garden update

[Golden Community Garden]

Hi everyone, Well it's finally been warm enough to plant warm season crops. Yeah! Here's some garden news:

Help needed - If you haven't had a chance to help at the garden yet, here's your chance. We need help watering the new grass.

Katie is looking for several people to help cordon off the newly seeded native grass areas with stakes and surveyor’s tape. She is also looking for people to help water the grass. This will involve setting up a moving sprinkler on a hose and then coming back in 5 hours to remove the sprinkler and put it away. If you are interested in helping out, please email Katie at kri...@comcast.net

 

Volunteers working on their own time: We would like to finish mulching the sides of the apple berm with a 4 inch layer of mulch. Watch out for the baby pumpkin plants. When this berm is done, move and dump mulch in piles on both sides at the base of the other two berms. The soil has not settled yet and so we are asking people to stay off the berms right now.

When can you help? Let us know here.

Hours - Lots of people are helping and keeping track of hours. Thank you!

Common area plantings underway - Thanks to great help, we've now got four of the orchard trees planted, and five more on the way. And there's short grass prairie seeded. Yeah! Let us know if you want to be there at the next planting. (Sorry the last one wasn't scheduled enough in advance for an email to everyone.)

On Wednesday night we planted: 

2 Sweet Sixteen Apples

1 Haralson Apple

1 Red Delicious Apple

Other trees to be planted soon are: 

2 dwarf north Star Cherries

2 Redhaven Peaches

1 Damson Plum

And the green area is a Short Grass Prairie Mix of:

Buffalograss    

Western Wheatgrass

Blue Grama

Galleta Grass

Sand Dropseed

Needle & Thread

Junegrass

Also, please note: The soil has not settled yet and so we are asking people to please stay off the berms right now (and the grass area).

Labyrinth - We're hoping to get it laid out in June. Let us know if you want to be on the team.

Tools - Just wanted to let you know that we're planning to get some better wheel barrows, rakes and other tools. Hopefully soon. Please let us know if you see something that's needed, hoses on a post, sprayers, etc. and we'll try to take care of it.

Learn to Compost -  Free hands-on composting workshop at the Golden Community Garden. If you're going to use the compost bins, please attend. You will learn the principles of composting, maintaining the pile, and troubleshooting. Participants will help to build a compost pile, so wear work clothes, and bring your own garden pruners!  Those who bring a container are welcome to take home their own compost ‘starter’, made in class.

 

Classes will meet at the Golden Community Garden compost bins, adjacent to the butterfly garden.

• Monday, June 6th at 6 pm
• Monday, July 11^th at 6 pm
• Monday, August 1^st at 6 pm

Common areas - just a friendly reminder that we need to keep the pathways clear for all gardeners and visitors use. Please don't leave any tools, hoses, or irrigation lines in the pathways. If you have irrigation lines, please bury them under the pathway materials. For more information on how things work, see the garden FAQ page.

Vehicle gate - Our neighbors, the Lions club, have been locked out a couple of times already this year when the garden lock has been fastened to both ends of the chain leaving their lock out of the loop. For this reason we ask that gardeners please not use the vehicle gate. Please just walk in. Also, the Lions will have a dedication of a memorial plaque for Stoo on their shed on Saturday, June 25th at 1PM and will have many people on the grounds near the shed but only a couple of cars (handicapped). Please be sure to leave plenty of room for them to get into the garden. Thank you. 

2x4s - Rachel Tardelli Vermeal (rac...@makestuffcreative.com) had 13 extra 2x4's from left over from a project. They're on the south side of the Lion's shed. If you can use some, she just asks that people chip in a buck or so for a 2x4. If you'd like to use any, please just arrange with her to get her that 'buck or so'. 

DUG Events (dug.org/events-workshops for more details on these, and other events happening this season.)  

• GreenShoots2 on June 22nd at Root Down Restaurant, buy tickets at dug.org/tickets
• Friends of DUG Party on July 9th at our Rosedale Community Garden
• DUG's booth at the Denver County Fair July 28-31. When buying tickets online at denvercountyfair.org, check Denver Urban Gardens when asked How Did You Hear About The Event, and DUG will get a portion of the proceeds! If folks are interested in judging contests at the Denver County Fair, please email tr...@denvercountyfair.org.

DUG is still looking for community gardeners to take the online research survey by June 1.  Thanks in advance for helping out! http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZFZ9MNB

Happy Planting!