CCGC Minutes 1/29/12



Betsy Hillborn Chapel Hill Carrboro Transition Towns

Fruit tree discussion
The Future of Our Orchard, headed by Betsy (~15-20 min)===Tools needed======Impressions of the garden===*Is at the back of the garden (May not get much attention) ====Plants that are in the garden====
 * Need constant supply of water
 * Identify what our needs are and what we want, asses the garden what we have and how to get to where we want.
 * High, Medium, Advanced plant
 * Peacehs are most advanced, are hard to grow in the piedmont organically, (European plums, apricots, plums).
 * Serviceberries (June Berry) Bush variety, are in the rose family -- Low care plant, produce blueberry type fruit but earlier. How long do they take to fruit, 1st or second year.
 * Have some irigation in the perrenial section (explore option)
 * To drip line of plant then 2 -3 feet, 3 more you get around it the more you can put in around it
 * Figs are very low care, prunig is more succesful when you do it in June.
 * Paw Paw, need two to guarantee fruiting
 * Early water and nutrient starvation can stunt a plant in its growth.
 * Peaches, heart break tree, can put a lot of love into them and may never
 * Late ripening varieties can succumb to rot, best to have earliest ripening fruit trees
 * Peaches, you can have a really
 * Gogi, think about what we want
 * Pruning workshop best time, February in general (not available week 11-12, otherwise very open

Spring planting (~15 min)
===talk about the layout ===- how we put it together - peoples input*Try to rotate the plants but hard challenge given that things ====Things that people still want that are missing in the plans==== we will have a regular bed and a give away bed with a variety of things in them ===seed inventory===3. Flower plans (~10 min)   a. Justin's plan for where to plant some (working on the clearing fence line). b. What flowers to plant?4. Weed control along fence line (~5 min)5. Teaching workshop opportunity @ CCGC through Carrboro Greenspace (~5 min)6. Water situation (~15 min)   a. Solar project    b. Help from class project - Cindy, to update us on this? c. Plans for OCPYC to still tap into OWASA   d. Cost involved - possible fundraising opportunities?7. Other topics (~10 min)
 * Zuchinnies and squash pass for a year, pole beans pass for a year as these didn't do so well
 * Seeds have been donated from seed companies
 * Want to get a couple of beds ready for leeks to go in at the end of February
 * Need for someone who has a sunny room to take care of plants
 * Spinach none have come up (three weeks)
 * Get some cabbage started and some other cool weather things early in March
 * And in early February, have some peppers
 * Other spring plants -- Potatoes, Onions and peas (need to get ready ASAP)
 * Need to get soil samples from the garden and with the bueberries
 * Spring planting do some soil care, can exhaust soil if we do not do someting quick. Need to keep the ground productive.  Need to take on measuring the soil and caring for it.  The soil test will give the chemical breakdown.  Two beds were too acidic for vegetables.    A 11, B3 and B4.   Wood ash and lime are good 'sweatners'
 * Manure -- as an emmendment that we need to replenish the soil with.
 * Variety of peppers
 * Anaheim, we
 * Habaner
 * Hot mixture
 * Butternut squash