Dundee Community Garden Annual Report
Annual Member Meeting
Nov. 5, 2020
In 2020, we had 40 garden members grow produce, herbs, and flowers in their individual plots. We continue to have a wait-list for plots: currently 35 people.
2020 has been a very unusual and difficult year for everyone, and the garden was affected as well.
COVID-19: With the onset of Covid-19, we had to make changes in our procedures and practices, starting with holding our New Member Orientation in March over Zoom instead of in person. In order to observe social distancing, we canceled our usual events, so for the first year since our founding we did not host an ice cream social! All of our educational events and children’s events were also canceled. As a Covid safety precaution, we had two volunteers replenish a bleach and water solution twice a week so that shared tools and faucets could be sanitized when used—thank you Cory Johnson and Stephani Jarecke for doing that the entire summer!
PRODUCE/ DONATIONS: However, many things remained the same. Individuals were still able to grow their own produce, and we continued to make weekly donations to the Underwood Tower across the street. We donated approximately 435 pounds of produce to the Underwood Tower this year, including 100 pounds of sweet potatoes.
SWEET POTATOES: We planted our sweet potatoes very late this year—on July 1 rather than our usual early/mid June date, as K-State was having problems with producing the slips (Orleans) due to Covid and ill employees, and weather complications. Orleans need 95 days to maturity; we harvest them 101 days after planting, on Oct. 10. We grew approximately 400 pounds this year, which is a decrease from the 600 pounds we grew in 2019 (98 growing days), and the 825 pounds we grew in 2018 (140 days). Because of the pandemic, everyone wore masks when harvesting the sweet potatoes, and to make social distancing easier, we left the sweet potato vines alongside the edge of the sweet potato plot for a week after harvesting, so that the vines would shrink down and weigh less, making hauling the vines to Big Muddy Urban Farm a much easier procedure. It was suggested we do this every year as the vines are much easier to manage after decomposing for a week!
GARDEN IMPROVEMENTS: Despite the pandemic, we had several accomplishments this year.
Individual Plot Markers: In May, Jan de Knock made orange plot marker signs, that Ben Wagner attached to wooden stakes and put in to each plot, so that each plot was clearly marked with the name of the plot owner. The major reason for this was to discourage produce theft, by making it very clear that these plots belong to individuals.
Bench: We installed a bench along the west edge of the garden, in an area with afternoon shade, using donations made in memory of the mother of board member Nancy Roberts.
Produce Donation Box: In August, we installed a “Produce Donation Box” towards the SW corner of the garden, near the Little Free Library, where people could donate fresh produce from their garden plots. We also publicized this donation box in the community so that neighbors would know about it, and could donate their own excess fresh produce, as well as could help themselves. Thank you to Bill Kelly for making the box, and Tancy and Rick Ellis for helping with the installation.
GARDEN UPKEEP:
Raised beds: In April, we replaced two of our raise beds, and repaired three additional raised beds. (Thank you Ben Wagner, Mia Matlock, Max and Susan Burbach, Bill and Marilee Kelly, & Wally Thoreson.)
White Whale: In April, Tannaz Kouhpa power washed the white whale. In August we replaced the tarp covering (purchased late fall 2019) with a white canvas tarp, 8’ x 10’.
Memorial Stone: In May we installed a stone in memory of Mary Therese Walsh Jones, longtime Dundee neighbor, in the fruit tree area.
Entranceway Sign Refinishing: We had the entranceway wood supports power washed, sanded, and refinished with three coats of spar urethane by Brandon Owen /B & D Quality Painting in June, 2020.
Plumbing Problems: In mid-June the diverter spout fell off the front hydrant. Eyman plumbing replaced the diverter spout with a new diverter, but did a bad job attaching it and had to come back and re-attach, (early July); July 19 diverter spout fell off again and Eyman Plumbing said we needed to replace the head of the hydrant; new hydrant head replaced on Aug. 10.
Solar Battery: In August, Eric Williams replaced the original 2013 battery (stores power from solar panels) inside the shed with a new battery.
Wedding: Because of Covid, when many events were canceled, we even hosted a very small and intimate wedding on August 15! (Thank you Tancy Ellis and her daughters, and Rita Corell, for making all the surprise bouquets for that event!)
