October 2024

                                         Eagle Heights Garden Committee Minutes

October 9, 2024  7 PM

Remote Meeting

Alex, Lily, Pam, Ric, Nick, Barb A, Ann and Karen.

Alex started the meeting.

Minutes  With a motion by Barb A and seconded by Ann, the September 2024 minutes were approved. 

Registrar Update

Lily said now we have 13 half plots and 11 full plots vacant.  

Important dates for next year are: Seed Fair April 6, 2025, Seed Sort January 20, 2025.

As we previously decided, we will buy direct sow seeds like spinach, bok choi, and perhaps something else for distribution at the Seed Fair.

Fedco seems to have the best prices. Lily will send us a proposal.

Malachai from the Dining Gardens would like to revisit the discussion of sharing their ride-on-mower with the Community Gardens. He was not available this season to start the windrow composting,  but a lot of our weeds have been moved to his area.

It has been suggested that the UW Plumbers help us to install a second main line up the path.  This should be discussed at the next GOC meeting, which is the 3rd Friday from 10 to 11am.

Motion by Ann and seconded by Barb A to  get the second line plumbing project started.

Motion passed. 

The GOC has also requested that a garden representative attend the GOC meeting.

Revisions to the 2025 Garden Application

The main revision is the rule change that will not allow new gardeners to get a non-organic plot.  Present gardeners can retain their non-organic status.  At present there are 8 non-organic gardeners at University Houses.  All of these gardeners are English speakers.  Next year all gardeners using non-organic methods will have to keep records and use of non-organics will need to be reported to UW Environmental Health and Safety thru the Registrar. 

Boundary Changes to the 500’s

Proposed changes to the 500’s row were well received by the present gardeners and will be implemented sometime this fall

Weed Wackers  

New batteries are needed for the weed wackers and cost $175 each.  One of the weed wackers does not work at all and needs a couple new parts which come to about $50.  One of the problems with the batteries could be that they are plugged in all the time.  It was suggested using a timer for the charger to avoid this problem.  Also the batteries should probably be stored in the office over the winter out of the cold.

Motion by Karen and seconded by Ric to buy 4 new batteries and the new parts for up to $1000. Motion carried.

Garden Worker Report

Pam is trying to get the last workdays done. Mowing is finally slowing down.  She has been making paths through the blackberry patch at University Houses. The hoses are put away at University Houses and the water is shut off at both gardens. Nick has been doing cleanup and workdays.

The committee asked the garden workers if they were returning next season.  Pam will be back and Nick will probably be back. It was remarked that the gardens have looked especially good this year.

Barb A said the new spigot behind the Arbor Garden is especially slow.  Nick said he could exchange it for a different one. Also one of the umbrellas is broken.  Nick said we have a spare umbrella in the shed.

There is a tree on the removal list entwined with a grape in the Arbor Garden.  Barb A said it is okay to remove the tree.  Barb A requested some help in the Arbor Garden.  Pam volunteered. 

Motion by Ann and seconded by Karen that garden workers can work in the Arbor Garden.  This will be a good opportunity for Barb A to share her knowledge of the garden.

Spigot risers and posts

Ric presented a list of all the water spigots in the garden and the condition of the supporting posts.  Some are completely missing and some are too far away.  A spigot without a post is more vulnerable to damage.  Ric volunteered to make brackets to have the spigots better supported.  The committee liked the idea. Nick said there are still a couple of underground leaks which will probably not get fixed until the water is on again in the spring.

Motion by Barb A and seconded by Ric to adjourn.

Adjourned just after 7:39pm

Submitted by Karen, subject to correction by the Garden Committee

September 2024

 Eagle Heights Garden Committee Minutes

September 11, 2024 7 PM

Remote Meeting

Alex, Lily, Pam, Jolene, Sam, Nick, Ann and Karen.

Alex started the meeting.

Minutes  With a motion by Ann and seconded Lily the August 2024 minutes were approved. 

Registrar Update

Lily said now we have 12 half plots and 7 full plots vacant.  The Tomato Tasting went well considering what a difficult tomato growing season we have had. 

The budget for next year is available for review.  So far we have spent about $7500, mostly on wages.  We have a budget of $3000 a year for plumbing and we have not spent most of it yet.  Actual revenue was close to the projected revenue in this year’s budget.  We will know how many people are paying the no work day fee in January.

We still need about 100 workday shifts for this year, but there is still time to have them. 

Redrawing the borders of the 500’s row

Lily shared the proposed redraw of the 500’s to make the borders less confusing.  She also proposes to leave half of 514 fallow due to severe flooding this year.

Motion by Ann and seconded by Karen to approve the 500’s border redraw.  Motion approved.

Closing Day

Garden closing day will be in November and a post Thanksgiving Day tool put away is planned.  

Seed Fair 2025 will be Saturday April 5th.  

Seed repackaging will be January 20, 2025.

Weed pile

The weed pile was moved to the Dining Garden by Malachai and Tary from Shorewood.  

Garden Worker Report

Nick said he has been working on plumbing projects.  He still has a couple of underground leaks to fix.  He said he needs to schedule more workdays.  Sam said getting workdays done is her priority.  Pam and Lily fixed some plumbing also.  It was noted that if we have a surprise freeze, turning on all the faucets a little bit will keep the pipes from freezing.  

There was general discussion about the plan for a second line up the main path at Eagle Heights.  Perhaps we should ask Physical Plant for advice about how to proceed.  

There was also a request for horse manure.

