Rutgers Ag Day

Hello all,

This Saturday, April 27th is the annual Rutgers Ag Day (Agricultural Day). A great place to shop for all sorts of veggie/herb/floral transplants.

http://agfieldday.rutgers.edu/

Highly recommended!!!!

Best,

Waiyee

Plowing

Hi everyone,

Spring seems to be just round the corner and I am sure most of you are all just as excited as me about getting to work on the garden soon. :)

A few of you have emailed to ask me about plowing. As I mentioned at the meeting last month, the majority of gardeners voted not to plow this year so the garden won't be getting plowed.

However, a few gardeners have mentioned interest in sharing in the cost of renting a tiller from Home Depot. Please feel free to contact each other, via the blog, or I would be happy to connect some of you via email if you want to do it that way.

Best,

Waiyee

Butler Garden Planning Meeting- Minutes

Butler Garden Planning Meeting - Minutes

1.        Welcome Gardeners to the Meeting

-    Everyone was welcomed to the meeting and everyone took turns introducing themselves to the group.

-    Attendance was a whopping 25 people!  We have a very enthusiastic group of gardeners this year!

2.        Rules for the Garden

-    Existing rules of the garden were handed out and we discussed each one.

-    The rules will be updated and emailed to all gardeners.

-    We clarified that rule number two applies to shared supplies that can become damaged over winter, and that it does not apply to perennials.

-    We decided that the composter will have its own set of rules that will be emailed, posted on the blog, and posted on the garden shed.

-  If anyone not at the meeting wants to propose a rule, please email the garden coordinators.

3.      Blog and Email

-    Everyone has been invited to post on the garden blog. Please feel free to use the blog as a way to communicate and share information with your fellow gardeners.  The web address for the blog is http://butlergarden.blogspot.com/.

-    All gardeners are on a Butler Garden email list.  If you would like to be removed from the email list please email one of the Garden Coordinators.  All of the information contained in the emails will also posted on the blog.

- All gardeners want to be contacted through email about garden matters rather than the blog.

4.        Common Problems in the Garden

a.  Weeds

-   Weeds in the pathways and in unused plots were reported as a major problem by returning gardeners in the returning gardener survey.  

-  We discussed possible solutions and decided on the following solution:  Each gardener is responsible for keeping the common areas around their plot accessible and free from weeds.  If gardeners do not keep up their responsibility, a gentle email reminder will be sent.

b.  Critters

-  Gardeners were reminded that they are not allowed to kill any animals in the garden.  Shooting, trapping, or purposefully causing harm to the creatures in the garden is not permitted.

c.  Bugs/Diseases

-  Gardeners were reminded that the use of pesticides (unless organic) are not to be used in the garden for bug control.

5.        Material and Tools Purchase and Maintenance

a.  Tools - Machetes, Hedge-clippers

-  It is the priority of the Garden Coordinators this year to provide good quality and a variety of garden tools.  An inventory of the shed will be taken, and the condition of the tools will be noted.  Tools will be sharpened and repaired. Replacements will be made if needed.

-  Several requests were made for new tools including a machete, a soil knife, and a long weeding rake.

b.  Fencing

-  We decided that we are going to purchase new fencing that is more rigid.  If there is room in the budget, we are going to purchase the stronger “bunny” fencing that has small squares at the bottom and larger squares at the top.

c.  Tomato cages

-  If the budget permits, we are going to buy some additional tomato cages to replace the ones that were thrown away this year.

d.  Straw

-  Waiyee asked everyone who is interested in having straw for their garden plots email her.  We are trying to arrange a the bulk purchase and delivery of straw from the Belle Mead Co-Op.

e.  Weed cloth

-  We decided to spend garden funds on items with longevity for future gardeners.  Since weed cloth is good only for one season, we passed on providing it for the gardeners.

f.  Compost

-  Phasing out old composters.  The only ones we are using now are the open air composters.