NEIGHBOR GARDEN: We grew tomatoes, squash, beans, collards, kale, and herbs in the Neighbor Garden area, and that area was heavily used and harvested from. We also have two rhubarb plants in the Neighbor Garden area that were again overly-harvested from, to the detriment of the plant—we will have to work at protecting those rhubarb plants from over-harvesting in 2021.
WORK AREA TEAMS: New this year, we had individual members take on increased responsibility for different areas of the garden, and asked our members to commit to working in one or more areas.
Big thanks this year to Jan for taking the lead on weekly donations—Jan was at the garden almost every Saturday, and often mid-week as well, for harvesting from our donation plots.
Thanks to Tancy for taking the lead on maintaining the area under the fruit trees, and adding in herbs and other plants to improve that area.
Thanks to Jeff Beiermann for heading up the lawn mowing crew, with able assistance from Emily Newton.
Thanks to Tancy Ellis and Bill Kelly for their tireless weed whacking!
Thanks to Eric Williams for maintaining our solar power system.
Thanks to Emily Newton and Ben Wagner for maintaining the compost pile.
Thanks to Ben Wagner for the construction work, especially the new shelf behind the bulletin board.
Thanks to Bill Kelly for building and installing the Produce Donation Stand.
Thank you to Rita Corell for growing and planting the Mexican Sunflowers in the sweet potato area—they looked amazing, and even after the derecho in August, when a few were knocked down, they were beautiful and attracted hundreds of butterflies.
Thanks to Jo Bartikoski for heading up the crew maintaining the western edge garden beds, and Lori Huebert for heading up the Entranceway and Traffic Node crews, Rebecca Reagan for the 49th St. Flowerbeds crew, Kellie Hayden for the behind the shed crew, and Cory Johnson for maintaining around the white whale.
And thank you to all of our members for their contributions—it all adds up to make a great garden!
Dundee Community Garden Annual Report
Annual Member Meeting
Nov. 7, 2019
In 2019, we had 40 member gardeners grow produce, herbs, and flowers in their individual plots. We continue to have a wait-list for plots: currently 38 people. One plot stayed empty for the year, as we have tried to get the horseradish under control, and four plots are used for donations plots.
Rebecca Reagan took a soil test in May of the sweet potato area, and found our soil tests VERY HIGH in organic matter, potassium, and sodium. Rebecca was advised to amend the soil with gypsum, to leach out the sodium, and Rebecca also added mushroom compost. Soil needs a lot of water in order for gypsum to leach out the sodium—as we had a very wet spring, and gave the sweet potatoes frequent watering, we counted on those two ways to leach out the sodium.
We planted sweet potatoes on June 8, and grew the Orleans variety of sweet potato for the third year in a row. Orleans sweet potatoes take 95 days from planting to harvest, and we harvested them 98 days after planting, on Sept. 14, 2019. We harvested approximately 600 pounds of sweet potatoes this year with plenty of potatoes for our garden members and also for donating approximately 250 pounds to the Underwood Tower.
We donated approximately 565 pounds of produce to the Underwood Tower, including about 250 pounds of sweet potatoes. Our donations have been dropping for the past two years. We think this is due to two factors: we had a difficult growing season in 2019, with early high heat followed by a wet, cool summer; and we had an increase in “theft” from the garden plots.
GARDEN UPKEEP:
In 2019 we built five new raised beds to replace beds that were falling apart.
In May 2019, Tancy Ellis repainted/touched up our carrot sign in the Neighbor Garden.
In May 2019, we planted 100 bare-root strawberries under the fruit trees.
In May 2019, we made and sold 24 tomato cages for members of the community.
In Sept. 2019, we planted oats and winter rye as cover crops in sweet potato area as well as one of our donation plots.
Pollinator Garden:
We were recognized in 2016 as a Certified NE Pollinator Habitat. In 2019, we added additional native pollinator perennial plants, including two swamp milkweeds, additional butterfly milkweeds, two additional goldenrods (Wichita Mountains and Golden Fleece), three asters (an additional Lady in Black as well as an October Skies and Woods Pink), and an additional Golden Alexander.
Compost:
For the first time since our founding in 2009, we did not order a compost delivery. We are aware of over-composting our beds, and we had some compost available in our own compost bins for those who needed compost.
MEETING OUR MISSION STATEMENT with Workshops and Events: part of our mission is to provide educational workshops, as well as community-building events.
