62nd & Dorchester Garden

CANCELLED - Workday 9/11/2010

Good Morning Everyone,

The rain has lasted longer than anticipated and the committee has decided to cancel this weekends workday. We will be in touch as soon as we have another workday scheduled.

Warm Regards,

Eliza

62Garden Committee Member

Workday - Saturday 09-11-2010 @ 12pm

Hello Gardeners and Friends of 62Garden,

It has been a busy season and we are all reaping some hard-earned rewards.

Looking at current issues and future projects, the committee sees a need for a workday. Given hectic schedules, the best day seems to be this very Saturday. We apologize for the very late notice, but, unfortunately, it was a very last-minute decision.

I (Philip Crandall) will be on-site to help direct work. If you’re not sure what needs to be done, please see me. My picture is attached to posts I make on http://www.62garden.com. There will also be other committee members on-site who can direct you to projects that need helpers.

We hope to see you there!

Cheers,

Philip

Here is the workday agenda…

Date: Sat, Sept. 11, 2010
Time: 12:00pm to dusk (or whenever we have had enough)

1. Replacement of welcome/pick your own signs on east fence line
2. Weeding
   • in front of compost bins
   • in west lot community area
3. Mowing
4. Community area cleanup and organizing
5. Fencing
   • alter fence on North side of East lot to allow woodchip delivery
   • alter fence on South side of West lot to allow woodchip delivery
   • bolster fence on West edge of both East and West lots
6. Signs for woodchip delivery
7. Gleaning Table setup
8. Signs/perimeter/demarcation for communal plots
9. More robust compost cover creation
10. Water works projects
    • bury hoses that are no longer buried
    • replace broken floats on east side tanks

Water Works Update

Greetings Gardeners,

Phase 1 of the water fix is in place. The west side no longer needs to be turned off at any time (please do not turn off the west side water source). I am checking on the floats daily to make sure they are functioning as intended. If you notice that a bin is overflowing (some of them may fill to the very top…make sure it’s overflowing) or that a hose has been tripped on and is disconnected, please turn the water off at the fountain and send an email to info@62garden.com. If you notice that the water is low in the bins, please turn the water back on at the water fountain (neighbors sometimes mess with the valve).

Phase 2 will consist of replacing broken floats on the east lot, making sure that the hydrant is not leaking, and getting that side to the point where the water can be left on all the time.

Phase 3 will be to level the tanks and adjust the placement of them as necessary.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thanks and Happy Gardening,
Philip Crandall

Signage Update

The 62Garden Committee met last night and one of the agenda items was signage. We came up with text that we think is welcoming yet clear about not taking produce without permission. Signs should be up soon. Additionally, the main sign on the east side was “re-installed” two weekends ago. Happy Gardening All!

Water Works

You. Yes, you. We heard your pain and are working hard to make the water system work properly. What does this mean for you?

1. If you garden on the East lot, nothing is changing just yet, but we do have a request in to have the hydrant leak fixed so that the water system can stay on continuously.

2. If you garden on the West lot, the system is working with the exception of the tank by the shed. Do not turn the water off at the fountain. To fill the tank by the shed, pull the hose out and turn the valve on the yellow fixture only. Please remember your fellow gardeners and turn the water on while you are actively watering from that tank.

3. There is some hose that was pulled up from under the path on the West lot. I have begun to rebury it, but it is hard labor. I expect to have it buried again by this weekend. If you feel up to it, please feel free to lend a hand. It doesn’t have to be very deep, just deep enough to no longer be a tripping hazard. Please exercise caution when walking in the meantime. Tripping on it can cause fittings to come loose.

4. We have ordered a couple of float valves that should enable us to fix both sides in the near future so that the tanks will stay constantly filled.

So, celebrate! Life is about to get a bit easier in 62garden.

Cheers, Philip

Planting in Empty Plots

Dear Gardeners,
As tempting as it may be, PLEASE do not plant in an empty plot that is not
yours. All of the plots have been assigned and it has created a lot of
confusion for folks when they show up to plant their plots. If you have planted items in a plot that is not yours please email us at info@62garden.com & let us know the location of it so we can be accurate in our records.

Garden Customs and Practices

Friends and Visitors

• The 62nd & Dorchester Community Garden is open to all.  You are always welcome to invite friends to enjoy the garden with us.  Many other visitors may also come to the garden — to eat their lunches, take photographs, enjoy seeing the beautiful garden plots or just read a book in the sun.  Many of us will meet and become friends with other gardeners and with garden visitors, people we might never have come to know in our daily lives.  Gardens and gardening seem to bring out the best in all of us, and we want our community garden to grow into a special kind of urban neighborhood that enriches the lives of many people.  
• Please help make friends and visitors feel welcome in our garden. 