Motion by Karen and seconded by Lily to adjourn.

Adjourned just after 7:45pm

Submitted by Karen, subject to correction by the Garden Committee

August 2024

 Eagle Heights Garden Committee Minutes

August 14, 2024 7 PM

Remote Meeting

Alex, Lily, Pam, Yohan, Barb A, Ann and Karen.

Alex started the meeting.

Minutes  With a motion by Ann and seconded by Barb A the July 2024 minutes were approved. 

Registrar Update

Lily said there has been considerable plot turnover lately, but there are only a few empty plots, mostly in low lying areas.

The tomato tasting will be August 25th and the temporary food service permit has been approved. We could use a few more volunteers for the event.

There has been a request to allow authorized personnel to remove weeds in plots without notice to the plot owner.  After discussion, the committee denied this request.  Lily proposes placing written notices on plots to inform gardeners to remove noxious weeds.  The committee agreed.

The budget for the next year will need to be reviewed and approved at the next meeting. 

The leaf pile at University Houses has a plastic pipe that is the overflow for the rain garden that drains all of the university Houses parking lots.  During heavy rains or fire hydrant flushing the leaf pile floods. This means the leaves are sitting in water part of the time.  Lily proposes a rain garden for this area in the future and move the leaves nearer the weed pile.  Discussion ensued.  It is a good idea, but the rain garden would need a caretaker like the other rain gardens to be successful. Since the volume of water can be large, a drainage ditch might be more effective.

Lily proposes to redraw the boundaries of the 500’s row to fix the borders so they are less confusing.  Her proposal will be shared at the next meeting. Also one gardener had to give up their plot in the lowest part of the row due to flooding issues.  A rain garden at the low spot was discussed.

There are many tree stumps in the garden which are difficult to remove.  An organic method to kill tree stumps is to drill holes in it , fill them with Epsom salts, water and cover it and the stump will die.  The committee thought we should try this method.

There is a concern in the non-organic section of University Houses.  A neighboring gardener reports an issue of spray from a neighboring gardener coming into her plot.  Lily proposes that no spraying be allowed within one foot of the plot being sprayed.  The committee agreed.  

Starting next year, The Preserve will want a report of all pesticide and herbicide spraying at University Houses, including dates of application and amounts.  Discussion ensued.  When University Houses was merged with Eagle Heights, there was an agreement that the non-organic gardeners could continue gardening as they had. (I think this is true but I am not certain?)  At this time the non-organic section of University Houses is in the C, D, E and F rows of the garden.  Starting next year all new gardeners will be required to garden organically.  After discussion, it was agreed to have the non-organic gardeners sign a form that makes them aware of the new reporting requirements when they renew their plots.

The weedpile windrowing composting at Eagle Heights is still being discussed with Malachai.

The north south access road erosion at Eagle Heights was discussed at the GOC meeting.  It is proposed to share costs of the repairs with all users.  The gardens will also share costs because sometimes Shorewood uses the road to make deliveries to us. 

The mulberry tree will be evaluated for safety.

We received a delivery of chips from Housing, but Heartwood Trees has not made a delivery yet.

Garden Worker Report

Pam said the 5 carts are now back in service and Nick has a list of parts we still need to fix more.  The mowing never stops this year.  Pam said the gardeners have been very helpful and supportive this year.  

There will be plot clearing workshops this weekend.  There is plenty of work to be done and the garden workers plan more workdays.  

There was an email from Nick, who could not attend the meeting. 

• With some benevolence and wisdom from Karen, Pam and I were able to get a handful of carts repaired and back out for gardeners. The three of us spent an afternoon making repairs and I know Pam had done a bit more too, so she could speak to any further progress.
  
  

• The other has been plumbing, as we've had a few leaks spring up. Pam and I worked on a busted riser in the 1300s, which put the row out of commission, but were able to get a new one installed and get the water back on. I was using the leak as an opportunity to go through all the old plumbing parts (risers & spigots mostly) to see which were usable but didn't make it through the full stockpile before leaving on my trip. The water had been back on but I didn't have a chance to fully clean up the area around the leak, so I apologize for leaving things in a bit of disarray.
  
  

• Within the shed, I was sorting out our old plumbing supplies and had tried to mark everything I made it through. If I remember correctly, anything with pink ribbon could potentially be repaired while anything with green tape could be recycled or tossed. If folks wanted to see supplies and brainstorm a way to repurpose, feel free, although most things marked 'to go' are in a rough state.
  
  

• Which leads me to the proposed supply request. I believe we have a budget left from what was allotted at the beginning of the season, so hopefully not a big issue, but I think it would be good to get some more spigots ordered. Most of what we currently have are shabby. We ordered two in the last supply request, which seemed to work quite effectively. You can see them at the first plot of the 300s. I think if we ordered another 15 (10/EH and 5/UH), that would cover us for quite some time and make repairs easier as we don't need to test which parts do and don't work.
  
  

• If folks agree on the order, this is the link for the spigots we previously purchased from Ace. Jolene, would this be enough, or would you like an official supply request sent in? I'd be happy to do that if need be, just let me know.  https://www.acehardware.com/departments/plumbing/valves/rough-faucets-and-hose-bibbs/41972?qtyRequested=1&deliveryRequested=false
  
  

After discussion, there was a motion by Ann and seconded by Karen to buy 25 spigots.  Motion carried.  

Motion by Barb A and seconded by Lily to adjourn.

Adjourned just after 7:35pm

Submitted by Karen, subject to correction by the Garden Committee