September 2022

 Eagle Heights Garden Committee Minutes

September 14, 2022  7 PM

Remote Meeting

7:00 Present: Lily, Megan, Arya, Jessica, Barb A, Niels, Alan, Ric and Karen.

Minutes  Motion by Barb A and seconded by Lily to approve the 

August 2022 minutes. The minutes were approved. 

Registrar Update

We were asked by a student group to participate in a bee hotel workshop that would be located near where FH King had their old beehives.  There was discussion about the health of native bees and which practices are best for native bee health.  Barb A agreed to work with the group to insure the well being of the native bees.

Ulrike has agreed to do a straw bale garden workshop next year.  Matt proposes a beelining workshop, which we will review. 

There is an issue of maintenance along the path edges.  At this time of year there are many woody weeds along some pathes.  The weed wackers will no longer clear them,  Discussion ensued.  Megan thinks that weed wacker use should be supervised.  A serious problem with path weeds is cutting into the water line while digging weeds.  Gardening outside the plot border is also a problem because people can cut the water line.  

Lily has asked if horse manure can be delivered again this year.

The ice cream social will not be held this year, but there will be a casual harvest social this fall where gardeners can talk to other gardeners.  Lily will pick a date and announce it.  

Garden Worker Report

Megan said the pandemic was hard on workdays.  Garden workdays are good opportunities for education and training in the gardens. Community gardens are social and gardening.  We have lots of turnover and many gardeners.  We are not looking for perfection in the gardens.

Discussion ensued about path maintenance.  Suggestions included having a path steward, cleaning the six inches along the plot border so the path could be kept mowed close and schedule work days early in the season.

Workdays

Combining workdays for this year and next is not a great option, but we have had a lot of gardeners that want to do a workday, but have not had an opportunity to do so.  Lily does not want a gardener to have to pay for a workday if they were willing to work.  We do not have enough supervisors to get enough work days before the end of the season. 

Motion by Barb A and seconded by Karen to combine this years and next year's workday requirement.  Motion passed 9-0.

The Arbor Garden workday needs 2 volunteers.  Megan will have a workday next weekend.  

Cart Repair and marker posts

Megan has a list of needed parts to repair the carts.  Discussion ensued.

Forty marker posts are missing at University Houses and all marker posts were there at the beginning of the season.  There was a suggestion to use a white pvc cap screwed on top of the conduit .  The numbers would be painted on. The committee thought this was a good idea.

Motion by Ric and seconded by Jessica to spend up to $1000 for cart parts and conduit.

Motion passed 8-0.

Mexican Bean Beetles

Lily said we ordered the parasitic wasps as soon as Gretel detected Mexican Bean Beetle larva.  We immediately ordered the wasps and they came in two weeks.  This timing seems to be perfect because there is little bean beetle damage on the beans.  We should do it this way next year.

Other

Niels suggested meeting in person.

Motion by Jessica and seconded by Niels

Adjourned 

Submitted by Karen, subject to correction by the Garden Committee