Six Educational Workshops
1. What to Plant and When (Rebecca Reagan), April 13
2. Fruit Tree Pruning (Joel Kayser), April 23
3. Growing Tomatoes (Rebecca Reagan), May 11
4. Native Plants and Pollinators with Marissa Jensen/Pheasants Forever, June 4
5. Bumble Bees and the NE Bumble Bee Atlas Project (Katie Lamke/ Xerces Society), Aug. 7
6. Monarch Tagging Demonstration (Rob Gray, Pheasants Forever), Sept. 11
Two Kids Educational Workshops (“Kids in the Garden” series) with Lori Huebert and Tancy Ellis (Thank you, Tancy and Lori!)—our June workshop was canceled three times due to rain!
1. Pom Pom Caterpillar and Garden Necklace, July 16
2. Fanciful Fans, Aug. 5
Two Events:
Ice Cream Social, June 23
Watermelon Feed, July 21, canceled due to rain
10th Anniversary Celebration with live music from the Burt Street Individuals, remarks from OPPD Board Member Eric Williams, and carrot cake from Mary Kay Wolf, Friday Sept. 13
REVIEW OF GOALS SET FOR 2019:
In April 2019 we completed the goal of terracing the Neighbor Garden area using the recycled landscape stones obtained from the former Farnam Farm in October 2018.
We decided not to purchase a chipper/shredder, as we were concerned it would get clogged up. We did purchase a new EGO electric lawnmower in June, 2019, as our old mower would run out of charge before completing mowing the entire garden.
We continue to work on the goal of putting in a bench along the west side of the garden, near the catalpa tree.
Another goal for 2019 was to continue expecting our members to volunteer two hours per month at the garden working in the community beds, flower beds, Neighbor Garden, etc. We had increased success with this, with some increase in volunteering from 2018—quite a few members, but not all, volunteered two hours per month (and some many more hours than that).
ENTRANCEWAY DISINTEGRATION 2019:
In a July 3, 2019 rainstorm, the blue cut-out figures of our sign at the garden entranceway, which was made of MDO plywood in 2014, fell apart. The plywood had severely disintegrated and was quite crumbly. Keith Siebels of Owen Industries in Carter Lake made a new laser cut steel sign for us at no charge. Great Plains Powdercoating did the powdercoating. Omaha Neon Sign Company did the installation, at no charge to us. The sign was replaced on Sept. 13, just in time for our anniversary celebration later that evening.
It takes a village to make a community garden a success. Thank you to everyone who helped with our garden this season and helped us reach our goals.
Board Members: Thank you to all our current board members who made 2019 a success.
Dundee Community Garden Annual Report
Annual Member Meeting
Nov. 1, 2018
In 2018, we had 41 member gardeners grow produce, herbs, and flowers in their individual plots. We continue to have a wait-list for plots: currently 42 people.
We donated approximately 700 pounds of produce to the Underwood Tower (includes about 205 pounds of sweet potatoes), and we donated approximately 50 pounds of sweet potatoes to Marks Bistro.
We grew approximately 825 pounds of sweet potatoes—just under 2017’s total of 880 pounds—even though 2018’s crop was planted 20 days later (June 22) in the season than our 2017 planting date of June 2. Decreased number of pounds could be due to weighing errors, or problems with our drip irrigation system, or perhaps potatoes were spaced farther apart when planting this year. We grew the Orleans variety for the second year in a row. Our largest potato this year was 6 pounds.
Harvesting the sweet potato crop was challenging in 2018 due to having to cancel the harvest dates for the first two weekends in October as the soil was too wet, and then having 3” snow fall on Oct. 14, covering the sweet potato vines while the potatoes were still in the ground. A volunteer crew clipped the vines from the potatoes the day following the snow storm, (thank you Rebecca, Bill and Don) and the potatoes were harvested five days after vines were clipped, on Oct. 20. While the freeze does not affect the flavor of the potatoes, clipping the vines is supposed to protect the potatoes so they can still be cured and stored.
We had an extremely productive yellow squash crop in our Neighbor Garden that produced approximately 150 pounds of squash, from our original 12 squash seeds. Jan often harvest 2x/week as the squash was so prolific! (Thank you to Jan de Knock!)
MEETING OUR MISSION STATEMENT with Workshops and Events: part of our mission is to provide educational workshops, as well as community-building events.
Four Educational Workshops (Thank you, Rebecca!)
