Sunshine Community Gardens

Orientation to Sunshine Community Gardens

Welcome new gardeners! We hope you enjoy gardening at Sunshine Community Gardens and become involved with our gardening community as well as with your new garden plot. This document is to help you understand how the gardens operate and to help you have a wonderful gardening experience.

Read the Site Rules thoroughly. Understanding the Site Rules is key to gardening harmony. It is your responsibility to understand and comply with the Site Rules. If you need a clarification of any of the site rules, talk to your Zone Coordinator (ZC).

Schedule an on-site orientation with your ZC before or soon after you start gardening. This is a good time to ask questions about the site rules.

Organizational Structure

Sunshine Community Gardens is a program of Community Garden Initiative of Central Texas, and is located on a site leased from the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. SCG is divided into ten zones, with a coordinator and approximately 20 garden plots per zone. Your ZC is your major garden contact.

A Board of Directors, ZCs, and the gardeners make decisions regarding Site Rules. Contact information for board members and ZCs is posted on the Kiosk Board and on our website: http://www.sunshinecommunitygardens.org.

Physical Site

All gardeners have access to their plots, water, compost, and the tools in the garden shed. NOTE: The front gate and tool shed should be locked every night when the last person leaves. Ask your ZC for the code to the front gate and tool shed, and record it here.

code = ______________________

Parking is available in designated areas and in some zone common areas. Please note that the speed limit on site is 3 miles per hour.

Areas of the Garden

For location of garden areas, zones, and plots please refer to SCG Plot Map.

• Office Trailer - The office trailer houses the offices, library, and meeting space. The library/lounge room includes a restroom for gardeners. Gardeners can check out library books about gardening. There are also free garden-related pamphlets, which you are welcome to take. The meeting space is available for small meetings, lectures, small workshops and classes throughout the year. NOTE: If you are the last to leave the garden be sure to lock the trailer. The trailer key is stored in the mailbox on the iron bar door.
  
  
• Garden Port – White canvas-covered structure located west of the trailer and north of the Hoop House
  
  
• Hoop House – Located south of the Garden Port. The Hoop House functions as our greenhouse and is used mainly for the production of seedlings for the annual plant sales.
  
  
• Tool Shed – The tool shed is the storage area for tools including spades, rakes, hoes, mowers, and wheelbarrows. There is usually fire ant bait available in the tool shed, and the green service-hours logbook is here. Other areas of the tool shed are secured and may be opened only by a Board member or ZC.
  
  Gardeners are welcome to use the tools in the shed for gardening at their plot on-site only.
  
  **After use, please clean tools at the cleaning station by the front door of the tool shed and return them the proper place in the shed. If you break a tool, contact your ZC so it can be replaced.
  
  NOTE: We lock the tool shed at night, so if you are the last one to leave for the night, please lock the shed.
  
  
• Compost piles – Compost is available for SCG gardens to use on-site only. Locate the compost pile labeled "ready" and take compost from this pile. There are large screens in the tool shed area for you to sift the compost if you like. Please place the other garden waste and debris in the proper area. And remember to return the screens to the tool shed.
  
  You may contribute to the compost piles, just be sure to put kitchen scraps and produce into the "Active" compost pile.
  
  Please put weeds with mature seeds into the dumpster.
  
  In addition to compost, there are usually piles of leaves or woodchips, which you may use as mulch or for paths in your garden.
  
  
• Common Areas – In each block of garden plots there is an ungardened spot, the common area. This area is used by each group of gardeners in different ways - in general to store items or park. The common area in your zone should be kept clear and weed-free. It is the responsibility of the gardeners in each zone to share the maintenance of the common area. Please Note – maintenance of the common area does not count as service hours.
  
  
• Kiosk – The kiosk is located on the left of the driveway as you enter the garden. Information about garden events and other information that may be important to gardeners is posted here and on the website.
  
  
• Chicken Coop – The chick coop is located in the southwest corner of the garden. A small group of gardeners are also members of the egg co-op. Contact Ila Falvey if you are interested in learning more about the chickens.
  
