Late June and July are when many gardeners really start to get a bumpin' crop! We hope you caught our last Pest Management Newsletter Here and explore organic approaches to protecting your crops. We also hope you had a safe fun Fourth of the July, and did a little dancing in the rain!
Event Recap
June 10 Work Party: We had a total of 15 people volunteer from 8 am to approximately 11 am on June 10, with hours included for preparation and clean up by the organizers. 44 hours were tallied x $7 per hour = $308 value for Rose Roots in kind contribution. The team did a great job and we will continue to care for the trees, shrubs and perennials at west side throughout the season and beyond. If you missed it, not to worry. We have another Work Party coming up July 15.
Thank you to all who were able to make it! Patty Sacks, Leadership Team - Special Projects Lead
June 10, 2023 Westside Work Party
Produce Donation
Produce Donation season is upon us! We donate to two deserving organizations, Community Table, Arvada's Food Bank, and Veggie Van, which delivers fresh veggies to underserved communities. Rose Roots Community Garden is proud to sponsor these two benevolent organizations, and urge gardeners to give generously of their harvest.
Gardeners may sign up Here for Tuesday morning shifts to pick up produce (donated by gardeners and stored in the barn) and bring it to the Community Table.
Produce Donation Lead Alyson Katz will be coordinating and supporting delivery volunteers.
Meet a Rose Roots Gardener
From Left to Right:
Gary Williams: Rose Roots Operations Lead, Gary worked as an Engineer doing service projects all over the world, and now leads Rose Roots Operations Team with Jim Richards. Gary and Jim, founding members of the garden in 2012, led the effort to build the new raised ADA plots this season. They also led the onerous task of putting down weed cloth and gravel in our tidy community walkways.
Margaret Jacot: An active Rose Roots Gardener and participant in Work Parties and Special Events, Maggie was a Teacher, is an active hiker and outdoor adventurer, and helps maintain community plots and neglected plots that need a little extra love.
Jim Richards: Rose Roots Operations Lead and expert gardener, worked as a Ceramics Engineer and now helps maintain our garden equipment, fixes emergency leaks, maintains our hoses, gives gardening workshops, and is generally an understated highly skilled human being!
Quadrant Leads
In an effort to help connect garden neighbors and support new gardeners, we have developed four Quadrant Lead roles. We also have shared plot neighbor info with your Quad leads to help you connect with each other.
Thank you to the following Quad Leads for stepping up!
NW Quad: Shelby Choka
NE Quad: Christie Morin
SW Quad: Dan Graumiller
SE Quad: Position Open 2023
What do Quadrant Leads Do?
Ensure gardeners in each Quad (shown in our Quad Map Here) are aware of gardener responsibilities
Share information about upcoming events
Serve as a resource for new and experienced gardeners
Foster gardener connections
Share gardener feedback with the Rose Roots Leadership team.
Pro Tips for Gardeners
A well managed hose, kept out of walkways, is a good way to make friends with plot neighbors.
Pull your flowering weeds in YOUR plot or on shared borders with other plots. When weeds flower they spread and that is not a nice gift to freely give to your neighbor.
Leaving surprise positive notes is also a great way to connect with your neighbors.
You can help remove weeds by pulling them or carefully spraying them with organic weed killer (i.e. vinegar). Be careful to not inadvertently spray any plants or flowers. The big grass weeds are easier to pull. The pig tail weed is harder. If you spray, please do pull the weeds that have died.
Avoid using the long handled weed extraction tool found in the East barn on the pathways due to the risk of tearing the weed fabric underneath the gravel. However this tool is GREAT for using in your garden plot!
Keep our Garden Beautiful and Earn Service Hours
Tips from our Membership Coordinator Christie Morin
Got 15 minutes?
WEED - see a weed, pull it. Any area counts except your plot!
SPRAY Vinegar - if you have some, share and spray some weeds!
COMPOST - Pull out items in the compost pile that are NON-MOWABLE and put in Trash.
BARNS - straighten/clean up anything needed
WATER- help a neighbor out and water their plot where you see the water signs.
Got 30 minutes?
WEED SOME MORE - weed community plots as well as pathways, fences, barns, etc.
COMPOST - Mow the compost pile.
Got more time?
