DCG Update July 26

Hello Dundee Community Garden Members and Friends,


Thanks to everyone who contributed to our food drive for Together's Emergency Hunger Relief Program-- we donated 52 pounds of canned and boxed food items this morning! If you'd still like to contribute, we'll be collecting again at our Edible Weeds Workshop on Wed. Aug. 8.


Harvest Day/ Work Days on Saturdays Our Work Days continue on Saturday mornings, starting at 9 a.m.. Now that the weather is slightly cooler, it would be great to see some more people on Saturdays! We need help watering all the plots, and picking from the community beds for the Underwood Tower across the street. So far this year we've already donated over 95 pounds of produce!!! If we have enough people to help, we can also get some weeding done and pick up the beer bottles and other trash that's accumulating in our border beds. Please come help!


Grass Clippings We can use more grass clippings for mulch-- please bring some over for the vegetable plots if you've got any-- preferably grass not treated with lawn chemicals.


Upcoming DCG Events:

Edible Weeds Workshop

Wed. Aug. 8, 7-8 p.m.

The Dundee Community Garden invites you to attend a free workshop on "Edible Weeds" led by John Pollack and Karen Berry. We'll meet at the garden, 4902 Underwood Ave., on Wed. Aug. 8 at 7 p.m. We'll be learning ways to eat and utilize the weeds in the garden. This event is free, but we are asking for donations of canned or boxed kid-friendly healthy foods for our food drive for Together's Emergency Hunger Relief Program.

Event is open to the public. — please join us! http://www.facebook.com/events/395546210506457/


Dundee Day Sat. Aug. 25 We'll be marching in the parade on Underwood with out giant carrot, and we'll have a booth at Dundee Day selling fresh flowers, vegetables, t-shirts, and re-usable mesh produce bags. We'll be posting a sign on the bulletin board if you'd like to join us in the parade or at our booth.


Community Events:

The Green Omaha Coalition, in partnership with Metropolitan Community College (MCC), is happy to offer Green Living Workshops this summer. Learn how to save money, improve your family's health and be good to the environment. In addition, MCC is offering courses on Urban Farming, and the Community Bike Project Omaha is helping to offer the Bicycle Maintenance and Repair series. All classes are $19 unless otherwise indicated. Find complete course descriptions online athttp://www.mccneb.edu/green/glw.asp.

Food Preservation (two sessions)

When: Friday, August 3rd from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. AND

Saturday, August 4th from 9:00 a.m. - Noon

Where: MCC's Fort Omaha Campus, Building 22 (30th & Fort)

Cost: $50 (Included in the tuition cost are supplies, including jars, salts,

produce, etc.)



Fall Vegetable Gardening

When: Saturday, August 4th from 9:00 - 11:00 a.m.

Where: MCC's Fort Omaha Campus, Building 29 (30th & Fort)

Raw Foods class on Wed./ Over-Watering problems

Hello Dundee Community Garden Members and Friends,  

Hope you can join us for our Raw Foods workshop with Elle Lien this Wednesday!  See below...

"Cooking with Raw Foods" with Elle Lien,  Wed. July 11, 6:30-8 p.m. at the Sorenson Community Center, 4808 Cass St.

The Dundee Community Garden invites you to learn about a raw food diet, and how to prepare some simple raw food recipes.  The workshop will include hands-on participation, and tasting of all recipes!  You may know Elle as the chef/owner of the former Daily Grub restaurant.  Reservations appreciated but NOT required.  Let us know you are coming by sending an e-mail to info@dundeegarden.org, or attending our event on Facebook at  http://www.facebook.com/events/400887803281175/

Workshop is free, but attendees are requested to bring a food item to donate to Together's Emergency Hunger Relief Program.  Needed items include healthy kid-friendly foods such as peanut butter, oatmeal, cheerios, rice crispies, tortillas, soup, canned chicken or tuna, and boxed mac & cheese. 

Over-Watering at the Garden   It has been brought to our attention that our members are over-watering, which causes problems for Brian and Mindy, the next door neighbors who kindly let us use water from their house as our water source when the rain barrel is empty.  The neighbors report that one day they saw the community beds watered four times by four different people!  And members have been using the hose to water their plots, and some are even leaving the hose running between filling their watering cans.  This is a huge inconvenience for our neighbors-- they are unable to take showers and their water bill is jumping!  Please review our Watering Guidelines, and show courtesy and respect for the neighbors by using water wisely.  Remember to use the watering cans to water your plants; water at the base of the plant, not the leaves; and use mulch to conserve moisture.  The hose is only for watering the community beds-- not for individual plots. 

Last week's heat created an exception, but in general we water the community beds during our Sat. a.m. workdays, and once mid-week.  If you would like to help with watering the community beds, please shoot me an e-mail and we can add you into the rotation (megreen4@cox.net).   (This counts as service hours.)

Watermelon Feed  

Sunday July 22, 3-5 p.m. at the Dundee Community Garden, 49th & Underwood.

Join us for an afternoon of fun as we eat juicy watermelon slice, have a seed spitting contest, and more! 

Saturday Work Days   Please join us Saturday mornings, 9-11, for working on the community beds-- harvesting, weeding, and watering!

DUNDEE COMMUNITY GARDEN WATERING GUIDELINES

            Please water your plants with a watering can, USING WATER FROM THE RAIN BARRELS.  if the rain barrels are empty, you may fill the watering cans with the hose, using water from the house.

Important points for gardeners to remember when watering:

1. Water deeply and infrequently. Deep watering promotes the development of a deep, extensive root system. Frequent, light watering promotes shallow rooting. Deep-rooted plants will be able to survive hot, dry weather much better than shallow-rooted plants because they will be able to reach the moisture deep in the soil.
A deep watering once a week should be adequate for fruit, vegetable, and flower gardens. Apply approximately 1 inch of water per week.
2. Water efficiently. Mornings and evenings are excellent times to water gardens.  Water directly at the plant roots, and avoid getting the leaves wet when possible.
3. Mulch plants to conserve soil moisture. Mulching reduces the rate of evaporation from the soil surface and also limits weed competition. Organic materials, such as grass clippings, straw, and shredded leaves are excellent mulches for the vegetable garden. Wood chips, bark, and ground corncobs are good choices for perennial beds and trees and shrubs. The depth of the mulch depends on the type of material used and crop. Optimum depth in the vegetable garden ranges from 2 to 3 inches for fine materials, such as grass clippings, to 6 to 8 inches for straw.
Average plant watering needs (once plants are established):
Beans: weekly, ½ cup per plant; twice weekly in very hot weather; #; ##
Carrots: weekly, ¼ cup per plant; need constant moisture until mature
Chard: weekly, 1-2 cups per plant; twice weekly in very hot weather
Corn: weekly, 1 cup per plant; twice weekly in hot weather
Cucumbers:  weekly, 2 cups per plant; twice weekly in hot weather; #; ##
Eggplant: weekly, 2 cups per plant; twice weekly in hot weather, #
Lettuce: weekly, 1 cup per plant, twice weekly in hot weather, ##, do not water at night
Parsley:  weekly, 1 cup water per plant; #
Peppers: weekly, 1 cup per plant when young, 2 or more cups when larger, ##
Tomatoes: weekly, 1 gallon per plant; twice weekly in very hot weather; ##
Zucchini /Summer Squash: weekly, 2-4 cups per plant depending on size, twice weekly in hot weather; ##
# Do not let the soil dry out
## Keep water off the plant leaves (can lead to fungus, infection, mildew, etc.)

Information compiled from Richard Jauron, Department of Horticulture, and Square Foot Gardening