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