  
• Your plot - We are a community garden and many people visit the gardens to enjoy their beauty. Your plot MUST be maintained according to the Site Rules – so please read them thoroughly. In general if you keep your plot maintained with reasonably healthy plants or mulch you will probably never have any problems. Problems arise when gardens get overgrown with weeds and/or vegetables are not harvested. We are a community garden and as such we try to promote vegetable and flower gardening not weed growth. There is limited land here in central Austin for this kind of use and we have a large waiting list, so gardening here is a privilege. Please garden and keep your plot under control. Poor plot maintenance is just about the only reason anyone is ever asked to leave the garden.

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Service Hours

Per the Site Rules, you must work a certain number of service hours to help maintain Sunshine Community Garden. Gardeners record their service hours in the logbook located in the tool shed. Online there is the Virtual Green Binder where you may enter your work hours as well. Talk to your ZC about what does and does not constitute a service hour. For example, required plot and zone common area maintenance does not count as service hours. (See the Site Rules.)

Numerous types of jobs, many of which do not require strenuous exertion, count toward service hours. Typical work includes mowing, edging, weeding the fence line, cleaning tools, or working in the greenhouse. Suggestions for tasks will be posted in the tool shed.

Workdays

You may work towards your hours at your convenience, but scheduled workdays are provided to make it easier. On workdays, projects are scheduled for gardening clean-up as well as projects that may require instruction or assistance, such as work on machinery and tools. Workdays also allow us to work as a gardening community on projects that require numerous people. There are regular announcements about dates and types of work that need to be done.

Be aware that when the hot summer months roll around you should plan your garden activity accordingly. Drink fluids, wear a hat, and apply sunscreen.

Community Involvement

There are often announcements in the Weekly Weeder (our e-mail newsletter) about these options, so keep your eyes open for more information.

Garden Meetings - We hold periodic meetings to cover garden-related issues, and to plan for upcoming plant sales or other events. These meetings are also good times to socialize and meet your fellow gardeners, and are usually either potluck-style or snacks are provided.

Fundraisers

Spring - SCG’s primary fundraiser, the annual Spring Plant Sale and Benefit, is held on the first Saturday of March. It provides necessary capital for the maintenance of SCG and allows the affordable plot rental fees. Live music, produce stand, vendors and thousands of herbs, tomatoes, and vegetables – we have thousands of visitors on this day alone.

As you can see, many opportunities abound for gardeners to assist with the success of these events.

Charitable/Educational Activities – SCG is proud to be involved in various community projects. SCG contributes annually to the non-profit organization All Blind Children which supports students at TSBVI. Contributions of plants and seeds are given to various school gardens and other youth groups. SCG hosts many school field trips to our gardens throughout the year and provides meeting space for other non-profit organizations.

Produce Donations

Our largest contribution is with donations of fresh produce to the Micah 6 Food Bank. The Micah 6 Food Bank is comprised of 12 university–area churches. Produce is collected year round and delivered each week. Contact Nancy Seibert for additional information.

The Gardens at Sunshine are very productive and you might have more produce than you can use. If you have an over-abundance of vegetables from your garden consider donating them to Micah 6, the SCG Summer Produce Stand, or the chickens as noted below. Please do NOT let them rot as it is a waste, attracts insects and is against the Site Rules.

Chickens- You may donate damaged vegetables to the chickens. There is a bucket by the chicken coop door for you to place your vegetables in.

Communication

We continue to improve communication between garden members, ZCs and the board. If you have questions you are welcome to talk with any of the board members, or your ZC. A contact list is posted on the Kiosk and online.

The Weekly Weeder contains many important announcements and articles that will keep you up-to-date on the issues of the garden, so please take the time to read it. If you have an e-mail account, you can receive the Weekly Weeder on-line. Otherwise, check the kiosk and the SCG website for the latest edition and for other posted information.

Contributions to the Weekly Weeder are always welcome. Please feel free to submit organic gardening tips, announcements of local gardening events, reports on pests, recipes for the crops of the season, and other information that may help your fellow gardeners.

Happy Gardening!