1. What to Plant and When (Rebecca Reagan), April 7, 17 people
2. Growing Tomatoes (Rebecca Reagan), May 19, 12 people
3. Pollinator Field Tour (Jennifer Hopwood/ Xerces Society), June 14, 12 people
4. Fall Planting (Rebecca Reagan), Aug. 31, 10 people
TOTAL REACH: Four workshops with about 51 people (about same as last year)
Two Kids Educational Workshops (“Kids in the Garden” series) with Lori Huebert and Tancy Ellis (Thank you, Tancy and Lori!)
1. Watch it Grow Carrots, June 6, about 10 kids/adults
2. Garden Gnome, Aug. 8 (rescheduled from July 11 when no kids showed up) about 10 kids/adults
TOTAL REACH: Two workshops, 20 kids/adults
Two Events:
Ice Cream Social, June 24, about 100 people
Watermelon Feed, July 30, about 25 people (down from 55 people in 2017)
TOTAL REACH: 125 people
GRAND TOTAL WORKSHOPS AND EVENTS: Approximately 196 people
Outreach: DCG Board Members assisted with the annual Seed Share (scheduled for the last Sat. in January) hosted by the Douglas County Health Dept./ Community Garden Network.
GRANTS RECEIVED: We received a grant from the Omaha Men’s Garden Club for pollinator plants, in the form of $100 cash plus a $100 gift certificate for the Men’s Garden Club Plant Sale. We purchased native pollinator plants from the NE Statewide Arboretum for the flower beds including Prairie Phlox, Golden Alexanders, Culver’s Root, Rattlesnake Master, Lady in Black Aster, Virginia Mountain Mint, and a Wichita Mountains Goldenrod. And we got many of our vegetable crops—tomatoes, peppers, herbs—from the gift certificate for the Men’s Garden Club Plant Sale.
ABANDONED CISTERN from 2017: On Oct. 21, 2017 a hole in the ground was observed. After some digging it was apparently an abandoned cistern, with brick-lined walls. Measured about 10 ft. wide and 10 feet deep. Douglas County Health Dept. was consulted, and we ended up having it filled with sand in Nov. 2017. (Keith Mixan of Mixan Concrete for $275).
Review of Goals set for 2018:
Our main goal for 2018 was to better terrace the Neighbor Garden area. In the spring, we placed rows of bricks along the two upper levels to establish a terrace for the beds. In October, we recycled some landscape stones obtained from the former Farnam Farm to improve the terracing with larger stone borders. (Thank you Don W and Wally!) We will need to straighten and dig in the landscape stones either later this year, or in spring 2018.
Additional goal for 2018 was to require our members to volunteer two hours per month at the garden working in the community beds, flower beds, Neighbor Garden, etc. We had mixed success with this: we certainly saw in increase in volunteering from our members, but we did not have all members participate, and not all gave 2 hours/month.
It takes a village to make a community garden a success. Thank you to everyone who helped with our garden this season and helped us reach our goals.
Board Elections: Thank you to all our past board members, and our current and new board members.
Dundee Community Garden Annual Report
Annual Member Meeting
Nov. 2, 2017
In 2017, we had 41 member gardeners grow produce, herbs, and flowers in their individual plots.
We donated approximately 840 pounds of produce to the Underwood Tower (includes about 350 pounds of sweet potatoes.)
We grew approximately 880 pounds of sweet potatoes total crop. Last year, we grew approximately 1300 pounds—we were 400 pounds less this year due to late planting date of Thurs. June 22, as well as growing a different variety (Orleans vs. Beauregard in past years—this year we were unable to obtain the Beauregard slips). Our largest potato this year was 4.25 pounds, compared to the 11 and 12 pounders we have grown of the Beauregard variety.
MEETING OUR MISSION STATEMENT:
Workshops and Events: part of our mission is to provide educational workshops, as well as community-building events.