Gleaning, Poaching and Helping Out

• Garden plots are 100 square feet (and there are a few different dimensions). If you are sharing your borders with other gardeners please be respectful of those boundaries.
• The vegetables grown in the garden belong to the grower.  Please resist the temptation to pick your neighbor’s juicy tomatoes, etc, even if they look in danger of rotting on the vine.  People who raise things, vegetables or children, generally know best about what to do with them; but a kind question or comment often helps.
• There has been occasional poaching of vegetables by visitors to community gardens.  This is regrettable and discouraging.  If you see someone you don’t recognize picking vegetables, please ask them if they are a gardener.  If they aren’t, please explain they are welcome to visit the garden but not to harvest.  
• Often gardeners are out of town just when a particular crop needs picking.  If you need help with a harvest and don’t have friends who can do it, ask for help through the garden website or Facebook page (listed at the end), or just ask your neighbors in the garden.  Same thing for watering when you are out of town — garden neighbors are here to help.    

Weedings & Organic Refuse, Stakes & Baskets, Non-organic Trash, and Recyclables

• As you clean up last year’s dead plants from your plot or as you pull the ever ambitious weeds that will populate your garden through the summer, please put them in the compost bins at the NE corner of the East lot and NW corner of the West Lot.  Please remove wood stakes, wire baskets, plastic ribbon — anything that doesn’t rot from being outdoors — and cut or crunch up the stems as much as you can.  See Compost Rules for more specific information.
• Please put un-needed stakes, wire baskets, and supports next to the sheds or compost bays.  These materials there are available for all to use  
• The non-organic trash can go in the refuse containers by Beehive Park next to the West Lot - please don’t put weeds or plants in the containers, but rather take them to the compost area.
• There are blue recycling bins at Beehive Park as well for bottles, cans and paper.

Picnics  and Cooking

• All are welcome to use the community areas. Please feel free to socialize in the garden and invite your friends to join you.
• We hope to have a grill this summer and welcome anyone to use it responsibly.
• On the water tank nearest the community space on the east side is a little length of hose with its own twist valve.  Use this for a clean drink of water or for washing vegetables before cooking and eating.  But please wash dinner dishes later at home.

Structures and Building Projects in the Garden

• Please avoid large structures and elaborate building projects in the garden as much as possible. Over-development is a nation-wide cultural problem.  And always leave enough room so that a loaded wheelbarrow and its driver can pass down the path comfortably.   
• If your building project — trellises, plant supports, cold frame — is more than about a foot or so tall, please construct it running north/south in the middle of your own plot so as not to cast your neighbor’s plot into the darkness.  Also, keep flags and banners near the middle of your plot for the same reason.
• And please avoid perennial plants like apple trees, raspberries, redwoods — they get big and make shade beyond your plot and they need a relatively large acreage.
• Any material — baskets, wood stakes, bricks, etc — next to the compost bay on the East side and shed on the West — is available to you for use in your plot.  And if you have material that you would like to offer to others for common use, please put it neatly in the same area.
• If you are considering modifications to the shape of your plot, contact a 62Garden committee member first (info@62garden.com).

Fertilizers and Watering

• Please, no non-organic fertilizers or insect/disease remedies.  If you’re not sure what’s what, consult with a veteran gardener (live, through the garden website, or Facebook page), a good book, or the Morton Arboretum or Chicago Botanic Garden websites.
• Watering is done the old-fashioned way — by hand.  The water in the tanks and the watering cans  are for everyone’s use.  Please don’t try to hook up a hose to water your garden — enormous damage to the water tank system or to your neighbors’ gardens usually results.  If you notice trouble with the water system, call or email info@62garden.com or 773.789.8147.

Paths, Dogs, Snakes and Rabbits

• Please walk on the wood-chip paths, not through someone’s plot.  And help your children to do the same.
• Please keep your dogs outside of the garden. You are more than welcome to tether them outside to the playlot fence or 62Garden sign.
• We are trying to re-establish snakes in the garden.  They are of the “harmless-to-humans” variety, but they do eat bugs and other garden pests.  If you can’t enjoy their company, at least let them go their own way; and ask the children in the garden to do the same.

Rent
Rent is $40 for the season. 
Online Payments (preferred) via 62Garden.com: Howard Fink will send you the link once we have a plot available
Checks can be made out to : 62nd & Dorchester Community Garden (you will have to email info@62garden.com to request the address)

Communicating

• You can follow garden happenings at www.62garden.com or our Facebook page, 62Garden.
• The garden phone number is 773.789.8147 and the email address is info@62garden.com, feel free to call or email when you need to leave a message for someone on the garden committee.