Spring Cleanup 2023

Spring Cleanup will take place the weekend of March 31-April 1, 2023. Dumpster will be on site Fri-Sun, but main cleanup will be on Saturday. (We may will up the dumpster on Saturday, so caution if you wait until Sunday.

On Saturday:
- Cleanup is 9am-3pm
- Garden meeting at 11am
- Garden pot-luck at noon. Bring a dish to share!

Unfortunately, a row may or may not be ready to occupy by April 1. The Trustees are a little behind schedule. But we cannot move cleanup - permits are paid for and the dumpster reservation is made. In addition, everyone has 'cleared their schedule' for this particular weekend, so it would be challenging to ask everyone to move their schedules.

At cleanup we will clean out as much of the garden as we can and assist everyone who needs help in B and C rows. We could also use a hand with some structural repairs on the B and C rows. On Saturday we will know the state of A row and go from there. The trustees will also be there to answer questions (They should move closer to completing by April 1 even if they are not done yet)

The Trustees, our landlords, will also be prohibiting the creative recycling we have been using to build structures for people to use growing vertically. They are designing a new pergola system, and we will know more about this system and potential funding for it on the 1st. But this does mean a lot of materials people have been saving cannot be reused. April 1 will also be an opportunity to dispose of any extra such materials.

See everyone April 1st!

More tree removal

Unfortunately the garden must remove another mature tree.

The large
Honey Locust tree on A row, near the shed and our small seating area, will be removed November 21.

While the tree looks fine, it has reached the end of life. The trunk and root area has has fungi growing from it for a few years now. When we trimmed the tree last, that did not promote any new growth. If you compare this tree to the front entrance honey locust, you can see that this tree has gotten thin and spindly. Fence construction gives us an opportunity to bring in tree removal equipment without worrying about garden damage.

The tree will be replaced with another Honey Locust tree.

NPR does the Garden

NPR spent the summer of 2022 in the garden, following us throughout a garden season and interviewing many of our Asian gardens.

Their final report can be heard at this link, including interviews with many of our gardeners!

2022

Welcome to BCG, Post Covid.

Our 2022 season has begin with this weekend's 2022 garden Lottery. We had a record 66 entrants to the lottery this year! And we welcome 12 new gardeners to our community.

The garden will officially 'open' the weekend of April 8th, with our Spring Cleanup taking place. If COVID numbers stay down we hope to keep the garden open during th days for our neighbors to enjoy!

Closed Garden

As many neighbors have noticed, the garden continues to be closed to the public as of August 2021.

We had planned to re-open a few days each week starting in August, but with the rise in the infection rate and the Delta variant, the re-opening has been put on hold. The garden remains closed to keep both you, our potential visitors, and our gardeners safe during the health crisis. We just wanted to let our neighbors know we do enjoy the garden being open and sharing our garden with you, right now safety has to be our greatest concern.

We thank our abutters and neighbors for their understanding during these trying times.


正如許多鄰居所注意到的那樣,自 2021 8 月起,該花園將繼續對公眾關閉。

我們原計劃從 8 月開始每週重新開放幾天,但隨著感染率的上升和 Delta 變體,重新開放已被擱置。 花園仍然關閉,以確保您、我們的潛在訪客和我們的園丁在健康危機期間的安全。 我們只是想讓我們的鄰居知道我們確實喜歡開放的花園並與您分享我們的花園,現在安全必須是我們最關心的問題。

我們感謝我們的支持者和鄰居在這些艱難時期的理解。

COVID-19

Unfortunately, the Coronavirus is having an impact at the community garden.

In response to a request for Social Distancing and an effort to avoid group activities, Berkeley Community Gardens announces the following changes.

- The March 28 garden lottery has been postponed. Once gatherings are again safe to hold, we will announce a new lottery date

- The Spring Cleanup has been postponed. The new date is the weekend of April 24th. It is TBD at this time if we will have a group cleanup, or just have a dumpster for you to use on your own any time that weekend. There will be no pot luck or garden meeting that weekend - both of those will be rescheduled for the future. Gardeners - keep an eye on your email for more information come April.

- We will open the garden gates during daylight hours so we can share the garden with out neighbors who may ve working from home and need break to enjoy the spring flowers as our gardens come to life.