ATTEND a work party - every 2nd and 4th Thursday at 6pm
ATTEND our 2nd Tuesday Monthly Meeting at the garden at 6 pm
HELP with special events - see Rose RootZone newsletter and Evites
JOIN a service team - check out the website for open positions
Remember that time spent keeping your area cleaned, counts towards your service hours needed for the year (i.e. 12 for full plots, 6 for half and ADA plots). Please remember to log your time Here.
Thanks for helping keep our community beautiful!
All About Calendula
Educational Garden Moment with Rose Roots Administrator Shannon Sawyer
Calendula flowers are typically yellow or orange. They are also known as ‘pot marigold’ and are a member of the daisy family (Asteraceae).
When the leaves first appear in the spring, they resemble lettuce leaves—the leaves are indeed edible, though with a bitter taste. The petals are edible too, and make a great addition to summer salads or to make a soothing tea.
Typically grown as an annual, plants die off in the hard frosts in late fall and seeds need to be resown the following year.
Managing Calendula at Rose Roots
Calendula is considered an aggressive plant--it readily self-seeds every year. You can see that it has spread across Rose Roots plots.
Because it spreads so easily from seed and can become weedy in the garden, deadhead calendula to contain it in your garden. Those dried seeds can be saved until next spring, when you can easily sow them in your garden. The seeds also do well sown in containers, where they are well-contained.
What do We do with Trash?
Well, in short, define trash....is it organic matter from your garden? Then it should go in one of our compost piles. However, if it is plastic or metal, currently it should be taken home.
We are working on getting a bi-monthly dumpster picked up on site. In the interim, we've noticed the small city trash can on Alkire Street along the pathway filling up with garden refuse and bags being left around the garden. Please take trash home instead to keep our space lovely so the City doesn't whip us with a Wet Calendula.
Thank you for your patience as we continue to navigate the challenges of trash pick up seasonally on a City owned parcel they have been so generous to lease to us in partnership with Denver Urban Gardens (DUG).
Finances
We collected around $5000 in plot fees which we will confirm on our next Denver Urban Gardens (DUG) statement. We welcome Tom Glum this season as our Treasurer, and can already tell he will do a fabulous job!
Happy Trails
Thank you to John Malito for his committed service as Rose Roots Treasurer throughout the 2021-2022 seasons. John will be greatly missed as an uplifting garden member, active community coordinator, and generous contributor of his time, ideas, positive attitude, and fabulous sense of humor! Cindee Malito, our Produce Donation lead, will also be missed as they are moving to Arizona's warmer climate. Thank you Cindee for your fabulous effort coordinating our produce donation program in our 2022 season and for being ever willing to take on new challenges! We wish you both happy trails.
Gardener Resources
Check out our recent meeting Minutes Here. These are located on our website at www.roserootsgarden.org (Member Resources/Agendas and Minutes). We invite all gardeners to attend our monthly meetings at the garden on the Second Tuesday at 6 pm each month and welcome your ideas and input.
Save the Dates
Tues July 11, 6 pm: Monthly Rose Roots Garden Meeting. All gardeners welcome! Meet at the central garden pavillion.
Sat July 15, 8:30 am: July Work Party. RSVP Here. (Please let us know by emailing us Here if you aren't receiving these Evites and would like to be included. Youth Team Lead Cate Camacho will be leading a family friendly scavenger hunt with popsicle prizes!
Sunday July 30, 6 pm: Music in the Garden with Lucas Lawson and BBQ/Potluck
Sat Aug 5, 9 am-12 pm: Arvada Pollinator Garden Tour. Rose Roots will be represented by our very own master gardener Katie Meis and Administrator Shannon Sawyer.
Wed Aug 23, 6:30-8:30 pm: Volunteer Work Party with Community Group represented by former gardener Jason Anderson.
Wed Sept 27, 6:30 pm: Music with John Hewitt and BBQ Potluck in the garden
Find more event details on our calendar Here and check out our Garden Kiosk designed by gardener and graphic designer Deb Harris for Garden Resources and Upcoming Events.
Note: We had calendar issues identified by several helpful gardeners and sorted them out by coordinating multiple daylight savings settings on our website so the calendar times should now be correct!
We look forward to seeing you out at the garden!
Rose Roots Leadership Team