Four Educational Workshops
1. What to Plant and When (Lori Huebert), April 1, 15 people
2. Growing Tomatoes (Rebecca Reagan), May 6, 12 people
3. Native Pollinator Wildflowers (Tom Lundahl), June 22, 5 people
4. Pollinator Field Tour (Jennifer Hopwood/ Xerces Society), July 20, 3 people (about 100º that evening)
TOTAL REACH: about 52 people
Three Kids Educational Workshops (“Kids in the Garden” series) with Lori Huebert and Tancy Ellis
1. Glass Suncatchers, June 14 (4 kids, 2 adults))
2. Seed Art, Aug. 2 (6 kids, 3 adults) (rescheduled from July when it was about 100º)
3. Make your own Bugs and a Planted Head, Aug.30 (4 kids, 2 adults)
TOTAL REACH: Three workshops, 14 kids, 7 adults
Three Events:
Ice Cream Social, June 11, about 100 people
Watermelon Feed, July 30, about 55 people
Tour de Garden host site, Sept. 11, about 55 people
TOTAL REACH: 210 people
GRAND TOTAL WORKSHOPS AND EVENTS: Approximately 283 people
NEW IN 2017 (Goals set for 2017):
1. Added two additional signs to the Neighbor Garden with less words to make it more clear what the Neighbor Garden is and who it is for.
2. Neighbor Garden was more understood & used by neighbors who picked from it.
3. Scott and Eric put a fan into the shed to keep the shed cooler during the summer months.
Outreach:
DCG Board Members assisted with the annual Seed Share (scheduled for the last Sat. in January) hosted by the Douglas County Health Dept./ Community Garden Network.
Mary presented about the DCG as part of the Neighborhoods USA (NUSA) conference on a panel about Greening Midtown.
ABANDONED CISTERN: On Oct. 21, 2017 a hole in the ground was observed. After some digging it is apparently an abandoned cistern, with brick-lined walls. Measures at least four feet deep, width is unknown but gets wider as it goes down. Douglas County Health Dept. has been consulted, and we are researching the best way to fill it.
It takes a village to make a community garden a success. Thank you to everyone who helped with our garden this season and helped us reach our goals.
2014 Annual Report
DCG has Successful Gardening Season
2014 was a year of major accomplishments for Dundee Community Garden. In the spring we installed solar panels on our tool shed (making our lawn-mowing and weed-whacking fossil-fuel free), planted a strawberry patch as an edible groundcover under our six fruit trees, planted a native prairie wildflower area for pollinators (where native plants can send down 20 foot tap-roots, making them drought-tolerant), and built a retaining wall along the alley side of the garden.
On a wet and muddy Saturday in June, we planted our 250 sweet potato starts, which yielded over 1000 pounds of sweet potatoes when we dug them up in October.
We donated approximately 950 pounds of fresh organic produce to the Underwood Tower this year, which is more than we have ever donated in a single year. Since our founding in 2009, we have donated 3,937 pounds of fresh produce to others.
We hosted a number of events in 2014, including our annual Ice Cream Social in June, a Watermelon Feed in July, and educational workshops including What to Plant and When, Herbs from the Garden, and Edible Weeds.
In August, we were delighted when scouts from Boy Scout Troop 42 built new compost bins for us as part of Jack McCullough’s Eagle Scout Project. Jack designed the bins with removable wooden slats, making it easy to turn the compost from bin to bin. The corner posts are set in concrete, and the wooden slats are made of cedar—it is a highly functional design!
Also in August, our new entranceway, designed by sculptor Dan Newberry and Greensleeves Landscaping, was completed. With its whimsical depiction of people carrying a giant carrot, it serves as a welcoming entrance to both the community garden and the Dundee neighborhood.
DCG hosted a 5th year birthday party on Sunday Sept. 7, with a ribbon cutting at the new entranceway, and remarks from City Council President Pete Festersen and DMPA President Adam Langdon. With live music from the “Burt Street Individuals” and homemade carrot cake using carrots from the garden, it was a gala event with over 150 people attending.
In October, a bronze plaque recognizing those who donated $150+ to our Growing Roots fundraising campaign in 2013 was installed in our 49th Street flowerbeds.
While the DCG is a relatively small garden, our compact design provides growing space for 41 members, as well as additional plots for growing produce to donate, and a “Neighbor Garden” area where anyone walking by the garden is invited to help themselves to fresh produce.
DCG is a 501(c)3 organization, and donations are fully tax deductible. Plans for 2015 include setting up drip hoses for irrigation for the sweet potato area, as well as improving the Neighbor Garden area, compost signage, and purchasing needed garden equipment. Every year we have expenses that exceed our membership fee.
If you would like to make an end-of-year tax-deductible donation to the DCG, you can donate through our website at DundeeGarden.org, or send a check to our Treasurer Ben Tiggelaar, at 14302 FNB Pkwy, Omaha, NE 68154.
Thank you for considering DCG in your charitable contributions.
Happy Winter and we’ll be back next Spring!