-  Discussed problem of not having enough dry material for the compost pile.  We came up with two solutions:

-  People will mix their own dry material into their compost before adding it to the pile

-  Garden coordinators will look for outside the university sources for dry material

-  We asked for volunteers for help in turning over the open air composters. When weather permits, garden coordinators will circulate a sign-up sheet for volunteers to help with this.

h.  Leaf compost/Wood chips

-  These are things provided by the university on a regular basis if it is available.

-  Garden coordinators will email the university and ask for a larger delivery this year.

i.  Rototiller - Needs repair (Mark might be able to fix it)

6. Upcoming Garden Events

March - Garden Kick-Off Party (End of March)

April - Rutgers AgDay (April 27th)

May - Planting season begins in full force

September - Harvest party

7.  Questions/Concerns/Feedback

-    Should gardeners have ANY problems with their plots (from dead animals, to out of control weeds), they are strongly encouraged to email the garden coordinators.  As we want to make gardening as problem-free as possible, we are offering our community resources to help every gardener.

This coming Wednesday we are going to have a Garden Planning Meeting!  The meeting will be next Wednesday, February the 13th from 8:30-9:30 pm in the Butler Community Room.  During the meeting, we will address concerns by all gardeners, new and returning, and we will talk about our goals for the Butler Garden for this upcoming season.  

We would love for you to join us to help plan the upcoming gardening season while enjoying food and beverages.  You are not required to bring anything but yourself to the meeting.  However, if you would like to contribute and bring something to eat or drink, you are more than welcome to do so!  Please RSVP as soon as possible so that we can have an estimate of the number of people coming to the meeting.

We are very excited to have our first meeting of the season and look forward to seeing you there!!

Butler Garden Sign-Up and Retention Dates

Hello fellow gardeners,

We would like to draw your attention to the upcoming Butler Community Garden Sign-up. If you are interested in gardening, like to eat freshly grown, organic products from your own garden, then we welcome you to sign up for a plot. The cost is $10 for a half plot and $20 for a full plot. Please note that half plots are still a lot of space that you can grow a lot in! If you are new to gardening, you might consider taking a smaller plot so that you don't get overwhelmed. Plots are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis and they go fast, so please mark your calendars if you are interested. Gardeners who are not granted a plot will be placed on the waiting list for plots that become available during the season.

Here is how it works:
1/8/13 - Current gardeners will receive an email asking them if they want to retain their plots. They have until 1/14/13 to notify us or their plot will be reassigned. If you are a current gardener and you do not receive an email, please email one of the garden coordinators.
1/17/13 - Available plots will be posted on the Butler Garden Blog. Make sure you go out to the garden and check out the plots you think you'll want to sign up for. The garden is located behind 222E-H on Halsey St. in the Butler complex and a map can be found at http://www.princeton.edu/~butlerap/butlerlarge.png.
1/21/13 - A post with an embedded form will go live at 8am on the Butler Garden Blog, and remain active for 24 hours.
1/23/13 - New Plot assignments will be posted on the Butler Garden Blog and gardeners will be notified via email.
2/4/2013 - Payments by check made out to "Butler Housing Committee" need to be given to Waiyee Chiong (222C King Street) or Laura Danysh (222E Halsey Street). If we don't receive your payment by 2/4/13, we will reassign the plot to someone else.

If you have any questions about how to renew or sign-up for a plot, please don't hesitate to contact us!
We look forward to gardening with you!

Waiyee and Laura

Discount for Butler Gardeners at Obal Nursery

Hi Everyone, I was at Obal's Nursery (Alexander Rd, Princeton) yesterday and got us a 10% discount. So when you go shop there, just mention you are a member of the Butler Community Garden and the discount will apply to all your purchases. Happy Gardening, Waiyee

Composter

Hi everyone, Dry Material has been delivered so the Composter is functioning again. Please see instructions on proper usage before composting. In addition, I have also added a geobin near the woods as another composting station. Happy Composting! Waiyee