- the Trustees Gardeners Gathering has been cancelled, but their May plant sale in the garden is still (as of now) scheduled to happen.

- Current gardeners can access their plots at any time.



Thanks everyone for your understanding.




Google translation of the above text:


不幸的是,冠狀病毒正在對社區花園產生影響。

為響應社會隔離的要求和避免集體活動的要求,伯克利社區花園宣布了以下更改。

-3月28日的花園彩票已被推遲。再次安全舉行聚會後,我們將宣布新的彩票日期

-春季大掃除已推遲。新日期是4月24日(週末)。如果我們要進行小組清理,或者只有一個垃圾箱供您在周末的任何時候自行使用,那麼此時是TBD。那個週末將沒有運氣或花園聚會-兩者都將重新安排以備將來使用。園丁-請密切注意您的電子郵件,以獲取更多信息,將於4月發布。

-我們將在白天開放花園大門,以便與可能在家中工作且需要休息的鄰居共享花園,因為我們的花園栩栩如生。

-受託人的園丁聚會已被取消,但他們5月份在花園中進行的植物銷售仍(按目前)計劃進行。

-當前的園丁可以隨時訪問其地塊。


感謝大家的理解。



Start of Season, 2018

Hi everyone,

The warm February days days have sprouted some Spring Fever in the midst of winter. But the garden season is not far off.


Renewal invoices for current gardeners went out on Feb 24, and should arrive this week. if you have not received your invoice by March 2, please let us know.

This year, we are accepting renewal payments via PayPal. You can find the link under
BCG Gardeners -> Resources.

All payments are due by March 24. Anyone not paid by that date will forfeit their garden. Please contact us if you know you will not be returning for this season.

For those still needing to pay in person, we will collect payments March 24 at Project Place, starting at 10am.

Spring Cleanup for 2018 will be Saturday, April 7th.

This year the Lottery will NOT be held during Spring Cleanup, but a week earlier. 8:30 on March 31, also at Project Place. For more information, please see the
Joining Us page. This will allow new people to prepare before Spring Cleanup, and for everyone to focus on cleanup on April 7.


Thanks everyone, and here's to a great 2018!!!

New trees

Last year we had two new trees planted in the garden, both of which survived the winter and are beginning to bud! Here's a little more information on the trees.

Why were the trees were removed?

The center area tree was nearing the end of its life. If you looked at it from far away it had grown very thin in its branches (in contrast, the tree near the Tremont gate, is very full). The final blow was getting hit by lighting last year, with caused additional damage. With all those issues, we didn't to risk the tree dying or falling over and causing damage, so we had it removed.

The other tree removed, near garden B133, was a white mulberry tree. While healthy, its growth was out of control. It heavily shaded around 20 gardens; and it seemed like the more we pruned it, the faster it grew. Financially, we could not keep up with pruning, so we had this tree also removed.


The new trees we planted are shown below.

Both trees are native to the area and will provide for the local wildlife as well as the garden's beauty.

In the
center area we have a Hop Hornbeam or Ironwood tree. A larger tree, it produces nice leaves all summer long, with a hops-like seed that will provide food for our birds. Its also a tree that will grow well in drought or poor soil (once established) so it should last a long time in the garden. Read more on Wikipedia or on this UKY web page.

Eastern-hophornbeam




South of the center area (near garden B133) is a Serviceberry. A flowering tree that won't get too high. Spring brings a nice white flower, followed by green leaves through the rest of the season that turn a fiery red in the autumn. The pollinators will love the flowers, and the birds will love the small berries. Read more on Wikipedia, and on this web page.


amelanchierxgrandiflora_jwb-1_lg

Garden Poirtraits

Last year UMass art student Jennie Castle took some photographs/portraits in the garden. You can see some of here work here.

In the Press: The Horticult

Berkeley was mentioned in a gardening blog The Horticult. In autumn, they contacted 8 community gardens around the country to ask about their Fall harvesting. Berkeley was one of those either.


Read the article here:
http://thehorticult.com/community-garden-nation-eight-urban-harvesters-talk-autumn-chores-crops-and-planting/ Read about Berkeley and other community gardens and their harvests.