Please note that the valve open and closed positions have been written on the pipe.  I will have a more permanent sign made up and installed shortly.

My thanks to Ken Huus for all of his help.  I couldn’t have done it alone, so next time you see Ken, give him a big thank you!!!

Thanks to everyone for their patience, and enjoy the new water line, better pressure, and more water flow.

Scott

Workdays this year will be clustered. Here’s Tim’s description of how it works:

Notes from last year indicate five periods of increased need for community activity in the garden, each about two weeks long. The days to begin the work are St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, the summer solstice, mid-summer day (July 15th), and around the beginning of school. When each of these dates occurs, we need everyone to pitch in and work at the garden (completing teamwork or workday activity) as much as possible over the two week period. Most of the work seemed to be focused around the production of the hot sauce (prepping, planting, weeding). With the ‘garden basics’ teams working a lot this year, it may not be as necessary. We could have the initial workday period, and call the others if necessary. But, there was definetely a need for something to be done over the previous years. Hot Sauce harvest and production occurs in the fall and could be considered a sixth clustered workday period.

All garden members are now able to post directly to the site. You need to log on to the site to do this. On the Dashboard page, you can enter your post in QuickPress on the right-hand side of the screen, or click “New Post” on top. When you’re done, click the blue “Publish” button.

-Drink coffee or tea (bring your own)

-Memberships

Introduce new members (who are present)

Cover basic memberships:  SBCG Gardener, Garden Friends, Veggie Heads, and Non-SBC

Approve any non-SBC member requests

-Garden Basics

Talk for a couple minutes about each of the five “Garden Basics Teams”.  Team leader can discuss function in the garden.  Sign up for a team (or switch).  Each team will meet briefly before leaving.     See members page on this site for more info.

-Web update

Alix will talk about the website and using it throughout the season

-Workdays

Select workday(s) and decide attendance requirements (clustered workdays?, minimum number?)

11:00-1:00

-Mill about

-Project work

Select from ongoing projects,  clean up own plot, clean ground cover, etc.

-Departure

Whenever you are ready.

Thanks for attending!

Tim has called a reunion/workday meeting at the garden on Saturday, March 6, from 10:00 to 1:00. We’ll be assembling our teams and getting some work done, as well as talking about the Glyphosate issue.

We have some exciting construction projects coming up. Scott will be taking the lead on the installation/extension of the water lines. This year we will be working on the new shed and trellises. Here are Tim’s sketches for that project and two conceptual sketches that take us well into the future.

Pavilion and New Shed (with trellises)

New shed with stone wall detail

Projected southern corner layout

Projected southern layout

1-  Alix has added a new way to contact the maintenance crew when
needed (for things like mower repair, water line stuff, broken tools,
etc). It’s located in the top line of the dropdown menus under CONTACTS.
Use it. This will get things fixed more quickly.

2.  The fruit team met a few weeks ago to look over the fruit trees
and bushes, and to co-ordinate efforts for maintenance.  Three pear
trees and one peach were planted as well.  Things are looking good! 

3.  The cash crops team needs to begin training the tomatoes on the
cattle panels, and setting a watering schedule for the three crops
(soybeans, hot peppers, and tomatoes).  The watering system will be
installed once the final water spigot is put in near the Zingaro’s. 

4.  You may have noticed the new water spigot poles (hose hangers
soon to come) installed by Scott Z. Many thanks and well done Scott!

5.  There was some good information at the Summer Solstice Festival
about the Virginia Independant Consumers and Farmers Association
(VICFA).  This group’s mission is “to promote and preserve
unregulated direct farmer to consumer trade that fosters availability
of locally grown or home-produced products.”  It’s a great group, very
much in line wiht our garden.  Anyone who wants to become a memeber
($25 annual membership) to support them, please see me.  I’ll also
put some brochures at the garden.  

That’s all for now.  The garden looks great!  Good teamwork.

wiregrass in the strawberry patch

A couple of us put in some time Sunday morning digging out wiregrass, but it will take more than two people and more than one session.  So here’s my proposal:  when you’re in the garden, take a few minutes to make a further dent in the wiregrass.   It doesn’t have to be a major session; just do as much as you can stand.  The mud is slippery, but it does make it easier to pull whole roots out.  The best implement is a fork (and your hands).

Once we get the area cleared, we can work on a more permanent solution.

Happy weeding!

• First of all, Olga Rigg has painted a beautiful sign (designed by Debbie Kasper and Alix Ingber) for our new pavilion extension.  You should see it in place soon, but here’s a preview:

  

• Second, the first installment of our guest blog at the Chronicle of Higher Education went up today.  You can see it here:  Sweet Briar’s Community Gardeners Learn to Scrounge

Cinco de Mayo has arrived!  We’ll be celebrating in our customary fashion on Friday, May 8.  We start at 5:00 and will eat around 5:30.  Bring the food and drink of your choice.

Reminders from Tim:  don’t forget to bring your dues money!  We’ll also have sign-up sheets available so you can sign up for teams if you have not already done so.