Harambee Update- Notice about January 24 Workday.

Seamus, I have gotten a response/advice from the Illinois Extension Service-Master Gardener Program in regard to our reinstall.

1. With regard to the apple trees, they recommend trying to save any apple trees that are in good shape or producing well. Dig a good amount of root ball and keep intact. Hold them in large mulch pile and root prune before replanting.

2. The blackberries should be cut back to the ground, dug up and stored in pots and covered in a mulch pile.

3. Asparagus and other perennials should be dug up stored and protected like the blackberries.

I will be able to bring burlap for the trees to our January 24 Workday. However, we will need a resource for mulch.

In your notes from our last meeting regarding the rebuild you mentioned that we would “utilize the cinder blocks we already have”. I am under the impression that the design team is working on schemes that utilize a nominal 8” X 8” X 16” concrete block as the typical unit, not the 4” X 8” X 16” that we have used with the straps. We need to confirm our understanding of the size.

Tom Walker

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From: Seamus Ford
Sent: Friday, January 17, 2020 12:16 PM
To: amy
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Subject: Harambee Update- Notice about January 24 Workday.

Hello Everyone,

I am sorry this update is a bit later than I hoped, but I want you to know that we had a great meeting this past Saturday and made a great deal of progress.

The main thing that we addressed during the meeting was the redesign of the garden and what we will need to manage to accomplish our goal leveling and rebuilding the garden by this springs planting season. All completely doable and we intend to be ready to start gardening in May.

Bed material and type of construction

We looked specifically at what kind of materials we will use to rebuild the beds in the garden and while we don’t have something finalized we do know that we will utilize the cinder blocks we already have.

Bed Arrangement

Among the opportunities of the redesign of the garden is to make the space more accessible for people of all ages and physical abilities. Another opportunity is to have the garden be unique and give people a chance at this stage to design their bed inside of a coherent theme. We aligned on the following

· 5 foot paths in-between beds of variable height – to accommodate both people with mobility issues as well as being able to get a wheelbarrow anywhere within the garden space.

· We will run water to multiple spots throughout the garden area.

· Giving people some latitude to design the width and height of their beds

· Using a tetris theme that would combine rectangles and L shapes – to best utilize the materials we already have and have a coherent look to the garden.

Land Form

The process of redesigning the garden will be destructive in the short term. There is an old foundation that is going to be broken so that we can level the ground from the sidewalk all the way back to the alley. When we are done, while the garden will look different, it will have many more options than are currently available with the grass and bindweed. The following are the things that we agreed upon related to the elements we will be adding to the garden.

· Rather than a completely flat surface we want small hills and swales- to allow for native plants to thrive.

· Mitigate heat island effect – With the addition of crushed gravel, there is potential for more heat in the garden, we will be creating non-planted features that will mitigate this.

· We have agreement that creation of beds will be done as we go. We will create beds for the people who currently want them and have layout for future beds similar to unbuilt lots in a subdivision

· We have agreement that it will be graded from alley to sidewalk

· Gravel from the green space to the sidewalk on Waller

· We will be temporarily moving the perennial plants that are in the garden space such as the apple trees, black berry and raspberry canes and anything else that is feasible.

Timeframe of the destruction and recreation

While we don’t have an exact date for when the leveling will begin, we will be meeting at the garden on January 24th to move and stack all of the cinderblocks over by the gazebo. If time permits we will begin the process of digging up the perennial plants and potting them so they can be replanted in the spring. If you have something in your existing bed that you want to keep for example garlic, we ask that you remove it by Feb 2. We are going to be replacing all of the soil in the garden beds so that we can get a fresh start without bindweed. The soil that is currently in the raised bed will be used for either the goat pasture or to level other areas of the land outside of the garden space.

January 24th workday

Weather permitting, we are going to be meeting at that garden at 9am on January 24th to begin moving the cinder blocks. If there is an issue with the weather we will be meeting at the Library to do continued planning.

Here is to a super exciting new year!!

Thanks,

Seamus