Rose Root Zone May 2025 Iss. 1: Garden Season has Begun!

Event Recap: Rose Roots Workshop: Composting 101

An enthusiastic group of gardeners turned out on Saturday May 17th to learn more about composting from master composter Julie Gleason. Did you know that mesophilic and thermophilic bacteria are what makes compost hot, not the sun? Bacteria plays a crucial role in the decomposition of organic matter. Gardeners learned the key ingredients to compost are high nitrogen materials (greens), high carbon materials (browns), water, and air. Attendees also got a chance to practice chopping up the compost piles with electric mowers and moving the composting materials into the bins.

Keep an eye on the signs by the compost piles for information about what to place into the compost. Electric mowers have really lightened the load, but there are still some key dos and don'ts:

DO:

• Greens (like weeds without flower heads or grass clippings)

• Browns (old leaves)

• If it's organic and can be mowed, toss it in!

  
  

DON'T

• Bring food from home (it attracts animals)

• Rocks

• Giant rootballs (with dirt) or uncut sunflower stalks

• Plastic plant markers

• Weeds with seed heads

• Anything inorganic
  

Children's Play Area Update

A group of parents and grandparents have been hard at work refreshing the children's play area. Jack has added 16 bags of sand and Sam and Laurie Shellenberger have hauled in another 20! The playground team is on the hunt to find a new playhouse to replace the current one - it's 6"x4"X6" so if you have a lead on a similar sized one, pass it along to leadership@roseroots.org. They've also primed the concrete rounds next to the play area and are looking for outdoor paint donations in primary colors. They're also seeking 2x4's and 4x4's to make a balance beam!

Westside Volunteer Appreciation!

We held a volunteer morning at Westside over the weekend to reinvigorate our pollinator bed. Appreciation to Margaret Jacot, who donate over 3.5 hours and assisted Patty Sacks. Together they planted 25 perennials and weeded a large part of the Westside Pollinator bed. 

Many thanks to the following volunteers who offered their time to tend sections of the Westside Pollinator bed and the troughs for the 2025 season: Maggie Alcorn, Margaret Jacot, Anna Campbell, Rhonda Steiner , Joan Carroll, and Connie! We have at least three grass mowers to thank, including John Chisum, John Scheunemann, Jack Daniel Nix and, of course, Gary Williams and Jim Richards for their continuing support with all of our ongoing projects at Westside.

Free Stuff!

The Sharing Shed at the north end of the garden is a spot where everyone can drop still-useable garden items if you'd like to donate them to others! Feel free to take items you see there if you can use them. The log rounds on the east side are also up for grabs! And don't forget to check out the free seeds in the barn on the west side. Many thanks to Osiris from DUG for making these available to us!

Upcoming Events

• Saturday May 25th 8:00-8:30am: Filming at the Garden! A couple who have made Sundance Films will be using the garden as a backdrop on May 25th at 8:00am. The film will focus on community-supported agriculture and climate change. If you can plant and/or clean up your plot by then, that would be fantastic! A second filming will occur on June 8th at 4:00pm, so spruce up those plots!

• Saturday June 7th from 8am-12pm: Work Party. Mark your calendars! The next service hours day will start bright and early. Come get your service hours in and help brighten up the pollinator gardens, food forests, and other common areas. Watch for an Evite.

• Tuesday June 10th: Leadership Planning Monthly Meeting. At the garden under the pavillion.

  
  

Help Needed!

If you're looking for a way to get your service hours, the South Side Pollinator garden needs you! If you can spare even 5-10 minutes to weed there, Aaron Amaya, the South Pollinator lead could use your help. Nervous about accidentally pulling up helpful pollinators? Aaron says you can help just by looking out for the obvious weeds like bindweed, dandelions, and grass encroaching from the adjacent field. Use a plant ID

app or even Google photos to identify weeds if you're not sure. Don't forget to log your Service Hours here.

Do you have woodworking skills? in 2025 Rose Roots hopes to redo its signage in the Food Forests and Compost areas.

Also in the Food Forests, the mint and bee balm need to be thinned and the roses need to be pruned. Keeping things maintained is key! As Gary Williams in Operations says, "we've been successful in keeping things in shape in the garden by people letting us know before things get too bad."

Take your Trash!! If you have rocks, large root balls, sunflower stalks, or other items that aren't compostable, please don't put them in the compost or common pathways, bag them up and take them with you as you leave.

This & That:

• April 26th Garden Kick Off - A huge thank you to everyone who came out to the garden opening work party for our 13th year! New and experience gardeners of all ages emptied out the barns, put out hoses, and cleaned up the common areas.

• Look out for the new Chalkboard Signs around the gardens! These will have up to date notices on events and other helpful info!

• Don't forget - have your garden planted by June 1st!

• Last year Rose Roots donated 1726 lbs to the Veggie Van! This year our goal is 2000 lbs!

• Rose Roots receives funds each season from King Soopers through shopper sign-ups through the Fight Hunger Program. This season, we received $529, which will be used toward new signs for the south pollinator garden and food bank (veggie van) plots.

• Rose Roots is SOLD OUT this year!!

• Have a gardening tip you're hankering to share with your fellow Rose Rooters? Email it in here and if it's chosen for the next newsletter you'll win a dozen backyard chicken eggs!

• For a full recap of recent news and upcoming events, see the most recent monthly meeting minutes here: link to Minutes

And finally! Why didn't anyone laugh at the gardener's jokes?

Because they were too corny!

Happy Gardening,

Rose Roots Leadership Team

Laura Bennett, President

Erin Newton, Vice President

Tom Glum, Treasurer

Maggie Alcorn, Administrator

Patty Sacks, Special Projects

Gary Williams, Operations

Jim Richards, Operations

Jack Nix, Operations

Please contact Michelle, Newsletter Editor, HERE with newsletter additions, corrections, comments, compliments, gardening tips or humor.