July 9th Work party pictures.

As a reminder, don't eat unknown plants and never eat non-edible plants! There are many plants that could be harmful in the garden it is important for gardeners to be able to identify edible and non edible plant. With the heavy rainfall and storms this year we have a lot of overgrowth around the garden. Now that the rains have stopped we are beginning to remove the extra grass and weeds from paths and community areas. A lot of poison hemlock plants that have appeared in the garden this year from windblown seed. It's important for gardeners to know how to identify this plant to avoid any ingestion. Here is a video to help you learn about how to identify poison hemlock. https://www.eatweeds.co.uk/is-it-hemlock-or-cow-parsley.

Since it's founding the Inspire plot has continued to grow. They have an  amazing team of new gardeners who otherwise wouldn't feel comfortable for one reason or another to garden on a large plot alone. They have worked hard to rebuild a feeling of community in the garden and regularly hold workshops there. The Inspire plot is a communal space available to relocated UC Berkeley partners to work together and learn about gardening. If you are a relocated partner and would like to learn more please contact [email protected]. 

 Last Week the 2017 garden committee met to discuss how to further improve the garden and get the ball rolling for the new year. We are making several changes to the payment method so please be patient till we post a link for plot payments. For those of you who are still not sure about what to plant this year, we recommend taking a look at the useful planting time and companion planting guide for the east bay.

Just a few images that reflect the work done in the last few weeks

We all like working out problems. Having a plot is a great opportunity to prove ourselves our ability to troubleshoot incoming issues. However, when we use "recycled" materials, sometime we end up creating more problems.

This year, we have collected two containers full of the following materials:

Plastic (not only PET, but HDPE, PVC, PP, and the like) 
Metals (recyclables and not)
fabric (including bed frames and mattresses)
Particle Board and dead wood
Unclassified trash

Many of us feel it should be Okay to build our own trellises and gardening beds with the material available. However, after spending eight work parties (6 hours each) to the removal of foreign materials, it should be clear that we have to put a stop to our tinkering instincts.

PLEASE CONTACT THE COMMITTEE BEFORE STARTING A PROJECT. WE CAN HELP YOU CHOOSE YOUR MATERIALS WHILE MAINTAINING STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS

One more time, a real success clearing plots!!

I understand: the idea of a work party is somehow a troubling oxymoron. However, work parties are an incredible opportunity to meet new people and celebrate together the making of a community.

This year, we have managed to rein in the advance of weeds and blackberries in the West side of the Garden, and we have not seen cases of aphids.

Also, the fire hazard notice to the garden has been rescinded by the Fire Department. This was possible thanks to the intervention of  Wendy Ellison, Thomas Bliskemper and our friends in grounds (infinite thanks to Elad and Suzanne, who have sacrificed their weekends clearing the West and Central areas)

The trench on the West side (next to the train tracks) has been clear for almost a year, and the trash inside the garden has been considerably reduced.

The container you see in the picture is the second this year, and we calculate the need of a third one by the end of this month.

This last Wednesday we had the first Meet and Greet of the Summer. It was a great opportunity to meet the Garden Committee for the Academic Year 2016-2017 and to mingle with old and new friends.

During this meeting, we got a clear disclosure of the expenditures: the majority of our budget (as meager as it is) went to the disposal of waste material.  Each container was roughly $700, and that leaves a very small amount available to replace broken tools (just look inside the Tool Shed) and hoses.

Please be kind and remember to clean and return the tools to the shed after using them