Minutes from Garden Meeting
February 7, 2010Present:
Neff and Vikki Russell
David and Cecily Spencer
Lou Arne
Ken and Janet Lightheart
Rick and Linda Fernandez
Lynne Wilder
Steve and Cyndi Cannon
Pete and Heidi Blue
Discussion about last year’s gardenLast year, after a month or two into planting, we decided to divide the responsibility of overseeing individual crops between families. Each family was in charge of a crop or two to oversee as shown below (from the minutes from our meeting held last year)
Assignments: The garden has been divided up by plants and has been assigned to different families. These families are in charge of the following concerning their plants and area surrounding the plants:
• Planting (any remaining planting)
• Weeding the area surrounding the plants
• Placing stakes with information of type of plant and other pertinent information
• Fertilizing (research and application)
• Pesticide (notification and application)
• Any other needs for the plants: researching, applying poles or trellises, etc.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT EACH FAMILY WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THE WORK. We will continue to work together as often as allows. When help is needed the whole group will be notified and all who are able to help should be there. We will also continue to have times scheduled for all of us to be there together.
After much discussion, it was determined that we will proceed with making a plan for the garden and then divide the plan into individual crops just as we did last year. It will differ from last year though by having each area covered by two families instead of just one. This will help with vacation coverage and sharing workload.
Two families will not be in charge of the same two sections though. The sections will overlap so families will have an opportunity to learn about the crop from the family who had the crop the previous year. Therefore, each family should be able to have two years to learn and become “experts” on that crop before they move to another one.
For example, if we divide the garden into 10 sections (1-10), with 10 families (A-J), each family would overlap with two different families as shown.
FinancesPaul was not able to attend the meeting, so actual numbers will need to be discussed at our next meeting. The following items to purchase were discussed:
1. Shed (Craig’s List, Lowes, have someone build)
2. Fencing for Beans (Lou to contact Quality Fence)
Current Seed SupplyRick will assess the current seed supply. If anyone has any seed left from last year, please notify Rick.
What to plantWe discussed which crops to plant more of, the same, or less of as follows:
PLANTED TOO MUCH LAST YEAR (we should plant less this year):
Cucumbers
Yellow Squash
Zucchini
Cherry Tomatoes
Peppers
JUST RIGHT:
Corn (the same amount but in stages)
Pumpkins (it was determined that we should plant about the same amount but make sure we pinch the growth off to improve the size of pumpkins)
PLANTED NOT ENOUGH LAST YEAR (we should plant more this year):
Cantaloupes
Peas
Green Beans
Watermelons (Bro. Neilsen should be contacted to determine how to grow a better crop)
Onions
PLANTS NOT TO INCLUDE:
Carrots (not the right kind of soil)
OTHER PLANTS TO INCLUDE:
Strawberries
Banana Squash
What needs to be done right now or soon:Strawberries: Cyndi to look into purchasing strawberry plants. We will try and get those planted next Monday.
Peas: In about a month (Rick to look into)
Onion starts and lettuce
More FamiliesIt was decided that we would like to include about 4 more families in the garden. Lou will contact other families discussed and let us know who else will be joining us.
Next MeetingOur next meeting will be help Sunday evening, March 11th. Time and location yet to be determined.
