Happy 2012 Gardening!

Welcome JDIG Gardeners to 2012. I'm sure everyone is counting the days until it's time to dig into the dirt and start the planting. Last year was very eventful and hopefully this year will be even more fun and productive.

For the first post of 2012 I decided to publish the garden rules for easy access to all members. We're not just aspiring to be good gardeners but good partners and good caretakers of our garden co-operative. This will ensure that everyone has a wonderful experience and that our garden is beautifully maintained.

2012 Application submission deadline is February 17th. 

JDIG Club Rules:

1. Accept the garden patch assigned for a period of one (1) year.

2. Work cooperatively with partners on a regular basis during the season to prepare, plant, maintain and harvest your    patch.

3. Participate in overall maintenance of the garden at large including composting, watering, removal of litter, lawn maintenance and other general gardening chores, as well as to observe ALL garden rules.

4. Attend meetings, participate in planning and/ or staging special events and maintain close contact with your partner.

5. If the patch is not worked by May 15th it will be reassigned and membership will be terminated.

6. If the patch is not cleansed by December 2nd it will be reassigned and membership will be terminated.

7. The garden is a cooperative enterprise and needs your help in maintaining it. Do not accept a patch if you cannot be there throughout the gardening season or cannot volunteer to help. We have a long waiting list of people who would like to garden. Members must actively garden throughout the season and regularly volunteer their help or they will not be offered patches next year.

Other Requirements:

Sign up for one job and join at least one committee:

Jobs:

Composting or Summer Watering

Committees:

• Fundraising (Selling bulbs, Flea market…)

• Clean-Up (Litter removal, paths swiped, and weeded…)

• Lawn/Hedge care (Seed, mow lawn, wee, trim hjedges, maintain grape arbor, winterize fig tree…)

• Education/Community OUtreach ( Present programs for gardener education, outreach to the Penn South Community…)

• Furniture/Structural (moving, assembly, repair to garden infrastructure)

• Event Planning (Educational, social activities, presentations)

** Removal of litter is the responsibility of all garden cooperator. Bags for litter can be found in the toolbox. Bags of litter are to be taken to trash receptacles on the street.

A Weed Grows in JDIG

Regardless the experience level, gardeners are reminded of the quick passage of time through the appearance and rapid growth of weeds. It's astounding how fast and furious these unwanted plants can dominate everything in their vicinity and beyond if we don't work diligently to keep them in check. 

Our current nemesis is a weed called Galinsoga and it's sown itself everywhere in our JDIG! Don't let the cute miniature daisy-like flower fool you. It's not anything you've sown and forgot about, or something special that magically appeared in your little patch. If this feracious organism isn't immediately removed upon the rearing of it's deceptive flowerhead it will invade and spread, leeching all the beneficial nutrients meant to feed your tomatoes, basil, eggplants, roses, lilies, lettuce, beets and anything else you've worked hard to cultivate. 

The best way to keep order amongst your crops is to remove the Galinsoga as soon as it appears. If you're not sure and you've waited until it's bloomed don't worry just pull it and discard in the compost bin. You, your fellow gardeners and your crops will be most grateful! 


Special thanks to Janet Atkinson for alerting the JDIG Blog of this insidious pest. 

Happy Gardening!

Chrysoula

Welcome Fellow Gardeners!

The Jeff Dullea Intergenerational Garden of Penn South is a world of garden delights packed up in a small lot in Chelsea, New York. As it awakens in early spring the JDIG members eagerly start to prep their patches. Decisions have to be made as to what veggies, flowers, herbs or combinations of all three will be planted.

Every year the garden takes on a different look as the gardeners experiment with their choices. It's always beautiful, peaceful, aromatic and educational. Once in a while we'll get a wonderful surprise, like in the spring of 2010 when a robin chose to place her nest within the orange rose tree growing against the East fence. We marveled at the perfect shade of robin's egg blue and were thrilled when the baby chicks finally hatched and beckoned to be fed. 

This year the roses are robust, the fig tree is joyously fruitful, the basil scent wafts in every direction and the sour cherries went as fast as they came! I planted red leafed beets for the first time. They are a deep garnet red so I threw in some silver Dusty Millers for a pop of cool color. I'm eager to see how the beets will turn out. 

Happy cultivating!

Chrysoula