Sunshine Community Gardens

14 May, 2020

www.sunshinecommunitygardens.org

Gardener's Picture page

---

If you are signed up to receive the Weekly Weeder and have not been receiving it, here is a troubleshooting page to help. If this doesn't help, please let Sharon at scgardenweb@gmail.com know. Thanks.

---

A Salute to Central Texas' Front Line Workers

Some of you may have seen the Thunderbirds roaring over Sunshine Community Gardens in the afternoon of May 13, 2020, paying tribute to Central Texas' First Responders. For those of you who did not get a chance to see them, the photo below gives you a peak without the noise.

Photo Courtesy Dale Rempert

---

2020 Sunshine Elections

It is time to begin planning for elections for new board members scheduled for replacement this year. Elections will be held for secretary and 3 director positions. If you are interested in running for any of these positions or have any questions please email Polly Porter (pporter_scg@austin.rr.com) and Janet Adams (jartdaht@gmail.com). Details of what these positions entail can be found on the web site in the Bylaws document.

---

Pollinator Populations Testing Ongoing at Sunshine

Kay McMurry reports:

A research project from the Jha lab in the Integrative Biology department at UT looking at the factors driving levels of pollinator populations in urban environments is returning again to Sunshine to repeat their sampling next week and continuing over the next 3 months. The team will show up on next Monday, 5/11, or Tuesday, 5/12, to place small pan traps filled with soapy water in a "X" formation for 24 hours. They will repeat the pan trap setup once in June and July. Please be on the lookout for them and avoid disturbing them. They will also put out 4 large blue-vaned traps out for 5 days at a time in May, June, and July. Their results seven years ago found a large array of native bees visit our community garden along with the nonnative honeybees. Austin has gotten bigger and denser in the last 7 years. Let's help them find out if our pollinator populations have changed as a result of the increased density.

---

The Toads Are Back

Randy Thompson submitted this photo of his "toad friends." Many of you will recall that Randy introduced us to members of this toad family who live near his garden in a photo in last year's Weeder. Randy said only one toad spent the winter at Sunshine.

---

Sunshine Common Gardens & Service Hours

Many thanks to Betty and Matthew for designing and installing the front street garden (aka The Bus Stop Garden).

Thanks also to the other gardeners who helped with the removal of the old and the installation of the new. The common name for a garden in this location is "Hell Strip" but in Sunshine's case "Heavenly" is now more descriptive.

Inspired by this renewed beautiful garden, the common flower beds near the trailer are being rejuvenated. Gardeners interested in learning about ornamentals and garden design are welcome to join a group of gardeners who have undertaken this job. If you are interested, please contact ila.falvey@gmail.com.

Service Hours are available for working on any of the SCG Common Gardens.

---

Weeder Content

Please email your article or suggestion to Holly Gilman by end of day Wednesday.

---