Dundee Community Garden This Week

Hello Dundee Community Gardeners and Friends,


Gardening Tip of the Week: (courtesy of Master Gardener Rebecca Reagan)
Keep track of what, where, and when you plant. A small notebook with your plant information will help you identify those seedlings poking through the ground. The dates you planted will help you when it come to harvesting. Most plants and seeds come with the information on a tag or seed packet. It helps to keep track.

Work Day this Saturday:
Our next work day will be this Sat. May 28, 10-12. Come when you can! We need to finish planting our beds for the food pantry, we've got cannas to plant, and there's weeding and general clean-up that we need to do to get the garden in shape. We ask all members to volunteer eight hours during the course of the gardening season. And remember to record your volunteer hours on the log in the garden.

Grass Clippings:
Thanks to those of you who have brought up grass clippings for the community beds! We'll need more once we get more things planted on Saturday.

Sunday June 12 Ice Cream Social, 3-5 p.m.
Ice cream sundaes and great toppings for $1. We'll be painting stakes to mark your garden plot. And our tomato cages were such a success at the Dundee Spring Fling that we're planning to make another batch of them to sell at the ice cream social-- this is your chance if you missed out on Saturday.

Help Mowing:
We're still looking for a third volunteer to help us keep up on the mowing.

Watering:
Please remember that rain water is the best water to use on your garden plot. You can get rain water out of the blue rain barrels or the "white whale" large water container.

Coming in early June: Shed-Raising Party.
We'll get a crew together to build a covered tool rack/sign board. If you are handy with tools and would like to help build the shed, contact Curt Hickman at curt3@cox.net

COMMUNITY EVENTS:
Food Deserts and Public Policy Forum, Wed. June 15, 6-8 p.m. at UNO
What are food deserts? Why do they exist? And more importantly, what can be done about them? According to the US Centers for Disease Control, a food desert is an area that lacks access to affordable and healthy foods that make up a nutritious diet. Many believe that the presence of food deserts may be related to wide-ranging, preventable health problems in both rural and urban America.

On June 15, 2011, Senator Brenda Council will facilitate a panel that will focus on food deserts and their causes. Forum panelists include Rev. Stephanie Alschwede, Fritz Nordengren and Dr. Courtney Pinard, who will explore local and state policy approaches as well as community initiatives to effectively address food deserts.

More information at http://ppc.nebraska.edu/SorensenSeminar/FoodDesertsandPublicPolicy&year=2011

Beginning Vegetable Gardening Workshop/Demonstration Series, with UNL Master Gardeners. The Master Gardeners are offering a series of free demonstration classes on beginning vegetable gardening May 7-June 18. Next workshop is June 4 on “Vegetable Gardening in Small Spaces and in Containers.” See attachment for full schedule.

Dundee Community Garden this Week

Hello Dundee Community Gardeners and Friends,

Hope you can join us for our workshop (open to all) and work-day this weekend!  See below.

Gardening Tips of the Week: (courtesy of Master Gardener Rebecca Reagan)

1. Finish your planting.   It is now warm enough to get your tomatoes, peppers and other warm season vegetables into the ground. 

2. Mulch.  After the seedlings appear, mulch your bed.  Mulching will help keep weeds down, cool the soil, and preserve moisture during hot weather.  It is easy to do: use chemical-free grass clippings, letting them dry a bit before using, or straw. You could also use newspaper, shredded or several sheets placed around your plants.  Make sure you wet the newspaper down after placement so it doesn't blow away. Adding a little dirt or straw over the top of the paper will also help keep it in your plot and not in the neighborhood.  

Need Mulch for the Community Beds:  Our garden needs grass clippings for mulch!  If you have grass clippings that you can donate, please bring them up to the garden.  Our newly-planted flowers in the beds along Underwood and 49th Streets are in desperate need of mulch-- and we won't have to water every day if we can get some good mulch down.

Help Mowing:  We're still looking for a third volunteer to help us keep up on the mowing.

Watering:  Please remember that rain water is the best water to use on your garden plot.  You can get rain water out of the blue rain barrels or the "white whale" large water container. 

Coming in early June:  Shed-Raising Party.  We'll get a crew together to build a covered tool rack/sign board.  If you are handy with tools and would like to help build the shed, contact Curt Hickman at curt3@cox.net

Sunday June 12  Ice Cream Social, 3-5 p.m.  Ice cream sundaes and great toppings for $1.  Also we'll be painting stakes to mark your garden plot. 

COMMUNITY EVENTS:

Beginning Vegetable Gardening Workshop/Demonstration Series, with UNL Master Gardeners.  The Master Gardeners are offering a series of free demonstration classes on beginning vegetable gardening May 7-June 18.  Next workshop is May 21 on “What Vegetables Should I Plant and When?” See attachment for full schedule.