated costs, mainly our water bill and supplies gardeners with starts of many, many varieties. Gardeners will find a much wider selection to choose from than most nurseries carry. Help will be needed in several areas, so there are lots of opportunities to fulfill work hours. There will be sign-up sheets for volunteer positions at the plant sale in the Trailer at the beginning of the week.
'Pass-Alongs'
In addition to vegetable starts many gardeners donate or 'pass-along' ornamental plants from their home gardens to the sale. If you have any extras consider 'passing-along' additonal plants to Sunshine Community Gardens for the Spring Sale and Fundraiser. Bring your 'pass-alongs' to the hoop house (the one that's white with green trim). There is potting soil available in the hoop house but we could use your extra gallon size pots.
Needed:
Boxes for the plant sale. Can everyone start collecting boxes for buyers to carry their purchases out of the garden?
Efforts for the 2014 plant sale are well under way. Herbs have been started in our greenhouse. Gabriel Valley has received all of our tomatoes, pepper, eggplant and tomatillo seeds and everything is looking great. The call for volunteers is beginning and will continue. We look forward to a successful sale.
Volunteer Opportunity
Saturday, 18 January 2014, 9:00 am
We need help this weekend replacing the door on the Gardenport. That's the greenhouse with the zipper door.
We'll need some engineering and muscle. For questions, call or email Janet Adams 512-808-7994, or email jartdaht@gmail.com.
Missing
Last week someone took one of the completed pages out of the Green Binder in the shed. If you did, please return it. Meanwhile, there will be a blank page for people to reenter the missing data.
Plot Rentals
Bills are being sent out via email.
Any discrepancy with service hours billed, contact Kay at
scg.plots@gmail.com.
Any questions regarding plot rental fee payment, contact Jack at
scgtreasurer1@gmail.com.
Payments are due by January 31, 2014.
Service Hours revisited
I would like to share the information about service hours with you. Approximately, 25% of Sunshine's gardeners failed to complete the required hours and your bills will reflect this fact. Additionally, the majority of the service hours recorded was exactly the minimum number of hours required. I know that some gardeners just don't get around to recording all their hours and this fact reflects your dislike of recording hours. We need everyone to contribute to the running of the garden as it is a totally volunteer based. At present there are approximately 35 gardeners who perform 80%-90% of the tasks to keep Sunshine functioning smoothly.
Please contribute your time and effort to making Sunshine live up to its name.
The Cauliflower Crop
I have asked knowledgeable gardeners and used the internet to try to figure out what is wrong with most of the cauliflower plants growing both at Deep Eddy and Sunshine Community Gardens.(One gardener is an exception as he has beautiful purple cauliflower). Weather and/or disease have been suggested as possible causes.
Even before the last cold snap, cauliflower was suffering from failure to thrive. In most cases the leaves are twisted and the center vein is split. The plant rots at its core.
The consensus of gardeners asked is that cauliflower is one of the most cold sensitive of the crucifers.
Ila Falvey
Which Vegetables Tolerate Frost and Which Don't?
Cold tolerance depends somewhat on preconditioning. For instance, if broccoli has been growing in warm conditions and temperatures drop below 22 degrees F., it will probably be killed. If these same broccoli plants had already experienced cool weather, they would probably survive the sudden cold.
A frost (31-33 degrees F.) will kill beans, cantaloupe, corn, cucumber, eggplant, okra, peas, pepper, potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, tomatoes and watermelon.
Colder temperatures (26-31 degrees F.) may burn foliage but will not kill: broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, chard, lettuce, mustard, onion, radish, and turnip.
The real cold weather champs are beets, Brussel Sprouts, carrots, collards, kale, parsley, and spinach.
Note From Editor:
I'd be interested in hearing other gardeners' experiences with the recent freeze. Let me know which plants survived, which didn't, were they covered or not, were they mature or seedling? I'll publish your experiences in a future Weeder.
Event
Composting for the Home Garden
Thursday, February 6, 2014, 10:00 - 12:00
Travis County AgriLife Extension Office
The first class in a series 'Dealing with Drought Conditions', will deal with the value of compost in building and maintaining healthy soils. Cathy Wood, Master Gardener and compost specialist, will teach attendees how to build an effective compost pile, and how to use its contents as an aid to increase water retention in soils of all types.
This presentation is part of the Texas AgriLife Extension Water Conservation Series. You can register online or by phone 979-845-2604. $10 fee, $15 at site. Class is limited to 40 people.
Vegetables to Plant in January
All month: Lettuce, Radish, and spinach. Artichoke crowns and Asparagus crowns.
Middle to end of month: Onion sets (transplants), Beets, Broccoli, cabbages, carrots, cauliflower (transplants), collards (transplants), leeks, peas, turnips.
Officer and Zone Coordinator Contacts - Sunshine Garden
Officers
- President - Ila Falvey ila.falvey@gmail.com
- Vice-President - Janet Adams jartdaht@gmail.com
- Secretary - Berk Bettis dolrsdad@aol.com
- Treasurer - Jack Reynolds scgtreasurer1@gmail.com
- Director - Michael Hall fibercable@austin.rr.com
- Director - Kay McMurry scg.plots@gmail.com
- Director - Emily Tisinger etisinger@gmail.com
Zone Coordinators
- Zone 1, Jody Trendler jody.trendler@gmail.com
- Zone 2, Katy Davis katydavis@austin.rr.com
- Zone 3, Ludmila Voskov lvoskov@austin.rr.com
- Zone 4, Ila Falvey ila.falvey@gmail.com
- Zone 5, Mary Gifford mgifford@austin.rr.com
- Zone 6, Charlotte Jernigan charlotte@cybermesa.com
- Zone 7, Jing Li jingli.80@yahoo.com
- Zone 8, Irina Kaducova irina@austinshrooms.com
- Zone 9, Cheryl Hazeltine cph@austin.rr.com
- Zone 10, Christopher Schroder christopher.s.schroder@gmail.com
Other Coordinators
- Weekly Weeder Newsletter - Margaret Powis purslane2013@gmail.com
- Plant Sale - Michael Hall fibercable@austin.rr.com
- TSBVI Liason & Volunteer Coordinator - Janet Adams jartdaht@gmailcom
- Plot Rental - Kay McMurry scg.plots@gmail.com
- Carpentry & Repairs - Robert Jarry r.jarry@sbcglobal.net
- Water Leak Repairs - Stewart Nichols sgwater@math.austin.tx.us
- Tools & Wheelbarrows - Bob Easter beaster1@austin.rr.com
- Website Coordinator - Sharon Rempert scgardenweb@gmail.com
Record Service Hours Online - the Virtual Green Binder
